Los Angeles Electrical Meter Calibration??

MPdesign

Member
Location
USA
So, I am working on a 500+ unit apartment complex in LA and I am being told by the site that they "must" calibrate every electrical meter (Leviton 7b201-s02) every 10 years. They have abandoned the metering altogether and charge tenants by SF.
The whole place is only a little over 10 years old.
Does anyone have any intel on what is going on here?
 

mtnelect

HVAC & Electrical Contractor
Location
Southern California
Occupation
Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
So, I am working on a 500+ unit apartment complex in LA and I am being told by the site that they "must" calibrate every electrical meter (Leviton 7b201-s02) every 10 years. They have abandoned the metering altogether and charge tenants by SF.
The whole place is only a little over 10 years old.
Does anyone have any intel on what is going on here?

Sounds like the building owners are having a billing problem with LADWP. They go to a "Master Meter" when there is a billing dispute, so the tenants don't lose power.
 

Birken Vogt

Senior Member
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
I don't know of any electric sub metering like that around here. Most apts have individual POCO meters per unit.

But that sort of thing is done on propane co. owned gas meters. They get swapped out and sent to the county cal lab every 10 years or so and a sticker seal applied. Same as gas pumps and scales at the grocery store.

Meanwhile PG&E gas meters look like they have never been touched since the '50s, except to install the "permanent battery" smart meter contraption, whose batteries are now all quickly coming to end of life resulting in "estimated bills" being issued.
 

MPdesign

Member
Location
USA
We are being told that th
But that sort of thing is done on propane co. owned gas meters. They get swapped out and sent to the county cal lab every 10 years or so and a sticker seal applied. Same as gas pumps and scales at the grocery store.
This "every 10 year calibration" will cost over $600,000.... - every 10 years...
How much does this cost for propane or other calibration?
 

jaggedben

Senior Member
Location
Northern California
Occupation
Solar and Energy Storage Installer
So the Leviton provides sub metering? The calibration is likely a mfg requirement or ordinance
The manual (https://www.globaltestsupply.com/pd...ply.com/7b201-s02/manual/7b201-s02-manual.pdf) for the meter doesn't say anything about calibration that I can find. Perhaps they cannot be calibrated and that is the problem and the reason for such a high cost to deal with it.

It seems like the 10 year thing would be some state rule that someone now thinks applies, but which wasn't accounted for at the time of original installation. I can't shed any light on how correct that might be.
 
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