The MeterEMI project has five key technical and scientific objectives, which are:

  1. To provide and characterise metrology grade sampling digitisers and transducers and use these to determine the nature of disturbing and interfering signals present in typical electricity networks, both in the lab and on-site. This will lead to the definition of accuracy boundary conditions for static electricity meters during use.
  2. To develop new measurement algorithms to accurately measure ac power/energy in the presence of highly impulsive current signals. To furthermore develop and/or optimise non-stationary waveform transforms such as time-frequency distributions and wavelets to determine the parameters of typical disturbing currents such that they can be accurately classified and re-generated for type-testing of commercial smart meters. Implement the algorithms in a reference signal analysis tool suitable for diagnostic use by non-specialists to analyse disturbing current signals.
  3. To develop a standard measurement testbed for testing static electricity meters with a target uncertainty of better than 0.1 %. The testbed will use the outputs from objectives 1 and 2, and together with a phantom power arbitrary signal source should provide reference power/energy measurements to match in-service conditions.
  4. To develop new type-tests and validated methods for determining electricity meter performance and to modify and characterise a reference “benchmark meter” for use in consumer metering disputes. This includes the identification of the most appropriate test signals and the testing of a range of static electricity meters using the testbed developed in objective 3.
  5. To contribute to the standards development work of the CEN and IEC technical committees, CLC/TC 13, CLC/TC 205A, and IEC/TC 13, IEC/SC 77A and the legal metrology organisations WELMEC and OIML to ensure that the outputs of the project are aligned with their needs, communicated quickly to those developing the standards and to those who will use them, and in a form that can be incorporated into the standards at the earliest opportunity.