how are watt hour meter sockets rated for ampacity?

Answer 1

Ampacity is the amount of current a wire or device can handle. A watt hour meter socket records how much current has passed through that socket.

Watt (power)= voltage x Current
Watt-hour (energy) = voltage x current x time

Voltage is constant. So if you have something in a socket that records 1 watt hour, it used 1 watt for one hour. or 1 watt/120V = .008 amp hours.

but to answer your question a device can only handle so much current, a typical socket is rated for 15-20 amps.