E-32—Policy on the verification and reverification of electronic electricity meters programmed with the delivered plus received watt-hour energy measurement function

The copy of this document located on Measurement Canada's website is considered to be the controlled copy.

Category: Electricity
Bulletin: E-32
Document(s): S-E-05
Issue date: 2012-09-05
Effective date: 2012-10-01
Supersedes: Information bulletin—Policy on the use of electronic electricity meters programmed with the "delivered plus received" energy function (2011-10-19)


Table of contents


1.0 Purpose

This bulletin provides the policy on the verification and reverification of electronic electricity meters which are programmed with a watt-hour energy measurement function that only displays delivered plus received watt-hour energy as the legal units of measure, and are installed after the effective date of this bulletin.

The information in this bulletin was originally published in a Measurement Canada (MC) Information Bulletin October 19, 2011. As a result of enquiries received on this Information Bulletin, the Agency decided to republish the policy and include additional information and clarifications within a new policy bulletin.

Note: The meter's delivered energy measurement function is approved for the purpose of indication of the legal units of measure used for billing, whereas the value derived from the summation of delivered plus received energy is not approved.

2.0 Authority

This specification is issued under the authority of subsection 12(2) and section 18 of the Electricity and Gas Inspection Regulations.

3.0 Background

Prior to the first issuance of S-E-05—Specification for approval of type of electronic meters - net metering, electronic electricity meters were permitted by MC to be programmed with a metering function that could measure, summate and display the energy delivered to a load plus energy that may be received from a load source (i.e., the delivered plus received energy function). MC had advised stakeholders that a meter programmed with the delivered plus received function was approved for measuring delivered energy quantities only.

On July 1, 2007, clause 5.1.3 of S-E-05 was revised to clarify that MC would not assess the summation of the total registration of the delivered plus received energy quantities during type approval. Although this function may be programmed for use by utilities for consumption analysis purposes, its application in providing the only value of energy registration displayed was neither approved nor intended to be verified as the approved registration in establishing the legal units of measure for billing.

4.0 Policy

4.1 Verification and reverification of electronic meters

4.1.1 Subject to clause 4.4 of this bulletin and as per clause 5.1.3 of S-E-05, electricity meters shall only be verified and reverified for legal units of measure which are identified as approved on a meter's Notice of Approval.

4.1.2 Subject to clause 4.4, unapproved functions such as the delivered plus received kilowatt-hour function, while not prohibited from being present or accessible on a meter, shall not be eligible for initial verification or reverification.  These functions should only be accessible in an alternate display mode or via an internal register not visible in the meter's normal display mode.

4.2 Use of electronic meters installed and programmed to display delivered plus received energy

4.2.1 Subject to clause 4.4, meters currently used for revenue purposes and whose display is programmed to provide consumption values for billing with a delivered plus received energy function only, may remain in service providing they are not installed on services capable of bidirectional energy transfer (received and delivered energy).

4.2.2 Subject to clause 4.4, upon reverification, any such meters described in 4.2.1 shall be reprogrammed such that the energy consumption used for billing is displayed through an approved function such as the following prior to reverification and return to service:

  1. delivered energy,
  2. received energy,
  3. net energy.

4.3 Maintaining homogeneity for sampling under S-S-06—Sampling plans for the inspection of isolated lots of meters in service

4.3.1 Once a meter seal is broken and/or the meter has been reprogrammed to register delivered energy instead of delivered plus received energy, the meter shall be reverified before it is returned to service.

4.3.2 Where the only change to the meter is the reprogramming of the primary or normal mode display to show delivered energy rather than delivered plus received energy, the meter owner shall treat the meter as reverified, or return it to the parent lot for future sampling in accordance with S-S-06, under the following conditions:

  1. the meter was a sample meter from a lot sampled under S-S-06 and found to be compliant with verification requirements,
  2. the meter is resealed with an additional identifier indicating the original seal year in the sealing assembly as per section 5.5.1.3 of S-S-06, and
  3. the reprogramming of the meter does not affect the meter's performance or reliability in any way.

4.3.3 In cases where the sample meter does not meet verification requirements, the meter shall not be returned to service until it can be reverified in accordance with MC requirements.

4.3.4 For future sampling purposes, the meter owner shall provide documentation to support a claim that the reprogrammed meters can be considered to be consistent with the meters in the lot that were not reprogrammed as per section A.1.1 of Annex A of S-S-06. A documented list of the meters' programmed functions both before and after reprogramming (showing that only the primary or normal mode display was changed) will be considered adequate documentation to qualify meters as homogeneous.

4.4 Grandfathering of electronic meters programmed to display the delivered plus received function

4.4.1 Meter types programmed to display the delivered plus received function that cannot be reprogrammed at the time of reverification to display an approved function may continue to be reverified. Such meters shall not be permitted to be installed on any service capable of bidirectional energy transfer.