We're seeing more billing discrepancies with TVA's old mechanical meters here in Knoxville. Found three clients this month with Westinghouse meters from the 1980s that are running slow by 2-3%. TVA's tariff GSA-1 allows for +/- 2% accuracy but these are beyond that tolerance. Anyone else dealing with aging mechanical infrastructure? The utility keeps saying smart meters will solve everything but deployment has been painfully slow in East Tennessee.
TVA still using old Westinghouse meters - billing errors increasing?
Duke Energy in Charlotte has similar issues with their older Sangamo meters. I've documented cases where 40+ year old meters are consistently reading 3-5% low, costing commercial clients thousands. The bigger problem is proving it - you need independent meter testing which costs $800-1200 per meter. Duke's been more responsive to replacement requests when we show the math though.
Ohio Edison territory has been a nightmare for this. We found a manufacturing facility in Youngstown with six mechanical meters, all reading different percentages low. The total impact was $14,000 annually in undercharging. FirstEnergy finally agreed to replace all six but it took 8 months of back and forth. The new AMI meters are much more accurate but the transition period creates its own audit challenges.
Eversource in Connecticut is ahead of the curve - they completed smart meter rollout in Hartford metro area by 2011. The accuracy improvement is dramatic but we're now dealing with interval data validation issues. AMI systems capture usage every 15 minutes which reveals consumption patterns the old mechanical meters never showed. Found several demand charges that were incorrectly calculated under the old system.
ComEd's smart meter program here in Chicago has been mixed results. The meters themselves are accurate but their billing system integration was buggy for the first two years. We caught multiple cases where interval data wasn't properly aggregating for time-of-use calculations. Rate schedule PO-6 was particularly problematic - summer peak hours were being calculated incorrectly, costing large commercial customers significant money.
CPS Energy in San Antonio just started their AMI deployment last year. The mechanical meters in our territory are ancient - some GE models from the 1970s that are so worn you can hear them struggling. We've documented accuracy issues ranging from +8% to -12% on different meters. The utility acknowledges the problem but replacement timeline is 5+ years. Meanwhile clients are either overpaying or underpaying significantly.
Cleveland Public Power is still 90% mechanical meters and it shows. I've got a client with a 1960s Sangamo meter that's reading 15% low - that's a $3,200 annual impact on their electric bill. CPP admits the meter is bad but says replacement will take 6 months minimum. The irony is the customer has been underpaying for years but now wants the utility to credit future bills to compensate for the inconvenience of dealing with an inaccurate meter.