Since the discovery of electricity as we know it today, there have been numerous devices and equipment made to support the infrastructure of the grid throughout the years. The most important type of equipment for utility companies is the electricity meter. This device shows how much electricity a household has used for a certain period of time expressed in various units with the most common one being kWh (kilowatt-hour). Electricity meters allow you to have an eye on how much electricity you use too, depending on where you have it installed.
Modern-day meters are able to send and transmit data to your local utility company which excludes the data from being shown on the meter itself. This way only the utility company has access to the data in real-time instead of having to send someone in and check readings. There are different meters that don't hide the data from you and can help you track energy use in real-time. All this has been made possible by one simple yet extremely important component, a meter neutral link bar.

What is a Neutral Link?

These bars are made of aluminium, brass, or copper and they are used as an electrical terminal in any electrical circuit including those in electricity meters. Other types of new neutral links can also be found made as bars and they can be found used in a fuse holder. This type of application makes a device act as a circuit isolator.

Installing a Neutral Link

1. You need to start by removing the front cover and then sliding in the neutral bar. Then you need to fit the electrical neutral link onto the neutral terminal of incomer. Usually, you need to tighten the link up to 3.6 Nm.
2. Fit every electrical neutral link on the outgoing terminals and tighten them to 2.5 Nm. Afterwards, fit the neutral bar covers and bring the cover back in its place by tightening it too to 2.5 Nm. The torque settings for your neutral links are can be different just make sure to check for manufacturer-provided information.

Types of Electricity Meters

Standard

A standard or conventional electricity meter is one that is still the most commonly used. Standard electric meters are able to display your household's electricity usage similar to the way an odometer is able to display the kilometres you've driven. While in the early days of standard meters they would use a set of dials to display the readings, nowadays this is shown on a digital display.
Usually, the readings on today's standard electricity meters are easy to read as the number that has the kWh unit next to it is the amount of energy your household has been using in one hour. Since standard electric meters charge the same rate for electricity all the time they are easy to understand and read. There is a meter called economy 7 which is similar to a standard electricity meter except that it provides data about energy consumption during peak hours too.

Prepayment

While not as common as a standard electricity meter, prepayment meters are ones that require you to pay for your electricity usage in advance so you're only able to use electricity that you've paid for. These meters make you more wary of how you use electricity in your home. If you were to go over your prepaid electricity, the utility provider will usually back charge.
This is essentially continuing your supply of electricity which then makes for debt. Prepayment or prepaid meters come in various options such as standard meters and ones that can connect to a pay point. The latter accept any keys or tokens which can be purchased from supermarkets and even local shops. Other prepayment meters allow you to top up via the internet.

Smart

The latest solution in the world of electricity meters is the smart meter which lets you in on more information about your household's energy consumption. Smart meters display real-time data about energy usage and historical usage data too which tells you about your energy consumption behaviour. With this data, a smart meter is able to optimise your energy consumption and help reduce the energy bill for the months to come. This way you will also make sure that your utility provider gets accurate readings thus eliminating the need for data to be sent manually or for someone to come and read the meter from the utility company.
Smart electricity meters are available as SMETS1 and SMETS2. SMETS1 is the first generation are known to revert to standard meters when you electricity provider. SMETS2 smart meters, on the other hand, are much more reliable since they do not have this sort of issue. But with software updates, SMETS1 meters are also being made compatible with more suppliers. Nevertheless, smart meters are definitely the future as now you're also able to check your household's energy consumption at any time on your phone via an app.