Flows of electricity to and from plant or apparatus must be measured and recorded on suitable metering systems.
The rules regarding the installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of metering equipment are given in Section L of the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC). Metering systems must be registered in either the Central Meter Registration Service (CMRS) or the Supplier Meter Registration Service (SMRS).
Registration places obligations on Parties to ensure that there are suitable arrangements in place for the operation, reading and collection of data from their meters. These obligations are detailed in Section J of the BSC; registration under the SMRS has additional obligations that are detailed in Section S of the BSC.
The BSC also requires that metering equipment must comply with the requirements of the relevant Code of Practice (CoP) in force at the time of its registration. There are currently nine CoPs which set out minimum technical requirements for the performance of meters under different levels of load.
Changes in the approach to meter provision, management, maintenance and legal metrology confront the energy market, driven by the Measurement Instrument Directive (MID). The MID is an EU Directive that intends to facilitate the free trade of ten types of measuring instruments across the borders of the EU member states by providing common rules for the use of these instruments. Electricity is one of the commodities affected.