Summation metering

By Rajesh Nimare

Introduction The Tariff structure

Electricity Metering Over Multiple Feeders is a For electricity invoicing on bulk electricity consumers, it is the energy and
common problem faced by the electricity demand that forms the input . Tariff metering becomes complex in case of
Supply Industries, Independent Power multi-feeders due to the challenges poised by the measurement of summated
Producer s,. Railways and on Grids energy and concurrent maximum demand over multiple feeders.
interconnecting two states. This paper reviews
the need for Multiple Feeder Metering and the For better appreciation of the problem, let us consider a practical case of an
various approaches for the application along industry having two feeders for the supply and the tariff is of two parts. The
with their advantages and limitation. first part of the tariff comprises of the KVA maximum demand drawn by the
consumer and the second part comprises of the kWh consumed by the
This paper is written with an intention for consumer in the billing period. Let us assume that the contract demand of this
sharing the fundamentals on summation consumer is 200 kVA. The inference of this contract demand from the suppliers
metering and special attempt is made to prospective is, at no time, the consumer must draw more than the average of
appreciate the complexities associated with 200 kVA demand from the utility.
Multi-Feeder Metering in the reader friendly
way.
Feeder 1.
kWh - 1 KVA - 1
The Need of Multiple Feeders
Grid Sub-
station Feeder 2.
Multiple feeder supply is preferred by the kWh - 2 kVA - 2
electricity supplier in the following two situations:

1. Bulk power transaction. I.e. when a single

feeder is unable to cope the required demand of CONSUMER
an industry or establishment, multifeeder's are
used to supply this demand. The examples of
these category are Independent Power
Producers, Steel , cement , metal extraction and In the above figure, the consumer is receiving electricity over two feeders
refining industries etc. emerging from the same Grid Sub-station the reason for installing two feeder
may be the increase in contract demand. The feeders are named as Feeder - 1
2. Reliability of Supply : In certain establishment and Feeder - 2.
the reliability of the electricity supply is of
foremost importance like the railway traction, One energy meter and demand meter is installed on each feeder to measure the
radio / TV stations, Airports, defense respective kWh consumption and recording the KVA maximum demand
establishment s, hospitals and in these drawn over the respective feeder..
applications, the interruption caused by
routine maintenance of the feeder, tripping, For computing the total kWh consumed over the two feeders, the arithmetic
sabotage etc should not interrupt the continuity addition of the KWh - 1 and kWh -2 will serve the purpose. We summarize, that
of the supply. An alternative feeder is laid from a discrete kWh meters can be used on each feeder for arriving at the summated
separate Grid Sub-station to feed the kWh of the consumer.
installations. This ensures that the electricity
supply remains unaffected by the common For computing the Summated KVA, adding the readings of the two KVA
cause like lightening strike on one of the demand meters will be misguiding as both the maximum demand may not
substation etc. have occurred at the same time demand integration period time frame. It may
be the case that the consumer might have drawn 200 kVA on FEEDER -1,
Even though the electricity demand may be keeping Feeder open and again he is free to draw 200 kVA over Feeder - 2,
supplied by a single feeder despite of it At times, the keeping Feeder - 1, open. Please note that he has not exceeded his contract
supply is fed from different sub-stations and even demand which is 200 kVA. Adding the two feeders KVA demand as we have
at different voltages, to ensure, continuity of done for kWh, gives a total of 400 KVA, which is the wrong way to do. To
supply in case of a breakdown in one of the summarize, the summated demand can not be derived by summing the
stations. readings of the KVA demand meters due to diversity of loading. The billing
demand should be the concurrent maximum demand.

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Definition, CONCURRENT DEMAND Demand Meter having a single current coil per
phase.
Concurrent demand is the demand measured on a single equivalent feeder of
the multiple feeders in the same time domain. THE ENERGY and DEMAND METER:It is the
commonly used three vector meter having one
The concurrent demand measurement : current and Voltage coil per phase. The current coil
of the meter is connected to the output of the
To solve the problem of concurrent maximum demand, following methods are Summation CT; thereby it receives the SUMMATED
used: current of the two feeders. The meter has a single
Voltage coil and can be connected to any of the
1. The SUMMATION CT's. feeder. A Voltage selector relay is provided to
2. The Pulsing Meters, PULSE SUMMATION UNIT AND DEMAND RECORDER. connect the Energy / Demand meter to the Feeder
and having Voltage in case one of the feeders becomes
3. The digital value summation metering units using microprocessor. electrically dead.

Each of the above methods has been explained in depth in the following
SUMMATION C.T AT TASK:
sessions along with their pros- cons and limitations.
The Summated C.T has two types of errors viz. the
Phase Angle Error and the Ratio Error. Having
The SUMMATION CT's Multiple wound primaries, a third type of error is
introduced in the system caused by the circulation
Summation CT is an interposing Current transformer which has n+1 winding, current in the Feeder C.T. circuit which is lightly
where n = number of feeders and the constant 1 is used for the single secondary loaded.
winding.
When the two load currents are applied on the
Application: Summation CT SUMMATION C.T. respective fluxes are established
The Feeder CT's have a typical output of 1 or 5 Amps, the secondary windings of in its core. The two primary fluxes adds up as per
the multiple feeders is connected to the multiple primaries of the Summation the law of vector addition resulting to the total
CT. The current signal available in the secondary winding will be the vector primary flux which is also linked with the
summation of the multiple feeders. secondary winding of the summation C.T. Due to
transformer action, a proportional secondary
Summation CT's have a typical rating like 1+1 / 1Amps OR 5 + 5 / 5 Amps, which current is produced in the closed circuited
means that such a CT is suitable for two feeders summation which has the secondary flowing through the energy meter. The
measurement CT having the secondary rating of 1 Or 5 Amps respectively. current seen by the meter is the vector summation
of the two currents.
The output of the Summation CT is then connected to the Current Circuit of the
Energy / Demand Meter and the reading so obtained is the Summation of As the Summation of the two feeder current is
energy and Demand. carried out instantaneously, the Ideal Summation
C.T. may be called as the ideal technical solution to
Feeder CT -1
Feeder - 1. summation metering. In real life, the case is not so,
Summation C.T. has a list of errors which forces the
Energy / Demand
metering engineers to study it as a principle but
Meter. skeptic to use for SUMMATION METERING is
SUMMATION C.T needed on bulk power transfer feeders which has a
highest commercial stake to venture with.

SUMMATION C.T. PERFORMANCE ON TIE-

Voltage
Selection LINES
Over a tie-line, the power flow may be BI-lateral.
Here we going to discuss the performance of the
Feeder - 2.
summation C.T. on a tie-line comprising of two
feeders F1 and F2 connected between the power
Feeder CT -2 pool A&B. We will discuss the following
combinations:
Fig: Schematic diagram of a two-feeder Summation Metering using Summation C.T
. 1. Active Power is flowing from power pool A to B in
The above diagram shows the Summation of two feeders 1 & 2, using a both the feeders at a P.F. of unity, 100 Amps in each
Summation C.T. The secondary of the Feeder CT of each feeder is connected to feeder.
the Summation CT. The two feeder currents may have individual magnitude
and phase, whereas the Summated output from the Summation C.T. will be the 2. Active Power is flowing from A to B in both the
vector SUM of the two currents. This current is further fed to the Energy & feeders but the power factor of the feeders is 0.8 lag

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and 0.8 Lead respectively. The load current is 100 SUMMATION METERING By : PULSING METERS, PULSE
Amps each.
SUMMATION UNIT AND DEMAND RECORDER
3. Active Power in feeder F1 is from A to B 100
Amps unity P.F., whereas, Active power in The underlying principle using Pulse summation is to get rid of the "time
feeder F2 is from B to A, 50 Amps at unity P.F. domain" in the measurement and summing the feeder energy instead of
currents. Each feeder has its dedicated kWh and KVArh meters which has a
provision for pulse generation for each unit / sub-unit of the quantity
TIE-LINE, Feeder # F1.
measured. There is PULSE SUMMATION UNIT which receives all such KWh
POWER
and KVArh pulses from various feeders. This PULSE SUMMATION unit adds
POWER
POOL
POOL up the kWh and KVArh pulses to arrive at the total kWh and KVArh. The pulse
B
A
TIE-LINE, Feeder # F2.
summation unit has time clock to further compute the KVAh and KVA
maximum demand.

The advance versions of the Pulse Summation Units has the facility for
multiplying the pulses with the pulse weight to arrive at the true energy flow in
PERFORMANCE terms of the feeder primary quantities.
1. The Summation C.T. will add the two feeder
current of 100 Amps each, at unity Power factor
and the net resultant will be 200 Amps. As the FEEDER-1
Summation C.T. draws its magnetizing current
from the feeder current, a phase angle error will
be introduced and the energy meter will be
reading power factor less than Unity. This may
result into the Power factor penalty or disputes.
kWh KVArh
2. Ideally, The vector Sum of 100 Amps 0.8 lag and PULSE SUMMATOR
100 Amps 0.8 lead will be 120 Amps at Unity
Power factor. Practically, the SUMMATION C.T. kVARh
will introduce its own errors.
FEEDER-2
3. The Summation C.T. will measure 50 Amps from
A to B at unity power factor.

LIMITATION OF SUMMATION kWh

SUMMATION C.T. has the following Limitations:

METER WITH PULSE OUTPUT: These are special kWh / KVArh meters
1. The two feeder should operate on the same which have a Volt-free contact which is actuated by the disc revolution. Being
supply Voltage. Thus a summation C.T. can not Electro-mechanical in construction, the maximum pulsing frequency can not
be put for applications having different feeder be more than 2-4Hz. This frequency limitation of the contact imposes a
Voltages. limitation on the resolution factor defined by Pulses/kWh or Pulses/KVArh.
2. The Voltage selector may lead to measurement For a 220KV, 400 Amps feeder having a 3Hz pulse frequency meter, the
errors as it may select the lightly loaded feeder maximum pulses/kWh will be around 30 kWh / pulse (taking full scale as
having open-circuit voltage (higher) hence 200% of 400Amps). This numerical demonstrates the consequence of loss a
resulting to high recording. pre-mature pulse which may result to a measurement error of 30 kWh. The
3. Additional Ratio and Phase angle error is errors will be profound in case of KVAh and kVA demand computation as kWh
introduced by the summation C.T. and kVArh meter may have the same limitation.
4. Errors due to circulating current : In case of
load being drawn on a single feeder, the The pulse type of Summator has the following limitations:
SUMMATION C.T. forces a circulating current in
the feeder C.T. of the unloaded / lightly loaded 1. Problems due to poor resolution caused by high pulse weight.
feeder. This "extra" circulation current causes a 2. For a four quadrant operation, the pulsing Summator-setup becomes
reduction in the SUMMATED current leading to highly complicated and expensive as it calls for six meters on each feeder
large errors. and the pulse Summator needs 6 x Number of feeder channels for the task.
Thus a pulse summation can not be used for the IPP metering where there
In past, summation CT's were used, but resulted to may be conditions for energy import and export simultaneously due to the
numerous errors and restrictions. It also caused loop line flow.
lots of dispute and the total measurement error in 3. The security and reliability associated with the sealing of the pulse
tune of 7% have been reported in certain carrying pilot wires.
installations. 4. The basic measurement of kWh and KVArh on the feeders is prone to errors
due to the basic Electro-mechanical design.

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 call for the Summation meter to measure the NET
DIGITAL INCREMENT SUMMATION : energy and demand. It is also worth mentioning
This system has overcome all the disadvantage of the pulse and C.T based that the loop line flow may be observed in case
summation system by using a single, true four quadrant, electronic meter on reactive energy, a typical example may be MVAR-
each of the feeders with the facility for electronic communication with the Lag on one feeder may be 200, whereas at the same
Digital Summator. time on the other Feeder it may be 80 MVAR-
leading. Thus the consumer is only using 200-80 =
The meter measures electricity in the resolution of 0.01 kWh / kAVrh and 120 MVAR-lagging at that instant.
records the increments in its registers. The digital summation device reads this
register for acquiring the energy increments. Thus even the minutest APEX SUMMATOR is the summation metering
increment (as low as 0.01) can be detected by the digital summation and system from Secure meters Limited, which is
accounted for it. If we compare the digital summation with the pulse based capable of performing tariff metering over
summation of the highest resolution (3Hz) the digital summation is multiple feeders. It comprises of the following
30kWh/0.01kWh or 3000 times more accurate. elements:
1. APEX SUMMATOR, which is the heart of the
The digital Summator has a micro-processor which sequentially reads (polls) system. It has a hierarchy of intelligent
the electronic feeder meters over the communication channel to collect the devices which enables the APEX
kWh(import/ export) and kVArh(lag / lead) increments. The energy increment SUMMATOR to interrogate with the feeder
is in digital format has a very high resolution which may even extent upto a meters and collect the incremental energy
watt-hour or its fraction. The accuracy of such a system depends upon the data. These data is processed to compute the
following parameters: Unconditional Summation, Net Summation
and optionally, True Import / Export
1. Measurement accuracy of the Feeder meters. Metering.
2. Mathematical and processing accuracy of the Digital Summator. and,
3. The frequency at which the feeder meters are read and the data is 2. Feeder meters : Over a feeder, there are
processed. The higher the polling frequency, the better the accuracy. many important parameters which needs to
The digital summation device then adds up the "likes" , e.g. adds the kWh be measured for tariff metering. The
(imports), kWh (Exports), kVArh-lagging / leading and further computes parameters are kWh (import), kWh (export),
the demand based on the summation. kVArh (lagging) kVArh (leading) and the
quadrant position. A single feeder meter
replaces, six discrete energy meters of class
CASE STUDY : APEX SUMMATOR 0.2 S accuracy. The feeder Meter has a
dedicated communication gateway for
To understand the operating principle and the various other features of the providing connectivity to the APEX
digital Summation, the summation meters from M/s Secure meters Limited SUMMATOR.
having the brand name "APEX SUMMATOR" is discussed. It is worth
mentioning that SECURE METERS LIMITED is the only manufacturer in the
The typical accuracy of the feeder meters is class
country for digital Summation systems.
0.2S and is available in 1/ 5 Amps of basic current.
The Feeder Meters has a local display wherein all
Before we enter into serious examinations of the digital summator, we review
the energy demand, Time Of Use transactions of the
some of the practical field situations which makes the Summation metering
specific feeders can be obtained. The Feeder Meter
more complex. Those conditions are as:
also has the facility for load curve recording and the
number of channel may be upto four. The data from
Number of feeders : Mostly, the number of feeders in a typical consumer
the feeder meter can be downloaded electronically
installation are two, however, for power plants (IPP's) and inter-state metering
through the conventional meter reading port. As
the number of feeders may be upto six. Such a measurement requirement calls
the SUMMATION metering is employed for bulk
for a Summation Metering Scheme for six to eight feeders.
power transfer, the supplier and the receiver has a
concern over the integrity of metering, hence the
Feeder Voltages : The Feeder connecting the two power pools may have
feeder meter is equipped with the advance tamper
different origins and terminations, hence they may have different operating
detection hardware supported by the proprietary
voltages. For example, the IPP may be connected to the 400 KV national grid,
tamper detection algorithm of Secure meters
220KV or 132 KV state grid and to 132 KV load center, the custodian for revenue
Limited. Furthermore, Feeder Meters are based on
settlements may be the state electricity board. This requirement calls for the
the same CALMU® technology which has proven
metering system to operate at different feeder Voltages. Please note that in
itself for its reliability and accuracy in the hostile
such a situation, the Summation C.T and Pulse Summator can not be used.
Indian electrical and environmental conditions by
nearly all the Electricity Boards and Utilities for
Loop Line Flow : In situations where the two power pools are connected by
over a decade.
feeders having different origins or such a network conditions where the energy
flows in a few of the feeders in the import direction and returns back in the
APEX SUMMATOR uses fast sequential
remaining feeder(s). This phenomenon is called as loop line flow. The
communication with various feeder meters for the
challenge in such a situation is to measure only the energy consumed by the
four quadrant energy increment acquisition. The
consumer and over-looking the phenomenon of loop-line flow. This problem
captured data is processed by the using micro-

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processor(s) modules to finally arrive at the a metering system tailored for the particular application. For example, these
following tariff needed results: meters can measure the availability factor, deemed generation and other
jargons which forms an important part of the PPA.
1. Unconditional Summation.
2. Real time NET energy exchange. and APEX, has a unique feature of a built-in PLCC / PSTN modem which
3. IMPORT-EXPORT metering. continuously transfers the energy transactions to the Electricity Boards Grid
Sub-station / Load Dispatch center for the on-line demand-supply
Operation : The APEX SUMMATOR interrogates negotiations.
with the feeder meters and collects the incremental
energy data, which is in very high resolution. These The key features of APEX SUMMATOR are as follows:
data is processed to obtain various tariff related
quantities. ŸEliminates the need of Summation CT and error associated with it.
ŸRedundancy for adding more feeders upto the maximum of eight, hence
future proof.
ŸProvides freedom for using any feeder Voltage and CT ratios.
ŸAllows wide inter feeder spacing , which is more than a kilometer!
ŸPerforms real time NET metering.
ŸMeasurement is immune to Loop Line Flow, a phenomenon, which happens
during low loads, when electricity flows between the two sub-stations using
the consumer as inter-connector.
ŸSupports high resolution Summated load survey.
ŸExhaustive anomaly detection logic for Secure Metering.
ŸAdaptable to Independent Power Metering and Deemed generation clauses.
Feeder-1.

kWh-I kWh-E kVArh -

lag
kVArh
lead POWER
CHECK LIST FOR DECIDING A SUMMATION METERING
POOL
POWER
POOL-1. Feeder-2. SCHEME
kWh-I kWh-E kVAr h- kVArh -
lag lead
Summation metering is done for revenue intensive points and hence the
designer should take into consideration all the possible combinations which
ΣkWh- ΣkWh- ΣkVArh - ΣkVArh
Import export Lag -Lead may come on way. For the benefit of the metering /commercial engineer a
Micro-processor / Memory
check-list has been developed which may be of help while selecting and
specifying a metering scheme:
Module -1: Unconditional SUM

Module-2 : The Net SUMMATION

The Single line diagram :
Module -3 : The true IMPORT - EXPORT. The detailed SLD for the two parties should be available with stress on the
Various feeder Voltages, the origination and sink of each feeder should be
The digital Summator.. APEX SUMMATOR . known and understood. If a generator is connected on the either -end, the
possible combinations of its power flow should be worked out. All the circuit
FLEXIBILITY
combinations obtained by the switching in / out of the circuit breakers should
be made clear. One should check for the connections of the power
The APEX SUMMATOR is made up of discrete transformers and if they are in star connection, the three element feeder
modules like the True import-export module which meters should be invariably used.
finds applications in tie-lines connecting
Electricity Boards to the IPP's, it has the NET The Tariff structure :
module which is deployed in networks where there Basically a metering scheme is meant for revenue and before deciding on the
is a possibility of LOOP-LINE-FLOW. Besides these metering scheme, the tariff structure needs to made clear and a mutual
features, there are needs for performing the consent between the two parties should be established. The tariff must be
metering based on special conditions like the active debated over the following lines:
energy may be computed on NET basis, whereas for
the reactive energy, the unconditional metering Active energy : kWh
may apply. APEX SUMMATOR can be factory
configured for such selective metering also. 1. What is the export tariff for kWh ?
2. What is the import tariff for kWh ?
In case of IPP metering, the rule of the game is 3. Net energy : In case, simultaneous kWh import and export is taking place
totally different and is governed by the Power in different feeder, should the summation device record the NET kWh
Purchase Agreement (PPA). Every IPP have their based on the difference OR Import and Export should be recorded
own PPA and which in turn calls for a dedicated separately?
metering system. APEX SUMMATOR and APEX ( a 4. Does the price of kWh (import / Export ) is based on the concept of TIME OF
new breed of precision meters from Polymeters THE DAY? If yes, then the metering system should have the capability to
Response International) can be programmed for to record the import / export in different time zones. The number of such time
take care the various clauses of the PPA and to make zone needed for the immediate and future requirements should be
ascertained.

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Re-active energy : kVArh

1. The checklist for active energy must be referred, the only difference here is
the treatment of the Reactive lagging and leading energies.

Apparent Energy :

Apparent energy is a derived quantity , it is composed of the kWh and kVArh

which is added as per the rules of the vector mathematics. The following points
needs to be checked for ascertaining the metrology for apparent energy
computation:

2. Is kVAh = √(kW)2 + (kVARh)2 ?

3. In case of reactive leading, what should be the equation ? kVAh = kWh or
kVAh = √(kW)2 + (kVARh)2 ? This is necessary because some tariff provides
a concession for supplying reactive Vars.
4. Is kVAh separately needed while import and export of re-active energy?
This may be needed in case the import and export tariffs may be separate.
5. The average Power factor of the installation over a month is computed by
the relation kWh / kVAh, is it valid or the P.F. will be computed based on
kWh and kVArh.

Demand charges :

1. Is kW demand needed for Import and Export ?

2. In case of simultaneous import and export over feeders, should the
demand be computed based on NET import or export as the situation may
be, OR both should be recorded individual as the tariff may be.
3. Is kVAR demand needed ? which should be lagging or leading , or both.
Also, how the case of simultaneous lagging and leading in different feeder
should be tackled?
4. Is kVAr demand needed while active is import and export separately?
5. Is kVA needed for tariff ? What should be the mathematical relationship for
its computation in different cases of Import and Export.
6. What is the time interval which should be taken as the base for computing
the above demands? The standard timings are 15 / 30 / 60 minutes.
7. At last, what should be method of computing demand, should it be sliding
window based or Fixed Block of time based.

OTHER CLAUSES

In case of IPP's, there are some special clauses which are arrived after mutual
consent and is available in the PPA between the parties. These clauses may or
may not be common. The modern summation metering equipment can
accommodate these clauses and can be enforced by receiving the
authenticated signature and message from the utility over the telephone lines.

CONCLUSION

More and more metering nodes are coming up where multi-feeder

summation metering is needed. With the coming up of the IPP's on the grid,
the metering and commercial engineers will be getting more exposure on
the topic. This article was meant to provide the fundamentals behind the
summation metering, the developments which have taken place and the
new capabilities of the digital summation meters.

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