OK, so I did some research into the issue. I looked up the manufacturer of these new electric meters and talked to one of their technical sales reps from the home office. Here’s what I found out.

1) There are two major reasons for the upgrade to the meters. The first is that the solid state technology is more accurate than the old mechanical meters. For the old mechanical meters, there is a small electric motor in there that turns the meter when power is being used. However, whenever the power consumption is small, the motor has a hard time compensating for its own friction and drag, and so at low power levels it under reads the real usage. Also, as the meters get older, friction in the unit increases, and again under reading occurs. The solid state units correct both of these things. The second reason for the upgrades are that the new meters can talk to each other via radio frequency (they use the same bandwidth as cordless phones, so if you’ve noticed an increase in cordless phone interference since getting a new meter, it might be related to that). They will talk from home to home, and bounce the signal on down to the occasional meter that’s also equipped with a phone line that can phone home and deliver the meter readings for all the meters it has collected data from. This way, they can go to people free meter reading (about time in my opinion, I don’t want to pay people to go read meters all the time, that’s a useless job in today’s world).

2. The meters are made by Intron, and a significant portion of their total meter manufacturing capacity is being delivered to Progress Energy as they refit multiple states with these things.

3. These units have an LCD readout that tells you how many KWh of energy you have used. Generally speaking, that readout is actually a fraction of the real amount measured. For example, it may be 1/10th of the actual number (he did say 1/10th is the most common fraction). So, in order to get the right number for billing purposes, the central office has to key in your multiplier factor. This factor should be written on the front of the meter (it is on mine, there is a spot that reads “Mult by” and 40 is written underneath it in black marker). This number should be the same as the “Meter constant” on your electric bill.

4. Because these units are more accurate at lower consumption, and also more accurate than older meters, people can expect their bills to go up after these are installed. However, that should be a relatively minor increase, say somewhere from 5-15%. If you see radically different bills, then something is likely wrong.

5. Using the same radio communications as they use to relay meter readings, laptop computers with the appropriate software can interface directly to the meters to check their programming.

6. The division factor programmed into these meters is generally programmed into them by the palette load, so if one meter on a palette is bad, they all are.

7. In talking about my particular situation, he said that hearing about meters with incorrect multiplication factors written on the outside of the meter is rare, but in my case he agreed with me that it sounds like it might be a distinct possibility. His reasons for agreeing with me were because:

A) My usage didn’t go up by 5-15%, it went up by 100%+
B) My total usage is now at 255KWhr per day, which he agreed is an astronomical and highly unlikely number for almost any residence
C) My “mult by” number is 40, which surprised him as the common number is 10 and he hadn’t really heard of them using 40 for much of anything

All in all, he was a very helpful guy. He seemed willing to help me out if Progress Energy wouldn’t investigate the meter. Maybe call someone there or something. But, that seems not to be necessary as they are sending me a questionaire to fill out about my meter at which point they said they will look into it.

But, all this process has really brought home a fact that I don’t like. The original electric meters were difficult to tamper with and could generally be trusted. Now, with the current crop of meters, the consumer has no way of knowing if that “Mult by” number on the outside of the meter actually matches what’s programmed inside. In my case the discrepancy was glaringly obvious because it doubled my bill. However, imagine if you will that a utility company is in financial trouble, and they can’t get regulatory approval to hike rates. As much as I like to trust people, they now have the power to go around to individual neighborhoods, and from the cab of a pick up truck, they could reprogram meters to say divide the total by 9 instead of 10 (in the common case), leave the meter constant in the billing system at 10, and now the consumers in that neighborhood have just been hit with an 11% price hike that they have no way of protecting themselves against or proving that it even exists.

It is sad, but true, that in today’s modern world, the average person, myself included, probably is not willing to put the level of trust in Progress Energy that is required in order to leave a situation like this without some sort of check and balance. So, I think tomorrow I’m going to call the NC Utilities Commission and see if they have the ability to read the programming in these meters. If they don’t, I want to get them and the manufacturer in contact and see if it can be arranged. There needs to be an independent auditor of our electric meters in this state. The system has already proved it isn’t infallible, so it’s time to make sure that *someone* is able to check up on Progress Energy.