Offset in Managed Meters

The concept of Offset applies when calculating energy consumption. Offset is applied in situations where the managed meter has reached its maximum value as specified in the Max Meter Reading field and the meter reading restarts from 1, or when the managed meter is physically replaced due to defect, upgrade, or buffer overflow.

The Offset is specified in the Offset field in the Managed Meters application.

The following examples will help you better understand this concept.

Example 1:

You have a managed meter with 10,000 specified in the Max Meter Reading field. The meter has reached 10,000 and it restarts from 1 and continues until 1000. At this point, if you take the meter reading, the value will be 1000; however, the energy consumed from the start is11,000, since the meter has already crossed 10,000. Therefore, in order to arrive at the exact energy consumption value, you must specify the Offset with a valid date and time.

Example 2:

You have a managed meter with 10,000 specified in the Max Meter Reading field. The meter has reached 10,000 and it restarts from 1. You specify 10,000 as the Offset and the value displayed on the meter is 1000. If you take the meter reading, the value will be 11000, since the value of the Offset is added to the current meter reading to get the exact reading. Also, the value calculated for energy consumption will be accurate. When the meter rolls over the second time and the reading restarts with 1, the value that you specify as the Offset must be 20,000, since the meter has rolled over two times. Similarly, after the third rollover, the Offset value will be 30,000 and so on. Therefore, the Offset value on every rollover is equal to the sum of the present Offset value and the Max Meter Reading.