GEN-38—Principles and prerequisites for approval of electricity and gas metering devices incorporating new technology

Category: General
Issue date:
Effective date:
Revision number: 1
Supersedes: GEN-38


Table of contents


1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to communicate the principles and prerequisites for approval of electricity and gas metering devices incorporating new technology (i.e. new or unique design for which Measurement Canada (MC) has no applicable specifications or provisional specifications).

2.0 Scope

This bulletin is applicable to electricity and gas metering devices.

3.0 References

4.0 Background

The principles and prerequisites in this document describe MC's policy for the evaluation of new technology meter types submitted to the Agency for type approval. MC has applied the principles in this policy in the past, and the purpose of this bulletin is to formalize and implement this policy for general application during meter approval evaluation.

The Agency's policy for approval evaluation of metering devices when new (or amended) specification requirements are issued is described in bulletin GEN-04 and bulletin GEN-06. Under this policy, new technology meter types are evaluated pursuant to provisional specifications issued under bulletin GEN-06 and are only eligible to receive conditional approval. The use of provisional specifications is intended to address new metering technologies for which no formal consultation had occurred, which enable the meters to be conditionally approved for revenue metering. These specifications remain provisional until full consultations with the industry can be conducted to develop a national standard for the new meter type or class.

5.0 Policy

5.1 Prior to the Engineering and Laboratory Services Directorate (ELSD) accepting an application for approval or approval modification of a metering device incorporating new technology, the manufacturer shall provide written consent to give assistance to MC in the development of any needed specifications or provisional specifications and procedures for:

  1. approval, verification, reverification, sealing, installation and use of the device model(s) to be approved;
  2. identification of applicable measuring apparatus or of any needed modifications to existing measuring apparatus intended for use in verification of the device model(s).

5.2 Prior to ELSD issuing a Notice of Approval (NOA) for a new metering device model (or model series) that was evaluated by ELSD and found to meet all approval specification requirements, the following conditions shall be met:

  1. The following specifications or provisional specifications shall be developed and authorized for use by MC:
    1. specifications for approval of the device;
    2. specifications for verification, reverification, installation and use of the device;
    3. specifications for the calibration, testing, and certification of the measuring apparatus/standards required for verification of the device.
  2. At least one recognized test facility or authorized service provider shall be identified by the approval applicant which has the capability, capacity and willingness to provide the needed verification/reverification inspection services, unless MC consents to provide the needed inspection services for situations where no authorized service provider is available.
  3. At least one measuring apparatus or standard intended for use in verification of this device model shall be certified by either MC or the NRC (National Research Council of Canada), or have a certificate of calibration recognized and accepted by the NRC (or it is confirmed that such certification/recognition is imminent). A laboratory (e.g. National Institute of Standard and Technology) recognized by the NRC would be one that has its standards calibrated and traceable to the NRC, or which has its measurement traceability recognized by the NRC, and be accompanied by statements regarding the measurement uncertainty of each calibration result. This requirement does not apply to gas measuring apparatus owned by a MC recognized test facility listed in bulletin G-16.
  4. All required training of MC inspectors or authorized service providers shall have been completed, or alternatively the required training must have already been scheduled for delivery before the date on which the first meters of this model are expected to be presented for verification.

Note: The above requirements are necessary to ensure that MC inspection staff or authorized service providers are ready and capable of providing the inspection services required by stakeholders seeking to purchase and use the newly approved device for revenue metering. MC will provide such training internally to its staff and/or to external stakeholders when required, in support of the implementation of new specifications or procedures.

6.0 Revisions

The purpose of this revision was to:

  • replace the reference to LMB-EG-08—Specifications for approval of type of gas meters and auxiliary devices with a reference to S-G-03. MC has integrated the requirements of LMB-EG-08 into specifications S-G-03 (rev. 1). Therefore, LMB-EG-08 has become obsolete;
  • reformat the document according to new formatting requirements.