Some Blog Site

This is not that interesting of a story, but I’m putting it on the internet in case someone else has a similar problem and can’t find the answer on the internet like I couldn’t. But now they can, because the answer is here.

Little backstory: the power went out in our barn. Said barn has its own electric meter. I checked all the circuit breakers, even the main, and went so far as to put a voltmeter on the main connection before the breaker box, so straight from the meter, and it showed no power.

So I was fairly sure the problem was from the power company. I looked at the meter and the meter was displaying things (a few things in rotation), but mostly zeroes and then this cryptic phrase: “con off”, or more correctly “COn OFF”

Not quite sure what that meant, I tried to look up the user manual for the meter, a type C2SOD smart power meter. I found some information but nothing that described the things it was displaying.

I went to the house to compare the barn meter to the house meter, since the house had power. The house meter was not displaying “con off”. So I concluded something is wrong with the barn meter (or power line).

I called the power company to report a problem. They are too fancy for their own good, and when I pressed the number to indicate I had a power outage, they matched my number to an address and said “thank you, your power outage has been reported for this address” and then the call was over.

I then got a text a few minutes later confirming my outage report. Then, more than a few minutes but less than a few hours later, I got a text saying they ran their diagnostics and my address has power so they have closed the ticket.

I was thinking “If you just let me talk to someone in the first place, it would save us both time”. Because then I had to click the link that said “I still have a problem” and then it let me enter a comment.

I took that opportunity to let them know I checked the voltage and that the meter was saying “con off”. Whoever got that note knew enough to check something else, maybe they ran the advanced diagnostics on the line not just the standard diagnostics, and a little while later I got a text that they agreed there was a problem.

And then shortly afterwards (still the same day) I got a text saying power was restored and the issue was “equipment failure”. I never saw anyone come to the barn. I wasn’t there the whole time either, but the meter didn’t look brand new after it was fixed so my guess is they just remotely reset the smart meter. Just like any other computer – turn it off and turn it on and it works again.

Anyway, if you have a power outage and your meter reads “COn OFF” then the problem is with your meter so go ahead and tell the electric company it’s their issue.