Electric....meters...

[smudger1956]

During a conversation on all things electric, the topics went to power consumption,smart meters and the like..I was informed that if your meter calibration has not been renewed, or the certification period has passed, you can claim back a full refund for this period.?

Anyone shed any 'truth' on this...?

 

[flecc]

No mention of refunds of moneys paid in the rules, you'd probably need to go to court to claim back any money paid against charges during a period that a meter was out of certification. However, a defence could claim that by paying you had voluntarily accepted an unlicenced charge.

Here's the relevant extract of the rules:

Certification (Verification)
All domestic meters used for billing purposes by a licensed electricity supplier, must be certified to show that when tested following manufacture/refurbishment they conformed to the original pattern approval and operated within the prescribed levels of accuracy. They may be used for a specified period of time after which they must be removed from circuit.. This process is described in detail in The Meters (Certification) Regulations 1998, SI 1566.(as amended) This prescribes that all meters following approval be allocated a certification life (i.e. the time a meter is allowed to remain on circuit from initial certification. Meters for industrial and commercial customers are either certified or the supplier reaches agreement with the customer for a meter with a similar level of accuracy to be fitted. Ofgem allocated certification life is restricted to 10 years for newly approved induction meters and for periods of between 10 and 20 years for static meters. Certification periods greater than 10 years (for electronic meters) are subject to the submission and validation of a component reliability model based on the Siemens Norm SN29500. Subsequent in-service surveillance monitoring can result in either increase or decrease of this period. Up to date information regarding the status of any particular meter type can be gained by viewing the latest release of Schedule 4 to the Meter (Certification) Regulations which are listed on the Ofgem website.
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[smudger1956]

Thanks for that Flecc..