National Grid want to exchange our gas meter

Pssst

apurplemind wrote: »

I used to work at Transco a couple of years ago and have had my meter exchanged. Its not classed as an emergency so they dont like giving appointments as gas leaks take priority ( that was the case before bits of the company was sold up anyway). When I got a letter asking about a meter change I asked could a note be put on the system asking for after 4pm (they dont have to do this, but some engineers will send the job back so it can be re-issued). Anyway that guy turned up earlier, and I rang to reschedule-was offered AM/PM and chose AM, however the guy who was given the job had seen that I had originally requested after 4 and rejected the job, and came at 5pm!!!

Meters are changed on a rolling programme-from imperial to metric and tend to be on an age and manufacturer base.

Hope that helps.

A

This isnt strictly correct .National Grid engineers operate the gas emergency and distribution business. That is their priority. National Grid metering,a subsidiary,deals with asset management of meters. They choose to use National Grids engineers to do some metering work. National Grid metering is responsible for appointments and notifying customers, Not national Grid Emergency ops.

The National Grid engineer gets fed appointment details and the job is issued according to timeslot assuming there is sufficient capacity to do the work. Metering work can sometimes be over-ridden if gas emergency calls rise.

apurplemind

As stated I worked at Transco (around the time National Grid took over and parts of the network were sold off). However after leaving Transco I got a request to have my meter exchanged. When I rang to rearrange I was asked if I wanted morning or afternoon. I requested morning, however when the engineer was issued that job he returned it (as I had asked for a previous job to be after 4). The same engineer was then reissued the same job.
However this was about 2 year ago and things do change. But I always found that using 'sorry we didnt turn up there was a gas emergency' got you out of a sticky situation regarding appointments whether it was true or not.

A

Pssst

Yep,see what you mean. It happens. The guys on the gorund just do what it says on the tin as they are effectively working as arms llength contractors for the meter asset managers eg National Grid Metering.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

cornerstone13 wrote: »

We've received a letter yesterday from National Grid Metering to say they want to exchange our gas meter as it's been "identified as being of an age that is coming to the end of its useful life". But our house is less than 20 years old

Has anyone heard of this, or know why it is likely to be done on a "young" meter. I've tried calling National Grid just to be put in their queuing system.

We moved into a new build 8 years ago,after 2 years all the houses(53 of them) on the site had the gas meters changed.No one could offer an explanation why.They seem to do what they like realy.

lemontart

MRSTITTLEMOUSE wrote: »

We moved into a new build 8 years ago,after 2 years all the houses(53 of them) on the site had the gas meters changed.No one could offer an explanation why.They seem to do what they like realy.

It is the suppliers that tell ng if certain mtrs may have to be replaced so it could be that there were problems with those at your development

carroger

cornerstone13 wrote: »

We've received a letter yesterday from National Grid Metering to say they want to exchange our gas meter as it's been "identified as being of an age that is coming to the end of its useful life". But our house is less than 20 years old.

We live on an estate of 150 houses and it seems by asking around that about 10% of the houses have received these letters.

It also gives a date one week from today for the appointment; they require access to our property and don't give any indication of the time they will come - wonder if they'll pay for my lost wages when I wait in for them all day. If I could get through, I could ask them ! If I want to change the appt I have to give at least 15 days notice - um, how about sending me the letter earlier then.

Has anyone heard of this, or know why it is likely to be done on a "young" meter. I've tried calling National Grid just to be put in their queuing system.

hey there just came across this had the same thing about a month ago they turned up as they said took ten minutes all changed and fired up again ..