Regulatory Delivery
Regulatory Delivery has successfully completed its role in a project to check the UKs electricity meters are reading accurately.
There are currently an estimated 28 million electricity meters in use in the UK, and the European Commission estimate that 14 million new meters are sold annually across the EU. This figure will rise as the UK and other European countries roll out Smart meters, replacing the majority of meters installed in UK properties.
It is vital that these meters are accurate, and cannot be affected by the environment they are installed in, or tampered with by any party. By ensuring that meters installed in the UK comply with the legislation, consumers can be confident that their meters are recording the correct amount of electricity.
In September 2013, the National Measurement and Regulation Office, now part of Regulatory Delivery (RD), a directorate of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, signed up to participate in a European joint project for the market surveillance of electricity meters.
Under the European Measuring Instruments Directive (MID) (2004/22/EC), new electricity meters can be approved and put into use anywhere in the EU. The UK used the results from other member states in the project to assess a larger number of different meter types, any one of which could be installed in a UK household.
Forty-three professionals from 12 different European states worked together to check 22 different electricity meter types from 13 different manufacturers from all over Europe.
The project was partially funded by the European Commission, who covered 70% of the costs, with the extra 30% being contributed by the individual states from their own market surveillance resources.
All the participants have now finished testing the meters. The electricity meters passed the tests and were found to be operating accurately in the required conditions.
Consumers can be confident that new meters being installed in their properties conform to the legislation and register their electricity usage accurately.