Mine energyMuch has been said and written about the digital meter. The original raison d’être of the digital meter, namely the more conscious use of energy, often fades into the background. But what do you have to do to make your meter really smart and what does it cost? Mijnenergie.be researched it for you.
By Kurt Deman, in collaboration with Mijnenergie
Bron:
Mijnenergie.be
The big difference with an analog meter is that the digital meter communicates with other devices. This way, the meter reading is fully automatic and you have a better view of your energy consumption. Various useful applications make it possible to monitor and visualize your energy consumption and energy injection. You also get insight into your peak consumption, which is interesting in function of the capacity rate. But to make your digital meter really smart, you have to take action yourself.
Read more: The capacity rate explained in 15 frequently asked questions.
A digital meter is equipped with user ports that reveal your energy consumption in real time. You can connect smart applications to it, such as smartphone apps, a smart thermostat and energy management systems to control the consumption of your appliances.
Digital or analog meters? This is the cheapest choice if you have solar panels.
Where can you find the user ports of your digital meter?
To protect your privacy, the user ports are disabled by default. Behind the yellow cover at the bottom of the digital meter are the P1 and S1 ports. Your consumption (kWh), active power (kW) and some quality data are available via the P1 port. The ‘fast’ S1 port makes raw data available to a smart app or thermostat at a particularly high frequency.
How do you activate the user port?
To open your user ports, you must submit a request. You can do that via this link:
What is possible?
The website www.maakjemeterslim.be offers an overview of many useful applications. The majority of these applications focus on real-time monitoring of your consumption and injection. The data you generate via the user portals is usually more detailed than the data you call up as standard via the Fluvius user portal.
Some applications go a little further and – whether or not in combination with smart sockets – also display energy consumption at appliance level. This allows you to detect standby consumption and to check how you can make your appliances work more efficiently.
An advantageous contract is also essential for a lower invoice: here you can easily compare prices and promotions at different energy suppliers.
energy management systems
Energy management systems (EMS) ensure that you manage your energy consumption in a smart way. They adjust the energy consumption to the production of the solar panels and, via ‘dynamic load balancing’, ensure, among other things, that you charge the battery of the electric car without exceeding a desired consumption peak. If there is a large power demand from other appliances in your home, the charging station will automatically use less electricity.
Such advanced energy management systems appear to be rare for the time being. “There are many EMS systems on the market that control one device and that the installer of heat pumps or charging stations, among other things, supplies free of charge. Installation-independent systems include solutions such as FlexiO and Smappee Infinity,” explains Geert Deconinck of EnergyVille. For Smappee Infinity you have to pay around 1,000 euros for a starter package.
Do you have more questions about the digital meter? No problem: we have collected the most frequently asked here.
Read also on Mijnenergie.be:
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