Maintenance of meters

To the company supplying electric energy which is measured by meters and charged for accordingly, the maintenance of meter accuracy is of supreme importance. Losses in other apparatus become insignificant when compared with the loss of revenue from meters that are allowed to follow their natural tendency to run slow. For example, in a steam boiler a drop of 10% from normal efficiency would be detrimental to approximately the same percentage in the single item of the cost of coal, whereas in the metering system it would be 10% of the entire gross revenue to which the supplying company is legitimately entitled. Furthermore, if a metering system did actually deteriorate so as to record 10% less than the true energy, this loss would by no means remain constant; it would continue to increase.