The Commission Measuring Instruments will soon publish a note stating that standard EN-50470:2006 does not give presumption of conformity as regards incoming electromagnetic disturbances in the range of 2-150kHz (radio noise) as required by the essential requirements in Annex I, points 1.3.3-a, 1.3.3-b and 1.3.4-4th indent, of Directive 2004/22/EC. The publication is expected in March 2012.

Technical report with test methods and tolerances
CENELEC TC13 has started an expert group on the issue. The first meeting was held on 30 August 2011 in Zόrich, Switzerland. After that the group has prepared a Technical Report, reflecting the applicable test methods and tolerances for both direct and indirect connected Watt-hour meters. NMi joined all discussions of this expert group. In recent months at NMi a specific test setup is developed with which Watt-hour meters can be tested with frequencies in the 2-150 kHz range. This test setup is fully in compliance with the recommendations as laid down in the Technical Report.

No transition period
As yet, the Commission did not announce a transition period, which implies that from the moment of publication, all Watt-hour meters that are placed on the market, including watt hour meters that have already been approved, must meet the requirements for 2-150kHz. Thus, meters that do not meet the requirements can no longer be placed on the market. All Watt-hour meters, including the types that already have an approval, need to be tested against the requirements for 2-150kHz. The publication is expected in March 2012. We strongly advice our clients to take the expected change in requirements into consideration.

Meters already placed on the market
Meters that have already been placed on the market are an issue on national level and the European Commission will not take care of that part. The national decisions will follow later.

Background
Some cases have been reported recently where the operation of static electricity meters for active energy has been influenced by various equipment generating disturbances in the frequency range of 2–150 kHz. Further back ground information can be found in the news item “new test setup”.