What is the actual science behind smart meters? How do they convert the flow of gas & electricity into digital data and how do we know they are accurate?

Question

I’m confused as to how we are supposed to have faith that smart energy meters are accurate – there’s very little information out there about how they work.

I searched the sub and previous threads about smart meters don’t have any scientific explanations, mostly just the social/practical issues of phasing out old meters and retrofitting new ones.

Filing under Technology but this could be physics or engineering I suppose

In: 13

Answer 1

Let’s clear it up – do you *specifically* have an issue with smart meters and had zero doubt about the old (electro)mechanical meters being accurate? If so, I’m not sure I really get where you’re coming from. Smart meters just have the same metering hardware, but instead of the output being connected to a little rotating number wheel you need to ogle and write down on a piece of paper, they are connected to a digital encoder that counts the rotations instead.