An electricity meter includes a test circuit comprising a test component and a connection component arranged to place the test component in a connected configuration in which the test component is connected to the phase conductor and to the neutral conductor, and in a disconnected configuration in which the test component is disconnected from the phase conductor and/or from the neutral conductor; a processor component arranged to control the connection component in such a manner that it places the test component in the connected configuration during a predetermined test duration to measure surplus energy consumption, and to estimate measurement error of the electricity meter from the surplus energy.

Techniques for determining a potential electrical threat by a utility meter are described herein. A metrology unit of the meter is configured to receive electrical data associated with electrical usage at a location The meter is configured to determine, based on the electrical usage at the location and/or previous electrical data, abnormalities indicative of an unstable connection, such as a loose wire connecting a load to a power supply. The meter may employ a machine learned model or other algorithm to identify the loose wire or unstable connection and is configured to disconnect power to the location and/or send a message to an alarm device at the location and/or to a computing device remote from the location. In this way, the metrology unit can be used to mitigate potential electrical threats, such as fire, due to an unstable connection such as a loose connection.

A method for the onsite calibration of a Rogowski sensor to be calibrated, includes the steps of: cause the sensor to be calibrated to be positioned on a reference phase, or cause a reference sensor to be positioned on the phase to be calibrated; acquiring a calibration current measurement produced by the sensor to be calibrated, a reference current measurement produced by the reference sensor, and a reference voltage measurement on the phase on which are positioned the reference sensor to be calibrated following the positioning step; and using the calibration current measurement, the reference current measurement and the reference voltage measurement to produce calibration parameters of the sensor to be calibrated.

Described herein are methods and systems for detection and notification of electrical power outages and power quality. A sensor coupled to a circuit transmits a keepalive packet to a server. The sensor detects an input signal generated by electrical activity. The sensor generates an output signal based upon the input signal. The sensor monitors the output signal. During a clock cycle, the sensor determines whether a rising edge occurred and transmits a fault packet to the server when the rising edge occurred prior to a predetermined clock value or when no rising edge occurred. The server receives the fault packet from the sensor and listens for keepalive packets. The server transmits a power outage notification when no keepalive packets are received for at least a defined time period after the fault packet is received. The server transmits a power restoration notification when one or more keepalive packets are subsequently received.

A utility meter includes a consumption measurement unit for generating consumption data, a meter processor, and a RTC for time stamping the consumption data to provide interval meter data during interval meter operation. A memory stores the interval meter data. The meter processor implements/initiates responsive to a power loss that suspends RTC operation, switching from interval to relative time operation where consumption data is stored as relative consumption data together with a relative time as relative meter data. Responsive power restoration and receiving a current time, the meter switches from relative time to interval meter operation. The restoration time is calculated using the current and an elapsed time since the restoration. The time of restoration and current time is used to generate calculated times. The consumption data from relative time operation is time stamped with the calculated times to provide time-corrected relative meter data that is stored to the memory.

Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting node outages in a mesh network. A tracking node in the mesh network detects a set of signals originating from a tracked node in the mesh network. The set of signals includes beacons and communication messages transmitted by the tracked node. The tracking node determines that a threshold number of the alive beacon intervals have passed since receiving a most recent signal from the tracked node. The tracking node then outputs a ping to the tracked node requesting a response to the ping. When the response to the ping is not received from the tracked node, the tracking node transmits an outage alarm message to a next topologically higher layer of the mesh network, the outage alarm message comprising an identification of the tracked node.

Techniques for implementing a fault-tolerant power supply are described. In an example, a system converts an alternating-current (AC) voltage to an initial direct current (DC) voltage. The system further converts the initial DC voltage to a first DC voltage and a second DC voltage. The system applies the first DC voltage to a high-priority device such as a metrology device. The system applies the second DC voltage to a low-priority or peripheral device. When the initial DC voltage is outside a voltage range, the system deactivates the second DC voltage to the lower-priority device and maintains the first DC voltage to the metrology device.

A method for detecting electric meter installation issues includes: determining an initial orientation of an electric meter based on initial acceleration measurements from an accelerometer positioned in the electric meter. Subsequent acceleration measurements from the accelerometer may be continuously monitoring, and a subsequent orientation of the electric meter may be determined based on the subsequent acceleration measurements. A difference between the initial orientation and the subsequent orientation based on the initial acceleration measurements and the subsequent acceleration measurements may be determined and compared to a threshold value. Based on the difference exceeding the threshold value, a notification of a change in orientation of the electric meter may be generated to a head-end system.

Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting node outages in a mesh network. A tracking node in the mesh network detects a set of signals originating from a tracked node in the mesh network. The set of signals includes beacons or communication messages transmitted by the tracked node. The tracking node determines that a threshold number of the beacon intervals have passed since receiving the most recent signal from the tracked node. The tracking node performs outage validation based on data received from another node in the mesh network and updates the status of the tracked node. Based on the updated status, the tracking node outputs a ping to the tracked node requesting a response to the ping. When the response to the ping is not received from the tracked node, the tracking node transmits an outage alarm message to a next topologically higher layer of the mesh network.

Methods and systems for detecting a neutral voltage connection, involve determining when a value of a neutral current is equal to zero, wherein the neutral current comprises a difference between a current flowing through two legs of an electrical meter to an end customer, wherein each of the two legs comprises a first voltage with respect to a ground and a second voltage with respect to one another; and verifying that the neutral current has been detected to zero, in response to determining that the value of the neutral current is equal to zero.