Meter Socket Bypass Kits

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sayoung635

New member
Location
Littleton, NH, USA
An existing electric servise for an apartment building serves two multigang meter packs for individual unit metering. The meter packs are all jumped out with crushed copper tubing. The service is currently being metered with CTs at the transformer. The builing is under renovation and the property management authority is requiring the ability to separately meter the units remains. All of the meter bypass kits available to replace the crushed copper pipe are not UL listed. Awaiting reply from the Electric Utility and AHJ. Any other options for keeping meter sockets bypassed?
 
cpinetree

cpinetree

Senior Member
Location
SW Florida
Utility

Utility

If this is a temp situation I would think the utility company would leave the meters in place and just not read them, only read the CT meter for billing purposes.
I think I would push one of the utility engineers to allow it, as when the renovation is done they will be able to start billing a lot more per unit than they are getting from renovation work.

you could also look at this thread, but I don't think there was a resolution to it: http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php/122508-Milbank-meter-bypass-links
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
cpinetree said:
If this is a temp situation I would think the utility company would leave the meters in place and just not read them, only read the CT meter for billing purposes.
I think I would push one of the utility engineers to allow it, as when the renovation is done they will be able to start billing a lot more per unit than they are getting from renovation work.

you could also look at this thread, but I don't think there was a resolution to it: http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php/122508-Milbank-meter-bypass-links
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Are you a POCO investor?

If owner wishes to only have one meter why can't they if they are paying the bill anyway.

I have a HUD/USDA funded apartment complex for low income and other qualifying individuals that I do work for somewhat regularly. They have one set of buildings that does have individual meters for each apartment however tenants do not pay utilitiy bills. So the owner pays minimim charges plus energy charges for each meter. They wanted to have a single meter installed and would not really have taken much to do it with CT metering but the POCO engineers specified how this would be done if it were to be done and made it not worth the cost. They know all about the revenue from each meter also vs just one meter.

Question - Do the jumpers require listing? I don't think there is any section in the NEC that even addresses these specifically.

Are the meters that would otherwise be installed listed? I would not be surprised if some are not. Power companies use a lot of things that are not listed.
 
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Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
kwired said:
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Are the meters that would otherwise be installed listed? I would not be surprised if some are not.
Click to expand...

electric meters must meet ANSI C12.1-2008, ANSI C12.19-1997, ANSI C12.20-2002, ANSI C12.10-2004 (physical aspects of watt-hour meters - safety standard),along with some others...
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Hv&Lv said:
electric meters must meet ANSI C12.1-2008, ANSI C12.19-1997, ANSI C12.20-2002, ANSI C12.10-2004 (physical aspects of watt-hour meters - safety standard),along with some others...
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ANSI is not same same kind of standard as UL or other NRTL listings.

Meeting ANSI standards may be part of a UL listing requirement, right?

ANSI is just standards, and not testing of individual products, right?
 
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Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
kwired said:
ANSI is not same same kind of standard as UL or other NRTL listings.

Meeting ANSI standards may be part of a UL listing requirement, right?

ANSI is just standards, and not testing of individual products, right?
Click to expand...

I will give you that one...
however,(with all due respect) NRTL does list Metlabs as a recognized laboratory, and they test meters for safety. UL certifications are important for home electrical distribution, I will agree with that point. The NEC regulates wiring past the point of delivery, the NESC regulates wiring and practices ahead of the point of delivery. The UL lists many items in the home, other NRTL laboratories list items that are used in the electrical distribution industry. I guess my point is, UL is not the only product safety listing company in the U.S.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Hv&Lv said:
.. I guess my point is, UL is not the only product safety listing company in the U.S.
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NEC also realizes this and refers to NRTL and not UL. Many specific items mentioned in FPN's do reference UL standards however. UL seems to be most popularly known NRTL. It is a little like Microsoft in the computer world. They are not the only ones there but are most popularly known.
 
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LWFLASH

Member
Location
Colorado
Easy to Fix

Easy to Fix

sayoung635 said:
An existing electric servise for an apartment building serves two multigang meter packs for individual unit metering. The meter packs are all jumped out with crushed copper tubing. The service is currently being metered with CTs at the transformer. The builing is under renovation and the property management authority is requiring the ability to separately meter the units remains. All of the meter bypass kits available to replace the crushed copper pipe are not UL listed. Awaiting reply from the Electric Utility and AHJ. Any other options for keeping meter sockets bypassed?
Click to expand...

We just finished one and had the owner purchase from us the Meters for each unit and we installed them. The owner then could have an employee read the meters once a month and divide the cost from the PSCO Billing or even add a little to cover the cost of labor reading or Profit. The other choice is by Emon Dmon Meters. Hope this helps.
:)
 
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