Smart meter for power at home

Hardware
1

Hi,

Our power company (PG&E) confirmed that our grid can support smart meter for the power to our house. PG&E also shared this link for smart meters I will need to purchase - https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/analyze-your-usage/your-usage/view-and-share-your-data-with-smartmeter/reading-the-smartmeter/stream-your-data/han-device-list.page

I do not have any experience with any of these brands or smart meter so hoping if others can share their experiences specific to any of the meters listed here.

Thanks.

PS: Also I use WiFi for all my IoTs so do not have any Zigbee or Z hub.

2

I just purchased the Rainforest EAGLE-200 and it works well with PG&E energy, and supports hardwired/wifi connectivity to home network.

Setup was smooth, connection from SmartMeter to device was initiated from PG&E website and took a few minutes, the PG&E SmartMeter is ~40 feet away vertically and ~20 feet horizontally, so ~44 ft across multiple floors and into the garage.

Integration was auto discovered in HA, but both were on the same subnet; I have no idea whether it will talk well across subnets - but I will find out soon (I don’t intend to update this comment, though).

Once configured in HA, you receive 1 device with 3 sensors:

  • Demand (kw consumption at this instant)
    • updated at 30 second interval
  • Total Delivered (kw/h you receive from energy company, i.e. delivered from PG&E to you)
    • updated at 4 minute interval - may depend on power consumption rate
    • total across lifetime I guess, same value that the meter shows when you face it in person
  • Total Received (kw/h you provide to the energy company, i.e. received by PG&E from you)
    • updated at 4 minute interval - may depend on power consumption rate
    • total across lifetime I guess, same value that the meter shows when you face it in person

The device has a local interface at port 80; default login is as follows:

  • Username: your CloudID (you’ll find it on the box and on the bottom of EAGLE-200 chassis)
  • Password: your Install Code (you’ll find it on the box and on the bottom of EAGLE-200 chassis)

Hardwired connection is required during initial setup, in order to access the web UI; through web UI you can connect it to Wifi, configure network settings, and disable remote access for Rainforest support. I haven’t tested, but it appears that this thing may be able to run completely locally, which is what I intend to pursue.

I did not register the device on Rainforest portal (because I don’t want unnecessary strangers having my usage data) but this also prevents me from receiving energy cost. A price I’m happy to pay.

Hope this helps.

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