Hi. I want to switch the A1700 relays, or the A1140 relay from a screen in PNPSCADA. via a breaker or contactor entity.
The Add dialog for these meters make available a .mpl file that it says I can use via PMU (the Elster meter manufacturer software) to program the meter with these files, in order for the functionality to work.
However, I can't seem to get PMU to use those files. I can't open the files with PMU, and I can't import those files with PMU. How do I do it? Are the files useless???

I feel your pain.
No, PMU doesn't actually work from files like a normal Windows application. It works from a database that it keeps locally.
The mpl files gets created in the directory C:\ELSTER\PMU\CommsApp\Scripts (depending on where you installed PMU).
It only gets created when the meter is programmed (when the Schema is sent to the meter). This is the file that gets sent to the meter, or rather, it defines the communication session with the Elster meter, in a kind of script.
So, the way to use the mpl files, is:

1. Copy the mpl file into the directory
   
2. Make the file readonly
   
3. Start PMU.
   
4. Create a new A1700 scheme, called by the same name
   
5. Use PMU to program the meter for that schema (set something nominal like the Outstation Number or the time)
   

This should therefore have sent the downloaded mpl to the meter.
To verify that this is what happened, download the TOU settings from the meter, and check that you have two Rates in your TOU: one that is always on, and one that is always off. The switching from PNPSCADA just switches the Rate the relays look at between these two (unless you do Load Scheduling on an A1700, when we program more Rates - so that the control happens locally and is not dependent on GPRS or some such unreliable communications technology)

In fact, if PMU is running while you try to change the permission on the file to readonly, it will automatically start the communication's server and try to send the file to the meter.
The files we provide is on COM1 and 9600 baud.