Some one asked me,
Do the new digital electric meters runs faster than the old electromechanical or revolving type meter?
So let make this very clear and simple 😊,
If by faster you are implying more accurately at low currents than the answer is yes.
For example, most utilities purchase electricity meters for residential applications with a nameplate rating of 240 Volts, 2 to 200 amps, 1 phase , 3 wire, Form 2S.
These nameplate ratings would apply to both the legacy electro-mechanical “induction disc” devices or the newer solid state or digital meters.
As a former supervising technologist at a large utility meter facility, I can share with you that modern digital meters perform much more accurately at low currents than the older electro-mechanical models they have replaced.
Since there is no friction or starting torque to overcome, digital meters will respond very accurately at very low loads.
So some customers may see an increase in their kWh consumption since the old electro-mechanical meters would not respond well to electrical usage where the only devices in operation in the home ( typically in the middle of the night) drew small amounts of current. These load devices may include clock radios, cable TV boxes, cell phone chargers, etc. Digital meters will measure and record these loads accurately.
Also I can personally attest to digital meters being much more accurate in the normal operating range pf test currents applied between 5 amps to 50 amps.
From our extensive laboratory testing of meters owned by our utility and in-service meter evaluations, electro-mechanical meters have typical accuracy tolerances of +/- 0.5 % but digital meters are much more precise, typically at +/- o.2 %.
As electro-mechanical meters age some devices tend to under-respond or “slow down”. Digital meters will be accurate throughout their entire life span.
