Issue 87 - April 2026
Modernization in metering
On February 5th, Electricity Canada appeared before the Standing Committee of Banking, Commerce and the Economy at the Senate to provide recommendations to strengthen Bill S-3, which modernizes the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act (EGIA). For the past decade, Electricity Canada’s Distribution Council and Metering Technology and Policy Committee have been working to update the act, so it keeps up with new metering technologies.
Current Affairs sits down with Shelley Levoy, Director of Distribution and special guest Cameron Chan, Supervising Engineer, QA & Metering Standards Revenue Metering at ENMAX to discuss the issue and how it affects the electricity sector.
Hi Shelley, thanks for joining us! To break it down for our readers, what is a meter and how do they work?
At its simplest, a meter measures electricity consumption for billing purposes. For decades, you would have recognized it as the box on the side of your house. What started as mechanical components like the inside of an old watch has evolved to software that still measures electricity but also does a whole host of other things. Today, the measurement function might be built into a smart charging station, part of a commercial energy system, or embedded within more advanced infrastructure. It’s not always a standalone device you can point to.
The measurement is still there. It’s still regulated. But it may live inside equipment that looks very different from the traditional meter people are used to.
What is the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act and why does it matter to the electricity sector?
The Electricity and Gas Inspection Act is the federal law that ensures when a customer receives a bill for electricity, the measurement behind that bill is accurate, verified, and legally sound. That’s foundational. If you can’t trust the measurement, you can’t trust the system.
For utilities, it provides regulatory certainty. For customers, it provides consumer protection. And for the sector as a whole, it underpins the entire revenue framework that keeps the grid operating safely and reliably.
Why is modernization necessary now? What has changed?
This legislation largely dates back to the 1980s. If you think about it, just about everything around us that has changed since then. There was no internet as we know it, no smartphones, no cloud computing, no smart devices in our homes… the electricity system has gone through that same kind of transformation.
Today, we operate with digital meters, secure communications networks, remote software updates, and detailed interval data. The grid is more dynamic: customers have solar panels, they have EVs. Power can flow in more than one direction.
The law was written for a much simpler, more mechanical system. Modernization is about keeping strong consumer protections intact, in a system that now looks very different from the one imagined in the 1980s.
There has been consistent advocacy from Electricity Canada’s membership for the last decade this to Measurement Canada to review components of the Act.
For example, in 2018 we sent them a proposal of some potential language updates and different research we had done. In 2022, there was a consultation on the EGIA, and we were very active and submitted a report with recommendations. It’s our understanding that all that advocacy we've done for the last 10 years, specifically 2018 and 2022 were largely considered when they built the S-3 amendments.
What specific updates or clarifications has Electricity Canada recommended to ensure the Act remains fit-for-purpose?
The Metering Technology and Policy Committee was very deliberate in how we approached this.
First, we’ve recommended modernizing the definition of a meter so it reflects today’s technology, including the software-enabled components that are now integral to how measurement happens.
Second, we’ve asked for clarity around Legal Units of Measurement. As utilities increasingly use interval data and more advanced capabilities, we need to ensure the framework clearly supports how energy is measured and billed in today’s environment.
These recommendations reflect consensus from utilities across the country. They are not radical changes. They’re careful adjustments to ensure the legislation continues to work as intended. To protect consumers while enabling modern grid operations.
We wanted our recommendations to be measured, practical. Frankly, we wanted them to be technically sound and difficult to challenge. This isn’t about sweeping reform. It’s about targeted updates that reflect operational reality.
Thank for joining us, Cameron! You appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy to present these recommendations. What was that experience like, and what did you hope Senators would take away?
Appearing before the Senate was both a fascinating experience and a significant responsibility. Not everyone gets a front row view of how government decision-making works, and it was eye opening to see how Measurement Canada executives articulate their objectives and the challenges they face in administering complex legislation. It was a valuable learning opportunity, and I felt honoured to shoulder the responsibility of representing utilities from across the country.
What I hope we managed to do was to communicate highly technical concepts into language that’s accessible to the Senators without oversimplifying them. Revenue metering and measurement law can be complex, but the implications are very straightforward. Customers need confidence that what they’re being billed for is accurate and fair, and that confidence must be maintained in an environment where technology is advancing rapidly.
The dialogue with Senators was constructive and thoughtful, and it reinforced me that there’s a shared interest in ensuring the legislation remains both credible and fit for purpose in the years ahead.
From a technical perspective, why was it important that the Senate hear directly from someone working in revenue metering and standards?
From a technical perspective, it was important that the Senate hear directly from someone working in revenue metering and standards because there can be a real gap between policy intent and operational reality. What’s required to design, certify, deploy, and operate modern metering systems isn’t always obvious from outside the industry, particularly as technology becomes more integrated and software driven.
Being able to explain how metrology functions in today’s systems helps clarify these discussions in practical reality. Definitions or policy choices that may seem straightforward on paper can have significant real-world implications—affecting how measurement systems are engineered, how equipment is approved, how compliance is demonstrated, and how the change management of innovation should be structured. Clarifying those impacts is critical to ensuring legislation works as intended.
It was also important to demonstrate that utilities place a high value on technical due diligence. The recommendations put forward are grounded in years of industry experience, engineering rigor, and standards expertise, and they reflect a deliberate effort to balance flexibility with strong regulatory compliance.
Ultimately, this is about accommodating technological innovation while maintaining fairtrade measurement practices and protecting customer confidence. Hearing that perspective directly from someone working in the industry helps ensure policy decisions are informed by how these systems actually operate.
Read Electricity Canada’s submission on our website.
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