Water and Heat

In line with the Energy Act, which stipulates that remotely read heat meters and water meters must be installed by 2027, Apator Powogaz has developed a range of remote reading systems features; for example, customers can check their consumption of a given utility via a dedicated platform and make payments online. These features are fully compliant with Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency.

In accordance with the Announcement of the Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of 7 June 2016 on the Act – Law on Measures (Journal of Laws 2016, item 884) and the Regulation of the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology of 22 March 2019 on the legal metrological control of measuring instruments (Journal of Laws, item 759), it is stated that a measuring instrument should be submitted for recalibration before the expiry of the validity period (as specified in the regulations issued pursuant to Article 9(4)) from the date of conformity assessment. For water meters, this period is 5 years. Paragraph 2(2) states that the verification period runs from the first day of December of the year indicated on the instrument at the time of the conformity assessment and ends on 30 November of the fifth year. Information on the year in which the conformity assessment was carried out is included in the metrological marking on the measuring instrument (a capital letter ‘M’ and the last two digits of the year).

Water meters and heat meters with a nominal flow rate not exceeding 500^m³/h, excluding orifice heat meters and modular heat meters, are certified for a period of five years starting from the first day of January of the year following the year in which certification was granted. In the case of heat meters, the same period applies to temperature sensor pairs and flow transducers. The validity of the verification is confirmed by a verification mark indicating the entity that carried out the verification and the year in which it was carried out. In the case of water meters and heat meters, this mark usually takes the form of a lead seal, a sticker or a hologram affixed to the enclosure.

Heat cost allocators (regardless of their design or type) are not measuring instruments within the meaning of the Act of 11 May 2001. − Law on Measurements (Journal of Laws of 2013, item 1069; of 2015, item 978; and of 2016, item 542). In accordance with the provisions of Article 4(5) of that Act, a measuring instrument is a device, a measuring system or its components, intended to carry out measurements independently or in conjunction with one or more ancillary devices. Heat cost allocators are not measuring instruments, as they do not measure any physical size (including heat) – most often, the increase in their readings (expressed in non-numerical divisions) depends on the surface temperature of the radiator at the point of installation of the allocator and the duration of heat emission by the radiator. Consequently, heat cost allocators are not subject to statutory metrological control (type approval and verification), and therefore are not required to obtain certificates of such control.

• Re-verification is carried out when the previous verification of all devices has expired. Under the Weights and Measures Act, the use of water meters without a valid verification mark for billing purposes is punishable by a fine.
• Statistical verification – this method allows for the recalibration of a homogeneous batch of heat meters, heat meter components, gas meters, active energy AC electricity meters and water meters. It involves the current manager selecting a specific number of measuring devices, which must be dismantled and sent for inspection for metrological verification. If, within a given batch, a specified number of devices fail to meet the specified parameters, unfortunately the entire batch will have to undergo standard verification. The quantitative requirements for the acceptance/rejection of statistical verification are set out below: