Electricity Act 1957

30 Certification of meters

(1) With regard to the certification of meters under the provisions of the Schedule to the Electric Lighting (Clauses) Act, 1899, as incorporated with the principal Act (in this Act referred to as " the Schedule of 1899 "), the Minister may by order provide, either in relation to meters generally or in relation to meters of any class specified in the order.—

(a) that, where a meter is certified under the provisions of the Schedule of 1899 after the date on which the order comes into operation, that certification (if it has not previously ceased to have effect) shall cease to have effect at the end of such period, beginning with the date of the certification, as may be specified in the order;

(b) that the certification of a meter under those provisions, where it was effected before the passing of this Act, or thereafter but before the date on which the order comes into operation, shall cease to have effect (if it has not previously ceased to have effect) either on the date on which the order comes into operation, or at the end of such period beginning with the date of the certification as may be specified in the order, whichever is the later;

(c) that, notwithstanding the proviso to section fifty of the Schedule of 1899 (under which, if a certified meter is altered, it ceases to be certified until re-certified), the making in a meter of an alteration of a description specified in the order (being a description of alteration appearing to the Minister to be such as not to affect the ascertainment of the value of the supply) shall not cause the meter to cease to be a certified meter ;

(d) that, where a certified meter is moved in circumstances specified in the order, the certification of the meter shall thereupon cease to have effect, notwithstanding that the move does not involve any alteration of the meter.

(2) Any order made under the preceding subsection may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order thereunder; and the power to make orders under that subsection shall be exerciseable by statutory instrument, and any instrument containing such an order shall be laid before Parliament.

(3) The Minister may give directions to Electricity Boards—

(a) as to the examination and testing of meters by those Boards, by the use of apparatus provided in accordance with section two of the Electricity Supply (Meters) Act, 1936, before submitting the meters to a meter examiner for certification ;

(b) as to the making of reports by those Boards on meters examined and tested by them, and as to the information to be included in such reports;

(c) as to the sealing and unsealing of meters, and, in particular, as to the custody and use of apparatus for sealing meters and the keeping of records in connection therewith.

(4) A meter examiner may certify a meter under the provisions of the Schedule of 1899, notwithstanding that he has not himself examined or tested it, if—

(a) the meter is submitted to him for certification by an Electricity Board, together with a report stating that the Board have examined and tested the meter in accordance with directions given by the Minister under the last preceding subsection, and containing the information required by those directions;

(b) the information contained in the report is such as to indicate, in the opinion of the meter examiner, that the meter is entitled to be certified;

(c) the meter is one of a number submitted to the meter examiner together at the same time by the same Electricity Board; and

(d) the meter examiner, by the use of apparatus provided in accordance with section two of the said Act of 1936, has himself examined and tested such number of those meters as he may consider sufficient to constitute a reasonable test of all the meters submitted to him by the Board for certification on that occasion.

(5) If any Electricity Board, on or after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight, instals a meter for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the supply, and that meter, at the time when it is installed, is not duly certified under the provisions of the Schedule of 1899, the Board shall be guilty of an offence:

Provided that, in any proceedings against an Electricity Board for an offence under this subsection, it shall be a defence for the Board to prove that the meter was installed in pursuance of an agreement in writing with the consumer whereby it was agreed that the value of the supply should be ascertained otherwise than by means of a meter so certified.

(6) Where a meter—

(a) is in use immediately before the said first day of July for the purpose of ascertaining the value of the supply, and is then a meter duly certified under the provisions of the Schedule of 1899, but ceases to be so certified on or after that day, or

(b) is installed for that purpose on or after that day, and at the time of its installation is duly certified under those provisions, but subsequently ceases to be so certified,

then if, as soon as practicable after the meter has ceased to be so certified, the Electricity Board providing the supply does not take all reasonable steps either for causing the meter to be recertified under those provisions, or for removing it or (if it is not reasonably practicable to remove it) for ceasing to supply energy through it, the Board shall be guilty of an offence:

Provided that, in any proceedings against an Electricity Board for an offence under this subsection, it shall be a defence for the Board to prove that the meter ceased to be certified under the said provisions by reason only of its being altered or moved without the knowledge of the Board.

(7) An Electricity Board guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction—

(a) if it is the first conviction of that Board of an offence under this section, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds ;

(b) in any other case, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(8) No proceedings shall be brought in England or Wales for an offence under this section except by or with the consent of the Minister or the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(9) In this section " the value of the supply " has the same meaning as in the Schedule of 1899, and " meter examiner " has the same meaning as in the Electricity Supply (Meters) Act, 1936.