harry wrote:

Does a "demand meter" give a more accurate measure of energy
consumption?

(I note that no explicit answer is given for that question)

It only shows the maximum. Usually they only show peaks that
last a few minutes
The purpose of a demand meter is to discourage the electric
consumer from high peaks in demand. Usually there is an
additional charge that depends on this peak.

So are you saying that customers with "demand meters" are billed on the
basis of their peak demand - a reading based on only a few minutes worth
of energy usage as seen over an entire billing period?

How is that a fair or equitable way to bill a customer?

Are commercial customers that typically use between 2000 and 3000 kwh of
electricity per month normally considered as candidates for a demand
meter, or are they used for much higher usage customers?