diff --git a/libraries/chain/controller.cpp b/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
index 83eb9a472e002c7d76552d74140cdbca1a1bd89d..fa3ec68cb6c81294a158a57bb354d6f60dbc5f4b 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
@@ -998,7 +998,20 @@ struct controller_impl {
 
       transaction_trace_ptr trace;
       try {
-         transaction_context trx_context(self, trx->trx, trx->id);
+         auto start = fc::time_point::now();
+         if( !explicit_billed_cpu_time ) {
+            int64_t cpu_per_signature_us = 10; // TODO: plumb in producer configuration for this value.
+            auto already_consumed_time = fc::microseconds( cpu_per_signature_us * trx->trx.signatures.size() );
+            // Alternatively store actual time to recover keys in transaction_metadata and use that as already_consumed_time (makes more sense if recovery cache was removed).
+
+            if( start.time_since_epoch() <  already_consumed_time ) {
+               start = fc::time_point();
+            } else {
+               start -= already_consumed_time;
+            }
+         }
+
+         transaction_context trx_context(self, trx->trx, trx->id, start);
          if ((bool)subjective_cpu_leeway && pending->_block_status == controller::block_status::incomplete) {
             trx_context.leeway = *subjective_cpu_leeway;
          }
@@ -1014,7 +1027,6 @@ struct controller_impl {
                bool skip_recording = replay_head_time && (time_point(trx->trx.expiration) <= *replay_head_time);
                trx_context.init_for_input_trx( trx->packed_trx->get_unprunable_size(),
                                                trx->packed_trx->get_prunable_size(),
-                                               trx->trx.signatures.size(),
                                                skip_recording);
             }
 
diff --git a/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/transaction_context.hpp b/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/transaction_context.hpp
index 2e215f00ec2444db824896adcb3c5d9bcab6df05..b0327dafb185eff75492f346c89647572c7c8be5 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/transaction_context.hpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/include/eosio/chain/transaction_context.hpp
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ namespace eosio { namespace chain {
 
          void init_for_input_trx( uint64_t packed_trx_unprunable_size,
                                   uint64_t packed_trx_prunable_size,
-                                  uint32_t num_signatures,
                                   bool skip_recording);
 
          void init_for_deferred_trx( fc::time_point published );
diff --git a/libraries/chain/transaction_context.cpp b/libraries/chain/transaction_context.cpp
index 989905ef9a004d448ff3e17f9aee48225e4ff1e8..d5da8ca279be84b971e96c23f1a06d1cb67de7b3 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/transaction_context.cpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/transaction_context.cpp
@@ -284,7 +284,6 @@ namespace bacc = boost::accumulators;
 
    void transaction_context::init_for_input_trx( uint64_t packed_trx_unprunable_size,
                                                  uint64_t packed_trx_prunable_size,
-                                                 uint32_t num_signatures,
                                                  bool skip_recording )
    {
       const auto& cfg = control.get_global_properties().configuration;