ARTICLE 6

INSPECTIONS AND TESTS

R6-25     UTILITY INSPECTIONS AND TESTS

Each utility shall make inspections and tests of meters and associated metering devices as follows:

(1)           Pre-installation Inspections and Tests.

a.             Every meter and/or associated metering device shall be inspected, tested and sealed in the meter shop of the utility before being placed in service, and the accuracy of each meter shall be within the tolerances permitted by Rule R6-26.

b.             New or reconditioned meters which have been sealed at the factory need not be resealed in the meter shop of the utility.

c.             No meter shall be installed if it has been tested as required in subdivision (1)a and held for a period longer than 30 months without retesting.

(2)           Tests to Be Made after Removal of Meters from Service. — All meters and/or associated metering devices shall be tested after they are removed from service. Such tests shall be made before the meters and/or associated metering devices are adjusted, repaired, or retired.

(3)           Leak Tests. — Repaired meters, and meters that have been removed from service, shall be leak tested prior to installation. New meters shall be leak tested in accordance with a sampling method, acceptable to the Commission.

a.             Meters used for measuring low pressure gas shall be tested and subjected to an internal pressure of at least 20" W.C. and checked for the presence of leaks by one of the tests listed below.

b.             Meters other than those which are covered by subdivision (3)a of this rule shall be tested and subjected to an internal pressure of 1.1 times the specified maximum working pressure of the meter if shop tested or if such pressures are available in the field but under no less than the available operating pressure if field tested and checked for the presence of leaks by one of the following tests:

1.             Immersion test.

2.             Soap test.

3.             Pressure drop test of a type acceptable to the Commission.

(4)           Request Tests. — Upon request by a customer and at no charge, the utility shall make a test of the meter serving him, provided that such tests need not be made more frequently than once in 18 months.

a.             The customer, or his representative, may be present when his meter is tested.

b.             A report of the results of the test shall be made to the customer within a reasonable time after the completion of the test, and a record of the report, together with a complete record of each test, shall be kept on file at the office of the utility.

(5)           Periodic Tests. — These test periods may be extended upon application to and approved by the Commission, provided that the utility can prove by its own records that different test periods are adequate for the protection of the public.

a.             Positive displacement meters.

1.             Up to 251 cfh (at .5 in water column differential pressure with nonabsorptive diaphragm) — 7 years.

2.             Up to 251 cfh (at .5 in water column differential pressure with absorptive type diaphragm) — 5 years.

3.             251 to 1500 cfh (at .5 in water column differential pressure) — 5 years.

4.             Over 1500 cfh (at .5 in water column differential pressure) — 2 years.

b.             Orifice meters — 6 months.

c.             Base pressure correcting devices — 24 months.

d.             Base volume correcting devices — 24 months.

e.             Secondary standards

1.             Test bottles, one cubic foot — 10 years.

2.             Dead weight testers — 10 years.

f.             Working standards

1.             Bell provers — 5 years.

2.             Rotary displacement test meters — 5 years.

3.             Flow provers — 5 years.

4.             Laboratory quality indicating pressure gauges — 6 months.

(NCUC Docket No. G-100, Sub 79, 12/02/99; NCUC Docket No. M-100, Sub 140, 12/03/13; NCUC Docket No. G‑100, Sub 97, 10/17/22.)