New Meter Collar Unlocks Home Electrical System Potential at a Lower Cost
Making a new connection for a solar panel system or electric vehicle to the existing electrical system in a home can be an expensive challenge. A new product being manufactured for Siemens offers a simple solution that’s code compliant and sanctioned by utility companies.
Image from ConnectDER
ConnectDER of Philadelphia has partnered with Siemens to introduce a new connector for solar panel systems and electric vehicle charging. The collar, pictured above, is installed between the power meter and the meter socket - where the meter plugs into the electrical system of a home.
In the image above, the meter is white plastic enclosed in a clear plastic cover. The silver collar is the back of the meter and would typically be installed against the exterior of a home or an electrical box on the outside of a home. In this case, the grey collar with the plug on top is installed between the meter and the connection to the house.
Image from ConnectDER
Distributed Energy Resources
It’s time to learn yet another acronym: a distributed energy resource (DER) is a small-scale electricity supply like a solar panel system on a home or energy storage like a battery that can provide power to a home. It can also be a demand like charging an electric vehicle.
The electrical system in a home often has a series of limitations from service size to lack of space in the breaker panel. Integrating a demand like an electric vehicle that needs to draw a significant amount of power to charge has historically required expensive upgrades to the electrical system.
What This Means for Electric Vehicles
Installing wiring in a home to charge an electric vehicle (EV) can be a significant challenge in existing homes. We’re typically calling for a 240 volt circuit that’s between 30 and 60 amps to charge one or more EVs depending on how much service is available coming into the home from the utility.
A home might have a 320-amp service from the utility and its using 250 amps for the service in the home: heating, cooling, appliances, lighting, plug loads, etc. There’s an additional 70 amps of power available yet the breaker panel is packed with no room to add a 50 or 60 amp circuit to charge one or more electric vehicles.
The electrician could avoid any work inside the home by using the meter collar to connect the electric vehicle to the power coming into the home. The collar is installed behind the meter so the utility is getting an accurate reading on power consumed yet the owner is saving 60 - 80% of the cost for the typical install by avoiding any changes to the existing wiring.
In Conclusion
The meter collar can also simplify the connection to other devices like solar panel systems and whole-house batteries. They may also help us avoid costly wiring for converting from fossil fuel-burning appliances to electric appliances without significant work in the breaker panel.
We’re looking forward to the price announcement of this meter collar. It will be a fraction of the cost of reworking an existing system yet we don’t know if it will be a tiny fraction as we hope. These new meter collars should be available by the first quarter of 2023.
Leave a comment below to let us know if you would you be more likely to buy an electric vehicle if the costs for installing the charger were significantly lowered by a product like a meter collar. We’d also like to know if you’ve you put off the purchase of a device or appliance because of the electrical installation costs.