HISTORY
OF
METERING
Basic Meter School
February 7-9, 2012

Prior to 1870,
Electricity had little
use except for
Telephone and
Telegraph.

Shortly thereafter
came arc lamps
connected in series.
Prior To Watt-Hour Meters

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Customers first were
billed on a “per lamp
bulb basis”
Meter readers
counted bulbs…
Was this fair?
“War of the Currents”
 Initial years, Thomas Edison’s direct current was US
standard.
 George Westinghouse advocated alternating current.
 The Two Became Adversaries
 In the end, (around 1894) AC current became the
standard
Electric Metering…
“Competitors”
Elihu Thompson
 George Westinghouse
 Oliver B. Shallenberger
 Robert C. Lanphier
 Thomas Duncan
 Thomas Edison

Elihu Thomson
1853 – 1937

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
British-Born American
Electrical Engineer
/Inventor
Established the ThompsonHouston Company at age 27.
Merged with Edison in 1892
to form the General Electric
Co.
Elihu Thomson
“There is scarcely a day passing on which
some new use for electricity is not
discovered. It seems destined to become
at some future time the means of
obtaining light, heat and mechanical
force.”
(Age 16)
George Westinghouse

Born in New York
October 6, 1846

Over 360 Patents.

Founder of
Westinghouse
Electric Corporation
Oliver B. Shallenberger
(1860 – 1898)

Design engineer
along with George
Westinghouse
(Founded the
Westinghouse
Electric Company)

1888 - Invented the
first Ampere-Hour
(Induction) Meter.
Shallenberger
Oliver B. Shallenberger

Internal Display of
Ampere-Hour
Meter Without Its
Cover
Thomas Duncan



Formerly Of General
Electric, Founded The
Duncan Electric
Manufacturing Company
In 1901.
Focus On Extended
Range Metering (greater
than 400 amps.)
Landis & Gyr
Thomas Edison

Great Inventor.

1881- Invented The First
True Form Of Power
Measurement Electric
Chemical Watt-Hour
Meter.
Meter Manufacturers

Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. –1886

General Electric – 1892

Sangamo Electric Company - 1899

Duncan Electric Manufacturing
Company - 1901
Major Meter Manufacturers
GENERAL ELECTRIC
WESTINGHOUSE / ABB / ELSTER
SANGAMO / SCHLUMBERGER /ITRON
DUNCAN / LANDIS & GYR / SEIMENS
INVENSUS / SENSUS
OTHERS
“The Watt-hour Meter”

Cash register of the Utility industry

Accurately measuring energy consumed.

Not a Penny More/Not a Penny Less

Certainly more accurate than counting
light bulbs.
WATT-HOUR METER

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Watt-hour Meters Annual Revenues Average cost in 1925 Average cost in 2008 First Patent issued Worldwide Population
without electricity
130,000,000,000
$200,000,000,000
$0.65/KWH
$0.08/KWH
1895
200,000,000
120+ YEARS OF METERING
Metering Has Changed

Even the light bulb is
not the same.
AMR
Automated Meter Reading
 One-way Communications
 TOU
 Improved Accuracy
 Set Billing Cycles
 Tamper Detection
AMI
Advanced Metering Infrastructure
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Residential Metering
Two-Way Communications
TOU
Critical Tier Pricing
Local Area Network (LAN)
Tamper Detection
Remote Connect/Disconnect
High-End Metering
•
•
•
•
•
Long-Term Memory Storage
Load Profile
Provide Historical/Real-Time Data
Bi-directional Metering
Relay Operation (Equipment
On/Off capabilities)
• Customer Read-Only Access
• Many More Features
WATT-HOUR METER
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The watt-hour meter is an engineering marvel.
It operates continuously in the field for 30
years or more,
Withstands lightning strikes, heat, cold, and
humidity,
Requires practically no maintenance
Makes complex measurements with superb
accuracy,
Single-phase Residential Meter cost about
$60.00
Questions / Answers