Electric meter

[Oakey]

Does an electric meter for residential (power companies meter) require a neutral to operate? Is that the purpose for the fifth jaw. Thx

 

[dwellselectric]

That would be correct. We found that out the hard way while working at the local landfill. The nutral is needed to run the digits itself on the meter.

 

[emahler]

digital meters need it...the old meters don't...

 

[Oakey]

Thank you guys

 

[winnie]

For what its worth, all residential meters _should_ require the neutral, in order to meet the requirements of the Blondel metering theory. (Which tells you how many voltages and currents need to be measured for a given service.) Many mechanical meters for residential service do not use the neutral, and instead _assume_ that the line-line voltage is evenly divided between the two legs of the service. This is generally accurate enough for billing purposes, but can cause error if the loads and voltages are severely imbalanced.

-Jon