DMS Electric Department

Metering

Rules And Regulations

V. METERING

A. Measurement

All energy sold to customers shall be measured by commercially acceptable measuring devices owned and maintained by the DMS except where it is impractical to meter loads, such as street lighting, temporary or special installation, in which case the consumption may be calculated. All other electrical quantities, which the rates or rules of the DMS indicate, are to be metered by commercially acceptable instruments owned and maintained by the DMS.

B. Space For Equipment

The customer shall provide, at no expense to the DMS, a space suitable to the DMS for the installation of the necessary metering equipment.

C. Access

The DMS authorized personnel or agents of the DMS shall have access to the customer’s premises at all reasonable hours, to install, inspect, read, repair, test or remove its meters; to install, operate and maintain other DMS property, and to inspect and determine the connected electrical load. If the meters or metering equipment are lost, damaged or destroyed through the neglect of the customer, the cost of necessary repairs or replacements shall be the responsibility of the customer.

In case the DMS is physically unable to read a meter for any reason beyond the control of the DMS, such as premises being locked or the meter being inaccessible and said condition persists continuously for a period of three (3) months or longer, then after due written notice to the customer, the electric service will be turned off until such time as arrangements have been made to permit access to the meter and the appropriate reconnection fee has been paid.

D. Responsibility and Requirements

1. The customer shall install that metering equipment furnished by the DMS and shall furnish, install, own and maintain all other service equipment, and all wiring and conduits, from the weatherhead of an overhead service connection and/or from the meter socket of an underground service connection.

2. The DMS requires that the metering equipment for all residential and, where practicable, commercial and small industrial customers be located outdoors on the customer’s building or structure. Meters in existing indoor installations that are to be rearranged so as to affect the service entrance conductors or service equipment shall be changed to outdoor installations where suitable locations are available. The DMS approval must be obtained for mounting the metering equipment indoors in those cases where there is not a suitable outdoor location.

Indoor locations must be as near as practicable to the point where the service entrance conductors enter the building. Interior walls, panels or meter boards on which meters are mounted shall be rigid and free from vibration and shall be located in a clean and dry part of the building, readily accessible to DMS personnel.

3. Meter sockets, meter connection boxes, and instrument transformer enclosures shall not be used as junction boxes for supplying customer’s branch circuits or grounding conductor termination, and no wiring other than service entrance and grounding conductors shall be run through this equipment. Metered conductors from different meters shall not be placed in the same raceway between the meter and the main disconnect device.

4. The height of single meters shall not be less than four and one-half (4 ½) feet nor more than five and one-half (5 ½) feet above finished grade or floor level. When using vertical stacked multiple meter socket panels, the lowest meter shall not be less than thirty (30) inches from the grade or floor, and the highest meter less than sixty six (66) inches from grade. For horizontal multiple meter sockets the installed meter center lines shall be a minimum of fifty (50) inches, and a maximum of sixty six (66) inches from grade.

5. The metering and customer’s service equipment for multiple occupancy buildings where several floors, apartments, stores, etc., are rented separately, should be grouped in a common meter room, public hallway or some other DMS-approved location where they will be accessible at all times to DMS authorized personnel or agents of the DMS Metering equipment in multiple occupancy buildings shall be plainly marked with metal tags or neatly painted stencil identifying the portion of the building served. Such identification shall be placed by the contractor at the time the equipment is installed. The DMS will not set the meters until the lines are identified. The owner of the multi-dwelling could be held responsible for any under recovery of revenues resulting from improperly identified meters. Any future expense of tracing lines due to instances of switched meters related to errors in tracing and identification of such lines shall be the responsibility of the current owner of the dwelling.

6. For transformer metered services, whether primary or secondary, the customer shall furnish the space, labor and the provisions for mounting current and potential transformers to meet DMS requirements. Inquiries regarding installation requirements and equipment approval should be directed to the Electric Transmission and Distribution Department.

7. The DMS seals all metering equipment with a DMS lock or tamper proof seal. Violation of the locks or seals will result in a $50.00 tampering fee for each unit found violated. This fee will be charged to the customer named on the service contract or the premise owner if a valid contract for electrical service does not exist. This tampering fee is included in the Reconnection fees of Rule VIII.

8. The DMS does not furnish, repair, calibrate or test privately owned meters as a customer service. A written agreement to provide testing of privately owned meters to resolve a customer complaint is the only exception to this rule.

9. The DMS reserves the right to periodically test revenue meters, and replace revenue meters at the DMS discretion.