The Water (Meters) Regulations 1988

PART III TESTING AND READING OF METERS

Testing of meters

6.—(1) The undertakers or any person duly authorised by them may at any time, and shall if so requested in writing by the customer, test the accuracy of any meter which has been installed.

(2) A meter shall be tested in accordance with Regulation 6(2) and (4) of the 1988 Regulations in order to determine whether it falls within the prescribed limits of error (whether or not it is a meter to which those Regulations apply).

(3) The undertakers or any person duly authorised by them may remove a meter from premises where it is necessary to do so for the purpose of testing.

(4) The equipment used for testing shall comply with clause 4.6 of BS 5750: Part 3: 1987((1)).

(5) The undertakers shall provide the customer with a copy of the results of the test.

Expenses of testing

7.  Where a test is carried out in accordance with Regulation 6 at the request of the customer, and the meter on being tested falls within the prescribed limits of error, the undertaker may recover from the customer the expenses reasonably incurred by them in carrying out the test, not exceeding:—

(a) where the test is carried out by removing the meter from the premises, £70;

(b) in any other case, £20.

Method of proof and effect of meter reading

8.—(1) Where undertakers fix charges in relation to any premises by reference to volume, a reading from the meter installed in relation to those premises proved in accordance with this regulation shall be evidence of the volume of water supplied to those premises, unless the meter is proved to register incorrectly.

(2) A reading from a meter may be proved by producing the certificate of a person duly authorised by the undertakers to read the meter and certify the reading.

(3) A meter shall be regarded as registering incorrectly if on being tested it is found to exceed the prescribed limits of error.

(4) Except where it is proved to have begun to register incorrectly on some later date, a meter which is found to exceed the prescribed limits of error shall be deemed to have done so since the last occasion but one on which the undertakers or any person duly authorised by them last read the meter for the purpose of ascertaining the volume of water supplied to the premises in relation to which it is installed.

Adjustment of charges

9.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), an account shall be taken of the sums payable by the undertakers or by the customer for any period during which the meter has or is deemed to have registered incorrectly; and the balance shall be paid or allowed by the undertakers or paid by the customer, as the case may be.

(2) Where a meter which is connected to a supply of water to a house is proved to have registered less than the volume of water supplied to that house, the balance payable by the customer shall not exceed an amount reflecting the charge for the volume of water which would ordinarily have been supplied to the house during the six months preceding the last occasion on which the undertakers or any person duly authorised by them last read the meter for the purpose of ascertaining the volume of water supplied to the house, less any sums already paid in respect of that period.

(3) Nothing in this regulation shall affect the liability of the customer or the undertakers in respect of any period of account commencing before 11th July 1988.

(1)

ISBN 0 580 15946 0, published by the British Standards Institution on 29th May 1987.