Although our Department is better known for testing gas stations, electric vehicle chargers, if used commercially (charge a fee for use), are another device type we inspect and test for accuracy.
 

Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) owner requirements 

To ensure compliance with California Business and Professions Code (BPC), Division 5, electric vehicle (EV) charging station owners must register with the local county's weights and measures department, regardless of installation date. Depending on the installation date, a fee will also be applied. This applies to stations charging per kilowatt-hour or time-based fees, though some exceptions may apply. Additionally, these stations must clearly display contact information, including the business name, the complete mailing address, and the phone number of the responsible party for the electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).

Beyond these general requirements, specific mandates apply based on the charger's installation date and type. Level 2 (AC) chargers installed on or after January 1, 2021, must be "Placed in Service" by a state-certified Registered Service Agent (RSA). These RSAs test the station’s measurement capabilities and apply a compliance sticker upon successful completion of a field test. Similarly, DC Fast Chargers installed on or after January 1, 2023, must also undergo this "Placed in Service" process by a Registered Service Agent to ensure compliance.
 

What’s RSA?

Registered Service Agents (RSAs) are professionals authorized by the State of California to perform necessary tests and verifications of EVSE stations, gasoline stations, and commercial weighing facilities. They conduct field tests to verify compliance with state measurement standards, apply compliance stickers, and notify the local county of the station's status.

As an EV charging station owner, staying informed about and adhering to California’s weights and measures regulations is crucial. If your station was installed after the specified dates, or if you charge a fee for services, ensure you work with a Registered Service Agent to meet state compliance requirements. For further assistance, contact your local county weights and measures department.

Our Department’s weights and measures inspectors enforce the California Business and Professions Code (BPC) for petroleum and automotive products.
 

Buying Gasoline, Diesel, and Other Motor Fuels

Accurate measurement is important when you buy gasoline, diesel, and motor fuel to ensure you get what you paid for.

The price you pay for gasoline will depend upon:
 

• the octane level, which may affect the performance of your car;
• the amount you buy; and
• any discounts offered.

Our inspectors routinely check the labeling on motor fuel dispensers (gas station pumps) and fuel storage tanks. They also check the price signs for accuracy, size, and legibility. Typically, these inspections are conducted simultaneously with the annual fuel pump accuracy inspections. Inspectors also ensure that the fueling stations comply with the requirements to provide refueling services to disabled drivers and air and water to customers.

Our Department conducts periodic inspections of gasoline service stations to ensure advertising price signs conform to BPC requirements, including size, color, and accuracy. All gasoline dispensing devices must contain the required information for grade and octane.

If violations are found, the seller can be fined and the product can be removed.
 

How Do We Test? The Retail Motor Fuel Inspection Vehicle

Weights and Measures inspectors use specialized equipment designed to test the meters that dispense petroleum products or motor fuels. For public service stations, like gas stations, inspectors use small, five-gallon containers that are specially mounted on our designated county truck. This allows the inspectors to test each pump for accuracy and then return the fuel to the station’s storage tank, so no fuel is lost by the business owner.

Our Department is responsible for the inspection of businesses that operate an Automated Point-of-Sale System (APOSS). An APOSS is any system used by a retail establishment to look up or scan the price of the items purchased by its customers. It includes scanners, cash registers, checkout stations, or similar devices used to check the price and charge consumers for their purchases. The California Business and Professions Code (BPC) makes it unlawful to charge an amount greater than the advertised, posted, marked, or otherwise displayed or quoted for that commodity (BPC Section 12024.2). The BPC requires the price of each good or service to be paid by the customer be conspicuously displayed to the consumer at the time the price is interpreted by the system (BPC Section 13300).

As part of this complaint-based program, weights and measures inspectors check packaged goods to verify the weight, volume, or count of the packaging. All packaged commodities must have a label indicating the net quantity on the display side of the package. The net quantity excludes any wrapping or container for the product, but does include any liquid material the product may be suspended in.

Weights and measures inspectors conduct undercover test purchases to verify that weighing and measuring devices are being used properly and that the correct tare weight (the weight of any paper, wrapping, cup, or container used as part of the item’s packaging) is applied. Examples of this would be at a recycling center or a grocery store.
 

What to be aware of as a consumer
 

• Watch the price of the item as it shows up on the checkout register.
• Ask the clerk to check the price if you think the scanned price is incorrect.
• If the scanned price does not agree with the posted price, ask the store manager to correct it.
• Save the cash register receipt in case you have questions or a problem later.
• If the problem is not resolved, contact your local weights and measures office for help.

How to know if a device has been recently tested and is accurate

No commercial device can be placed into service without first being tested and sealed. Look for a round approval seal, like the one at the top of this page, on all commercial devices. The seal shows when the device was last inspected.

Business owners with commercial devices

Per California Business and Professions Code (BPC), Division 5, the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures is authorized jurisdiction to enter business premises to inspect, test, and seal commercial devices.

Our Department charges an annual fee(s) for these devices' inspection, registration, and certification. The fees are established by the Board of Supervisors by resolution, in accordance with BPC, in amounts that do not exceed the costs incurred by the County in performing the inspections, registrations, and certifications. Weights and measures device registration fees partially cover the costs of an essential, behind-the-scenes, consumer and business protection program.

No person shall temporarily or permanently, alone or in conjunction with others, establish, maintain, conduct, or operate any weighing or measuring device for commercial purposes without first obtaining an annual device registration certificate and paying the annual registration certificate and paying the annual registration fee, or without submitting a timely application to renew an existing permit and paying the required annual registration fee.

Our inspectors are responsible for inspecting and providing regulatory oversight of all licensed weighmasters in Calaveras County. Weighmasters are individuals or firms who issue official certificates of the weight, measure, or count of any commodity sold when the purchaser and/or seller is not present at the time of sale. Weighmaster certificates are legal documents used to buy and sell products and must meet certain criteria. Weighmasters and their deputies are licensed by the CDFA’s Department of Measurement Standards (DMS).

The industries that mainly use weighmaster certificates are concrete, sand and gravel, ready-mix concrete, asphalt, mulch and soil materials, bulk metal dealers, recyclers, bulk compressed gases, fruit and vegetable packers and handlers, moving companies, commercial fishermen, bulk feed dealers, and sellers of other bulk commodities.