Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Handbook44 topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State weights-and-measures office tells work group it can register and remove malfunctioning EV chargers under NIST Handbook 44
Summary
Maryland Department of Agriculture officials told a PSC-led work group they already have statutory authority under NIST Handbook 44 to register, inspect and, if necessary, condemn commercial electric vehicle charging equipment; they said funding and staffing will be needed to scale inspections and recommended device registration by owner and location.
Allison, representing the Maryland Department of Agriculture(Weights and Measures), told the work group that her office already has authority under NIST Handbook 44 to treat EV charging equipment as "devices used in commercial transaction" and to register, inspect, test and certify them.
"Weights and measures will remove from service any charger that does not meet tolerances, specifications, and technical requirements as specified in this Handbook 44," Allison said, summarizing the department's enforcement powers and the kinds of defects that would merit condemnation or a red tag.
Why it matters: The MDA presentation framed much of the group's subsequent policy conversation. If commercial chargers are treated like gas pumps or grocery scales, device registration, inspection schedules and clear tolerances become the basis for enforcement. Allison said registration would be by location and device owner, with devices recorded by make, model and serial number.
What the department told the group: Allison outlined technical rules and tolerances in Handbook 44, noting current acceptance tolerances (1%) and maintenance tolerances (2%), and that the National Conference on Weights and Measures recently voted that DC devices installed before Jan. 1, 2025, may have a 5% tolerance. She described user‑facing requirements such as visible unit pricing, recorded representations or receipts, transaction totalizers and return‑to‑zero behavior between sessions. She also described the department's normal enforcement cadence: registration, routine inspection and, when a device fails, giving registered service agencies time to repair, or condemning the device if it cannot be certified.
Costs and capacity: Allison said the agency currently registers tens of thousands of devices on an 18‑person field staff and would need additional staffing and fee revenue to inspect EV chargers at scale. She proposed adding a device registration category for EV fueling equipment so inspection fees could fund standards purchases, training and more inspectors.
Next steps: Workshop members asked MDA to share its written definitions and suggested the group use Handbook 44 language as a baseline when drafting the statewide framework. The work group did not take any votes; members asked for jurisdictional clarity and asked agencies to return with cost estimates and implementation timelines.
Ending: MDA said it has statutory authority now but needs funding and operational planning to begin routine EVSE inspections.
