Interesting situation at a warehouse in suburban Cleveland on FirstEnergy. During a site visit I noticed the electric meter is an old mechanical dial meter — not digital, not smart, actual spinning disc. The meter looks like it's from the 1980s. I mentioned it to FirstEnergy and they immediately wanted to schedule a replacement with a smart meter. The client asked me: is there any advantage to keeping the old meter?
Old mechanical meter found — utility wanted to replace
Old mechanical meters tend to slow down over time, which means they underregister usage. If the client has been benefiting from a slow meter for years, replacing it with an accurate smart meter will increase their bills. That said, the utility has the right to replace the meter and there's no legal basis to refuse. I'd request a meter test before the swap. If the old meter is running slow, document the accuracy percentage. The client should expect a bill increase after the swap and plan accordingly.
Derek's advice is sound. Request the meter test. If the old meter is running at 95% accuracy (5% slow), the client has been underbilled by 5% for however long that meter has been in service. A new meter at 100% accuracy will increase the bill by about 5%. This isn't an error — it's the correction of a longstanding underbilling. The client needs to know this is coming. On the flip side, smart meters provide interval data which enables better audit analysis and TOU rate optimization.
Requested the meter test. It came back at 96.8% — running about 3% slow. So the client has been underbilled by roughly 3% for who knows how long. Explained to the client that their bill will go up slightly after the swap but the new smart meter will give us interval data for better rate analysis. They're OK with the trade-off.