Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland
1999 No. 444

ELECTRICITY
Meters (Certification) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Made
15th December 1999

Coming into operation
1st February 1999

The Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern Ireland, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by Articles 34 and 64 of, and paragraph 6 of Schedule 7 to, the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992(1), and of every other power enabling him in that behalf, and with the consent of the Department of Economic Development in accordance with Article 2(2) of that Order, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Meters (Certification) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 and shall come into operation on 1st February 1999.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“approved” means approved by or under Regulations made under paragraph 3 of Schedule 7 to the Order;

“authorised examiner” means a person who is authorised in accordance with regulation 5;

“authorised manufacturer” means a person who is authorised in accordance with regulation 3;

“authorised repairer” means a person who is authorised in accordance with regulation 4;

“certification period” means, in the case of a meter of a type specified in columns 1 to 6 (inclusive) of Schedule 4, the period stated in relation thereto in column 7 of that Schedule and, in the case of any other meter, the period of 10 years, the period beginning in each case on the date on which the meter is certified for the purpose of the Order;

“directions” means any directions issued by the Director under paragraph 7(1) of Schedule 7 to the Order;

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992(2) as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993(3).

“EEA State” means a state which, at the date of the entry into force of these Regulations, is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;

“equivalent European provisions” has the meaning given by regulation 8;

“meter examiner” means a person appointed under paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 to the Order;

“the Order” means the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992; and

“permitted margins of error” means the margins of error referred to in regulation 7.

Authorised manufacturer

3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) any person who manufactures meters and satisfies the Director that—

(a)he owns or has available to him apparatus for the examination, testing and regulation of meters which complies with directions;

(b)he operates at a manufacturing unit a quality assurance system in respect of every meter manufactured by him at that unit which conforms to the standard contained in European Standard EN ISO 9001(4), or to any standard, technical regulation, manufacturing method or code of practice accepted in other EEA States conformity with which will achieve an equivalent assurance of quality; and

(c)he would be capable of complying with the conditions set out in paragraph (2),

may be authorised by the Director for the purpose of these Regulations in respect of meters manufactured by him at that manufacturing unit for a period not exceeding three years but so that any authorisation may be renewed from time to time.

(2) An authorisation granted by the Director to a person who satisfies the provisions of paragraph (1) shall be subject to the following conditions—

(a)that the authorisation will only apply in respect of meters which have been examined, tested and regulated using the apparatus referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1);

bthat the authorised person will operate at all times at each manufacturing unit a quality assurance system which conforms to the standard referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) and will maintain a record in permanent form of the system which he operates and of the actions taken to comply with that system in respect of the meter or meters which he intends to submit for certification in accordance with regulation 6;

(c)that the authorised person shall secure that each meter referred to in sub-paragraph (b) shall be examined and tested in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 1 or one of the equivalent European provisions;

(d)that the authorised person shall cause every meter in respect of which a certificate has been issued under regulation 7 or 9 to be so stored while it remains under his control and so packaged for delivery when it is to be dispatched from his control as to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, damage which would cause it to operate in a manner which would not conform with the permitted margins of error;

(e)that the authorised person will permit the Director or any persons duly authorised by him to have access to any manufacturing unit and to examine and test all apparatus and to inspect all records referred to in this paragraph at all reasonable times for the purpose of ensuring that the authorised person is complying with the conditions of his authorisation; and

(f)that the authorised person will comply with directions.

(3) An authorisation under this regulation may be terminated at any time by the Director upon giving not less than 28 days' notice to the authorised person if he is in breach of any condition of his authorisation and (in the case of a breach which is capable of being remedied) has failed to remedy that breach as soon as reasonably practicable after notice has been given to him by the Director specifying the breach.

(4) For the purpose of this regulation and Schedule 2—

(a)a person shall be treated as manufacturing a meter if he has caused the meter to be assembled so as to comply with the conditions of his authorisation but has not himself manufactured every component part of the meter;

(b)“assembled” includes the carrying out of repairs or modifications to a meter within a period of twelve months after the date upon which a certificate in respect of that meter was first issued under regulation 7 or 9; and

(c)“manufacturing unit” means premises specified to the Director in writing (which may identify the premises by reference to a plan) at which meters are manufactured but excludes any premises or that part of any premises which are used, otherwise than as provided in sub-paragraph (b), for the cleaning and repair of meters which have previously been used for measuring the quantity of electricity supplied.

Authorised repairer

4.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) any person who repairs meters and satisfies the Director that—

(a)he owns or has available to him apparatus for the examination, testing and regulation of meters which complies with directions;

(b)he operates at a repair unit a quality assurance system in respect of every meter repaired by him at that unit which conforms to the standard contained in EuropeanStandard EN ISO 9002(5), or to any standard, technical regulation, manufacturing method or code of practice accepted in any EEA State conformity with which will achieve an equivalent assurance of quality; and

(c)he would be capable of complying with the conditions set out in paragraph (2), may be authorised by the Director for the purpose of these Regulations in respect of meters repaired by him at that repair unit for a period not exceeding three years but so that any authorisation may be renewed from time to time.

(2) Any authorisation granted by the Director to a person who satisfies the provisions of paragraph (1) shall be subject to the following conditions—

(a)that the authorisation will only apply in respect of meters which have been examined, tested and regulated using the apparatus referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1);

(b)that the authorised person will operate at all times at each repair unit a quality assurance system which conforms to the standard referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) and will maintain a record in permanent form of the system which he operates and of the actions taken to comply with that system in respect of the meter or meters which he intends to submit for certification in accordance with regulation 6;

(c)that the authorised person will cause each meter which is repaired at a repair unit to be repaired to a standard and using such materials as would reasonably be expected to enable it to operate within the permitted margins of error for not less than the certification period;

(d)that the authorised person shall secure that each meter referred to in sub-paragraph (b) shall be examined and tested in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 1 or one of the equivalent European provisions

(e)that the authorised person shall cause every meter in respect of which a certificate has been issued under regulation 7 or 9 to be so stored while it remains under his control and so packaged for delivery when it is to be dispatched from his control as to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, damage which would cause it to operate in a manner which would not conform with the permitted margins of error;

(f)that the authorised person will permit the Director or any person duly authorised by him to have access to any repair unit and to examine and test all apparatus and to inspect all records referred to in this paragraph at all reasonable times for the purpose of ensuring that the authorised person is complying with the conditions of his authorisation; and

(g)that the authorised person will comply with directions.

(3) An authorisation under this regulation may be terminated at any time by the Director upon giving not less that 28 days' notice to the authorised person if he is in breach of any condition of his authorisation and (in the case of a breach which is capable of being remedied) has failed to remedy that breach as soon as reasonably practicable after notice has been given to him by the Director specifying the breach.

(4) For the purpose of this regulation and Schedule 2 “repair unit” means premises specified to the Director in writing (which may identify the premises by reference to a plan) at which meters which have previously been used for measuring the quantity of electricity supplied are cleaned, repaired, tested or regulated but excluding any premises or that part of any premises which are used for the manufacture or assembly of meters.

Authorised examiner

5.—(1) A public electricity supplier, an authorised manufacturer or an authorised repairer may nominate a competent person for the purpose of this regulation.

(2) If the Director is satisfied that a person nominated under paragraph (1) is competent to carry out the functions contained or referred to in regulation 7 the Director may authorise that person to be an examiner for the purpose of certifying meters for the purpose of the Order.

(3) Subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), an authorisation under paragraph (2) shall be granted for a period of 3 years but so that any such authorisation may be renewed from time to time.

(4) A person authorised to be an examiner shall not be authorised to examine any meter which he has (wholly or partly) manufactured or repaired, or one which he has examined, tested or regulated in a capacity other than that of an examiner authorised under paragraph (2).

(5) An authorisation granted by the Director to a person who satisfies the provisions of paragraph (2) shall be subject to the following conditions—

(a)that the authorisation will only apply in respect of meters which have been manufactured or repaired (as the case may be) by the person by whom he was nominated under paragraph (1);

(b)that, where regulation 9 applies, he will examine and test not less than the number of meters selected in accordance with a sampling procedure determined by the Director having regard to national or international sampling procedures or plans;

(c)that he will send to the Director not more than seven days after the expiry of each month a report stating the number of meters which have been submitted to him in accordance with regulation 6 and the number of meters in respect of which a certificate has been issued under regulation 7 or 9 during the preceding month; and

(d)that he will retain a copy of each certificate issued by him for a period of not less than one year from the date of issue and will produce the copy to the Director if requested to do so.

(6) An authorisation under this regulation may be terminated at any time by the Director upon giving not less than 28 days' notice to the authorised person if—

(a)he is in breach of any condition of his authorisation and (in the case of a breach which is capable of being remedied) has failed to remedy that breach as soon as reasonably practicable after notice has been given to him by the Director specifying the breach;

(b)he fails to exercise proper care and attention in performing his functions under regulation 7 or 9; or

(c)he is unable (otherwise than temporarily) to perform his functions under regulation 7 or 9.

(7) Where—

(a)a person nominated under paragraph (1) and authorised under paragraph (2) is temporarily unable for any reason to act as an authorised examiner; and

(b)the person by whom he was nominated has nominated another person under paragraph (1) who has been authorised under paragraph (2); and

(c)the person referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph is again able to act as an authorised examiner,

the Director may give not less than 28 days in writing to the authorised person referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph terminating his authorisation.

Application for certification

6.—(1) A person who requires a meter to be certified for the purposes of the Order may submit the meter to an authorised examiner who is authorised to certify a meter submitted by that person, or to a meter examiner.

(2) Each meter which is submitted for certification pursuant to regulation 9 shall be accompanied by a report signed by an authorised manufacturer, an authorised repairer or a public electricity supplier.

(3) A report for the purpose of paragraph (2) shall contain the statements and information specified in Schedule 2 which is appropriate to the type of meter to which it relates including, where that meter is designed to operate with a transformer, the statements and information relating to the transformer.

Procedure for certification

7.—(1) Subject to regulation 9, a meter which is submitted to a meter examiner or an authorised examiner shall not be certified by him unless, in addition to being satisfied as required by paragraph 6(2)(a) of Schedule 7 to the Order that the meter is of an approved pattern or construction, he is satisfied—

(a)either that the meter has been tested in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 3, conforms to the standards described in that Schedule and can reasonably be expected to operate within the permitted margins of error for not less than the certification period or that it has been tested in accordance with and conforms to one of the equivalent European provisions; and

(b)that it has been sealed in accordance with directions.

(2) The permitted margins of error shall be an error not exceeding 2.5 per centum plus or 3.5 per centum minus at any load at which the meter is designed to operate.

(3) Where the examiner is satisfied that a meter complies with paragraph (1), he shall issue a certificate of compliance specifying the serial number of the meter, and thereupon that meter shall be a meter certified for the purpose of the Order.

(4) Each certificate issued under paragraph (3) shall be numbered in the sequence in which it is issued.

Equivalent European Provisions

8.—(1) Equivalent European provisions are—

(a)the provisions as to verification in Council Directive 76/891/EEC(6) as amended by Commission Directive No. 82/621/EEC(7) and Protocol 1 and Part IX of Annex II to the EEA Agreement;

(b)European Standard EN 61036(8); and

(c)any standard, technical regulation, manufacturing method or code of practice accepted by other EEA States conformity with which will ensure a level of precision, security, safety, durability and fitness for purpose equivalent to that assured by conformity to Schedule 3.

(2) A meter examiner or an authorised examiner to whom a meter has been submitted under regulation 6 shall take into account the results of checks and tests carried out by the bodies and laboratories of other EEA States if the checks and tests have been carried out in conformity with European standard EN 45001(9).

Batch certification

9.  Where—

(a)a number of meters have been submitted to an examiner at the same time by the same person;

(b)that person is a public electricity supplier, an authorised manufacturer or an authorised repairer;

(c)each meter is of an approved pattern or construction and is accompanied by the report referred to in regulation 6(2); and

(d)the examiner has examined and tested a sufficient number of meters to satisfy himself that it provides a reasonable test of all of them,

he may issue a certificate in respect of all the meters so submitted to him specifying or identifying the serial number of each meter and including all the information contained in the report submitted under regulation 6(2) and thereupon each of those meters shall be a meter certified for the purpose of the Order.

Duration of certification

10.  A meter certified or deemed to be certified for the purpose of the Order shall cease to be so certified or deemed to be so certified—

(a)if the approval of the pattern or construction of that meter is revoked;

(b)f it is or becomes installed in a manner which is not an approved manner of installation;

(c)if any alteration is made to the meter;

(d)if the meter ceases to operate within the permitted margins of error; or

(e)at the expiry of its certification period.

whichever occurs first. whichever occurs first.

Fees

11.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), any person who submits under regulation 6 a meter to a meter examiner for certification shall pay to the Director in accordance with paragraph (4), a fee of 34 pence in respect of each meter so submitted.

(2) Where a fee has already been paid to the Director General of Electricity Supply in respect of the submission of a meter for certification under the Electricity Act 1989(10), no fee shall be payable under paragraph (1) in respect of that meter.

(3) Within seven days after the last day of each calendar month in which a person has submitted a meter to a meter examiner under regulation 6, he shall deliver to the Director a statement of the number of meters which he has submitted during the preceding month.

(4) Within thirty days of the delivery of the statement referred to in paragraph (3), he shall pay to the Director a fee calculated in accordance with paragraph (1) in respect of the meters referred to in that statement.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), any person who nominates an authorised examiner under regulation 5, other than in the circumstances set out in regulation 5(7)(a) and (b), shall pay to the Director a fee of £7,600 in respect of that examiner’s authorisation.

(6) Where the Director is satisfied that the number of meters which will be submitted under regulation 6 to an authorised examiner in the period of 12 months beginning on the date of his authorisation is likely to be less than 1,000, the fee in respect of the authorisation shall be £540.

(7) Paragraphs (5) and (6) shall apply to the renewal of an authorisation under regulation 5 as it applies to an original authorisation granted under that regulation.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Electricity Supply for Northern Ireland on

L.S.
Douglas B. McIldoon
Director General of Electricity Supply for Northern Ireland
15th December 1998.

The Department of Economic Development hereby consents to the foregoing Regulations.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Economic Development on

L.S.
J.E. Wolstencroft
Assistant Secretary
15th December 1998.

Regulations 3(2)(c) and 4(2)(d)

SCHEDULE 1Authorised Manufacturers' and authorised repairers' tests and testing methods for alternating current watthour meters

Pre-heating

1.—(1) The following tests shall not be carried out until the voltage circuits of meters under test and the voltage circuit of working standard integrating meters have been energised for a period of one hour or half an hour if a current of not less than either 10% of basic current or 5% of marked current is applied to the current circuit of the meters, save that the non-registration and starting current tests may be carried out during the pre-heating period.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) shall not apply to a meter which the examiner is satisfied is capable of full operation as soon as it is energised.

Non-registration test

2.  Induction meters

(1) Induction meters shall be tested to ensure that when the current circuits are open and a voltage of 110% of the declared system voltage is applied to the voltage circuits, rotors cease to rotate before completing one complete revolution.

Static meters

(2) Static meters shall be tested for non-registration by one of the following methods—

(a) Method 1

(a)(i)When subjected to the test conditions specified in paragraph 2(1), the meter shall not emit more than one output pulse over the minimum test period determined in paragraph (ii);

(ii)the minimum test period (t) shall be computed by the formula:

No math image to display

where:

k = number of pulses per kWh emitted by the meter

m = number of elements

V = declared system voltage

Im = marked maximum current.

(b) Method 2

(b)When static meters are fitted with inhibiting circuits, they may be tested for non-registration with a current, which is less than the threshold current in respect of a meter of that type, applied to the current circuits and a voltage of 100% of the declared system voltage applied to the voltage circuits of the meters under test. Meters shall not emit more than one output pulse over the minimum test period (t) determined as follows—

No math image to display

where:

V = declared system voltage

I = total current of all phases

k = number of pulses emitted per kWh by the meter

pf = power factor.

(c) Method 3

(c)The period calculated for Method 1 or Method 2 may be halved if the meters under test do not emit any output pulses during the period of the test.

Accuracy tests

3.—(1) Apparatus used for determining the errors of repaired meters during these tests shall comply with the directions.

(2) The rate of advance of a meter over a test period shall be obtained by reading the electro-mechanical register or electronic display on or connected to meters or by monitoring the rotation of a disc or pulse output of a meter.

(3) For any test load, the load applied to a working standard integrating meter shall not be less that 25% or more than 125% of its full load rating.

(4) For a working standard wattmeter, the applied load shall not be less than 40% or more than 100% of its full scale or range reading.

Methods of accuracy test

4.  Method A test

(1) A long period dial test where the advance of a kWh display, which is part of or connected to a meter under test, is compared with the advance of a precision kilowatt-hour meter.

Method B test

(2) A short period test where the rate of advance of a meter under test is compared to the rate of advance of a precision kilowatt-hour meter.

Method C test

(3) A short period test where the actual rate of advance of a meter when tested under constant power conditions over a specified test period, is compared to the calculated rate of advance for those conditions.

Conditions for all testing

5.—(1) The tests shall be carried out in accordance with Table 1.

Meter position

(2) The meter position requirement given in Table 1 applies to induction meters only. Tolerance applies to the vertical wall on which the meter base is mounted and a horizontal reference line or edge on the meter such as the lower edge of the terminal block.

Voltage and current supplies for polyphase meters

(3) (a) The order of the phases shall correspond to the sequence shown on the connection diagram.
(b)The voltages shall be balanced so that the voltage between any line and neutral or between any two lines shall not differ by more than 1.5% from the mean of the corresponding voltages.

(c)The currents shall be balanced so that the current in any conductor shall not differ by more than 2.5% from the mean of these currents.

(d)The phase displacement between the current and corresponding phase to neutral voltage shall not differ from other current and voltage phase displacements by more than 3° at any power factor under any specified load conditions.

External magnetic induction

(4) The test given in Table 1 in respect of external magnetic induction shall be carried out during commissioning or after major modification or refurbishing of a meter testing system. The test consists of determining the errors at 0.1Ib unity power factor with the meters normally connected and then determining the errors —

(a)for single phase meters, after reversing both current and voltage connections, for which half the difference between the two errors is the value of the variation;

(b)for polyphase meters, by making two additional measurements after each of the connections to the current circuits and to the voltage circuits are changed over 120° but with the phase sequence unaltered, for which the greatest difference between each error determined and the mean of the three errors is the value of the variation.

Dial tests

(5) Where all the errors of repaired meters are determined by Method B or Method C test an additional test in accordance with Method A shall be carried out. The Method A test shall be carried out at one of the loads used for the Method B or Method C test. The error obtained by the Method A test shall not differ by more than 0.6% from the error obtained at the same load value by the Method B or Method C test.

Duration of test

(6) The tests described in paragraph 4 shall continue until the error of meters can be calculated within a tolerance not greater than ±0.2%.

Conditions for mixing methods of tests

(7) Method A tests may be used for intermediate and high loads, at unity and at 0.5 power factor, and Method B or Method C tests for the low load, provided that an additional Method B or Method C test is carried out at one of the test load values used for the Method A tests.

Test loads

1.—(1) Every repaired meter shall be tested at each of the loads specified in Table 2, except that test number 2 in that Table may be omitted.

(2) Every new meter shall be calibrated and tested at a sufficient number of load points so as to ensure that meter errors are not greater than the limits specified in paragraph 9.

(3) A test for starting will also be carried out on new meters in accordance with test number 7 of Table 2.

(4) The ratio errors shall be determined for voltage transformers that are intended for use with meters but are not tested with a meter.

(5) Current transformers intended for use with meters but not tested with a meter shall be tested from 5% to 120% of rated current.

Multi-register meters

7.  Induction meters

(1) (a) All induction meters with more than one register shall be tested on one register in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6 and on each and every other register at a low load using Method A, Method B or Method C tests and at a high load using Method A test.
(b)For the same load conditions the maximum permitted difference between the error on one register (expressed as a percentage) and the error on any other register (expressed as a percentage) is one.

Static meters

(2) (a) All static meters with more than one register shall be tested on one register in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6.
(b)For repaired meters with more than one register —

(i)where the total units are the sum of all the registers, a further test shall be carried out on each and every other register using Method A but

(ii)where the total units are recorded on one register, only that register is required to be tested in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6.

Ployphase meters

8.—(1) very polyphase meter shall be tested on a circuit having a phase relationship for which that meter is designed. However, three phase, four wire polyphase meters may be tested without current in the neutral conductor.

(2) Polyphase meters shall be tested by using—

(a)a polyphase kilowatt-hour energy standard;

(b)2 or 3 singlephase kilowatt-hour energy standards; or

(c)2 or 3 singlephase wattmeters.

Margins of Error

9.—(1) The maximum error permitted for—

(a)single phase and polyphase whole current meters; and

(b)single phase and polyphase transformer operated meters when tested with transformers connected

shall not exceed plus or minus 1.5% for tests numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 given in Table 2.

(2) The maximum error permitted for both single phase and polyphase transformer operated meters, when tested without transformers connected, shall not exceed plus or minus 1.0% for tests numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 given in Table 2.

(3) The maximum error permitted for polyphase whole current and transformer operated meters, when tested with transformers connected, shall not exceed plus 1.7% or minus 2.7% for tests 5 and 6 given in Table 2.

(4) The maximum error permitted for polyphase transformer operated meters, when tested without transformers connected, shall not exceed plus 1.2% or minus 2.2% for test numbers 5 and 6 given in Table 2.

(5) Where current and voltage transformers, which are intended to be used with meters, are not tested connected to a meter then the total error of the transformers at any load point throughout the rated range shall not exceed 0.5%.

Insulation property test

10.  Each meter shall be tested to demonstrate that the insulation of the meter is of a sufficient standard to enable the meter to operate safely and correctly in the conditions in which it could reasonably be expected to be installed and operated.

TABLE 1

Influence Quantitles
Reference Value
Tolerance

Ambient temperature
Reference temperature or, if not indicated, 23°C.
>15°C to