In our focus on the new world of smart meters, we often neglect the existing world of electromechanical devices, the one Thomas Edison would recognize if he woke up today.  In a white paper released this week, the Electric Power Research Institute quantified what many of us have known for years: those old meters on our homes and businesses may be reliable, but they really do slow down over the years.

In fact, EPRI estimates that a 20-year old meter runs about 3 percent slow.  That doesn’t sound like much, but on annual U.S. electric sales of $350 billion, it adds up to over $10 billion in under-recorded revenue.

And 1.6 percent of the meters are outside the regulatory requirement that meters be within plus or minus 2.0 percent of actual.  This means 5 million Americans have inaccurate meters.

New, electronic smart meters are required to be within plus or minus 0.5 percent of actual and are typically within plus or minus 0.1 percent.  This greater accuracy is good news for the vast majority of consumers – but bad news for the few who have been benefiting from slow meters.  EPRI estimates that 0.3 percent of customers are getting a free discount of over 10 percent – over $100 per year for a residential household.

We’ll see some complaints from these customers – and already have at some utilities.  It’s a small price to pay, however, for fundamental fairness and good public policy.