Meter slowing down not speeding up...

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Moderator Post (s) for this thread: > Test results by Billhart on 10/29/2008 > Creep test by Billhart on 10/29/2008 > Main breaker by Billhart on 10/30/2008 > Here's your question on a different forum by doug seibert on 11/05/2008

Hi Everyone,
I am pretty good at researching a subject, so naturally, I've been trying to find out all I can about the accuracy of analog electric meters.

Most of what I've found seems to be copied from site to site. It all reads identically. It simply states that electric meters are so accurate and so fool proof that they CANNOT go fast, only slow. This seems a bit odd. To say that a mechanical object cannot go one way or the other, abolutely, is untrue. Nothing is absolute. And in my research, I found several places that indicated that it WAS possible. One such place was a site that listed the history of the electric meter. It indicated specifically that a LIGHTNING STRIKE could cause a meter to SPEED UP.

Also, in my research, I found that the Connecticut Attorney General himself, re-opened an investigation into the accuracy of electric meters due to the fact that so many people were complaining about high bills.

Then, in my own experiments where I've been logging readings of my meter and two of my neighbors', I have noted that my meter sped up dramatically and then slowed down, for no apparent reason. But interestingly, I also noted BOTH neighbors meters do the same for different periods of time, and on different dates. Now, neither of their air conditioners were on at the time. Other than that, I was not in their homes so I do not know for sure that their refrigerator compressors were not on. But it seems to me that a meter should not suddenly speed up to the point that one cannot count it. When I asked the liason at the public service commission, who himself is an engineer and quite familiar with the electric meters, this same question, he said he had no idea why a meter would do that and that it seemed suspect to him.

So, I know that everyone believes what the power companies all state verbatim about their meters, yet, I have also been told by electricians and the liason at the PSC, that as meters get older, they get less accurate. They are quick to say that the meter will ONLY slow down, not speed up, but again, does that make sense to anyone who doesn't work for the electric company?

My electric company has stated that I cannot have a new meter, even though my meter is 16 yrs old , and had a lightning strike when it was 2 yrs old, UNLESS I agree to sign a statement that I promise to pay the back balance of over $3000.00, even if the new meter readings show that I am using less electricity than they old one says I am. They say that is because others have had this problem and when they got a new meter, they changed their usage patterns so drastically that their bills went down, just to prove that they were right so they wouldn't have to pay a back balance off.

I have a problem believing that anyone who is being charged almost 3 times what a regular electic bill is for my house size and demographics, could POSSIBLY change their usage patterns enough to bring the bill down so far that it would prove the back balance and the bills were wrong. My contention is that if a new meter showed that I wasn't using that much electricity per month, then that is because I finally got a meter that is working properly and the electric company owes me some money or at the least, should agree that I don't owe them $3000.00

I know that I have posted this before, but I am re-iterating this because of the research I am finding, and I am not finished looking, and because there have been a few posts saying that the meters cannot run fast, only slow. Again, does that make any sense, especially in light of the fact that there are many people who have this problem and who state that they believe their meters are running too fast? Are all of them dishonest or mistaken? The Connecticut Attorney General didn't seem to think so. I wish there were other Attorney Generals who would look into this problem. But I guess for now, I just have to hope I can convince the hearing officer that we should AT LEAST get a new meter to see if that is the problem. If DTE would have done that, we might have known the answer by now.

Thanks for listening.

BobetteV