MANILA - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved recently the rules and procedures for the test and maintenance of electric meters of distribution utilities (DUs). 

In a statement, the ERC said the rules and procedures were promulgated to ensure the highest level of confidence of the consumers on the accuracy of their electric watt-hour meters. The said rules will take effect 15 days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

The ERC has mandated all DUs to ensure that all electric meters put into service are tested and sealed. Meters that are already in service, on the other hand, should be tested in an ERC-approved meter shop at least once every 2 years in accordance with a statistical sampling program approved by the ERC.

A meter shop is a place where routine testing, repair, and calibration of electric meters and other auxiliary devices are undertaken. It should have equipment essential to the metering of electric power and energy and must be readily available for inspection during office hours by an authorized ERC representative.

A DU or a consortium of DUs should file with the ERC an application for a Certificate of Authority, which has a validity period of only 3 years, to operate and maintain a meter test shop. In case a DU proves that it is more feasible to engage the services of an outside meter shop, an application for exemption should also be filed. These applications must be filed within 6 months after effectivity of the rules, the ERC said.

At present, it is the ERC’s own personnel and meter laboratory that are utilized for the actual testing and calibration activities of the DUs’ meters which number in the millions nationwide. The move of the ERC to have routine testing and calibration of meters done by the DUs, subject to ERC’s statistical sampling program, will considerably shorten the process turnaround time.

"The ERC assures electricity consumers that it will closely monitor the operations of meter shops to ensure their strict compliance to the rules and procedures. For the protection of all consumers, it will see to it that every meter undergoing testing and calibration maintains an accuracy level that has an error tolerance of nearly zero,” said ERC Chairperson Zenaida Cruz-Ducut.