On 15/11/2020 12:35, Roger Mills wrote:
Prompted by the Smart Meter 2 thread, it occurred to me to wonder whether there was any way in which I could monitor my electricity consumption in half-hour intervals in order to evaluate whether one of these fancy tariffs would be good or bad.

My non-smart electricity meter - not sure of the age but at least 15 years - has a small red LED which flashes at intervals, faster when the power consumption is greater. I have only roughly checked it against the dials, but I think there are N flashes to the kWh for some N that I can't remember. A simple photocell monitoring this LED ought to work, and I've thought of rigging up something but not quite got around to it. Counting flashes per minute would get a pretty up-to-date consumption figure.

Our gas meter doesn't have the same thing of course, no ready supply of electricity to power it, but it does make a faint but obvious click once per rotation of some internal wheel. I assume that I could similarly monitor gas usage with a microphone and counter.


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Clive Page