§ Lord Molloyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the level of accuracy of water meters and whether they consider this satisfactory.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)The permissible error limits for a meter used for measuring the consumption of cold potable water are detailed in the British Standard 5728, Part 1, Section 5.
This standard allows a maximum error limit of 5 per cent. in excess or in deficiency of the quantity delivered when there is a minimum flow of water and a maximum error limit of 2 per cent. in excess or deficiency of the quantity delivered when the flow rate range is between the transitional minimum and the maximum that the meter is designed to operate at.
The National Weights and Measures Laboratory is content that the level of accuracy of cold water meters is satisfactory.