As part of the litmus test to extending efficient service to customers, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved new set of rules and procedures for the testing and maintenance of electric meters.

The end goal of the policy, the regulator said, would be to “ensure the highest level of confidence of consumers on the accuracy of their electric watt-hour meters.”

All distribution utilities (DUs) are required to subject all of their electric meters to testing before putting them into service or installing them relative to a customer’s application for service connection. Similarly, regulatory policy requires that these meters are properly sealed according to standards.

For the meters already in circulation prior to the issuance of the ERC rules, it was emphasized that these shall be tested, at least once every two years, in meter shops accredited by the regulator. A statistical sampling group has been set by the regulatory body for this purpose.

“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,” ERC chairperson Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut said.

She further explained that as a way of protecting consumers, the ERC “will see to it that every meter undergoing testing and calibration maintains an accuracy level that has an error tolerance of nearly zero.”

With the meter shops yet to be institutionalized, the ERC noted that its own personnel and meter laboratory are being utilized “for the actual testing and calibration activities of the DUs’ meters” – the total of which is already hitting millions nationwide.

As envisioned, the designated meter shops are those permitted by the ERC to undertake routine testing, repair and calibration of electric meters and other auxiliary devices.