ERC & DTI team up in setting own technical standards for wattthour meters
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Product Standards (DTI-BPS) recently formed a technical committee to formulate the Philippine National Standards (PNS) on equipment for electrical energy measurement and load control. Working on the draft PNS are representatives from the academe, meter industry, consumers, professional groups, research institutions, government agencies, and meter testing institutions. The committee, headed by Engr. Legario L. Galang, Jr., Head of the ERC’s Meter Division, is set to initially draw the standards for household electric watthour meters.
“This is a joint undertaking between the ERC and the DTI-BPS and the first of its kind in the Philippines where technical standards for the manufacture and importation of electric meters are set,” ERC Chairman Rodolfo B. Albano, Jr. pointed out. “It is our primary responsibility to protect the public interests from any abuse of market positions,” Chairman Albano emphasized.
International standards such as those of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the American National Standard (ANSI) would serve as the working papers in the development of the technical standards in the manufacture and importation of watthour meters and other electrical load-measurement equipments to be used by the end-consumers.
The PNS will serve as a catalog in setting product standards for quality, reliability, and accuracy. The DTI-BPS will be responsible for enforcing the PNS once it is completed by mid 2006.
Presently, unlike other products, electric meters manufactured abroad and those locally assembled need not pass through Philippine-Standard (PS) testing prior to marketing. The ERC, however, conducts an accuracy test on all meters to ensure that it functions within the acceptable accuracy before installation in the customers’ premises.
Pursuant to Section 16(f) of Commonwealth Act No. 146, Sections 4 and 6 of Republic Act No. 7832, and Sections 43 and 44 of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the ERC has the sole authority to secure the accuracy of all electric meter equipments thru testing and calibration. Thus, these meters which passed the accuracy test bear the official seal of the ERC.
December 1 , 2005