U16 to U6 meter help required.

JoannaLewis_2

I have found out that i have a U16 meter in my property and am trying to change it to a U6 meter, as i don't require this size meter, and its v ugly. My current supplier won't change it unless i pay them £700+ for the priviledge. They have come up with a solution where i get a gas safe engineer to take the meter out and to the local depot and then they send a domestic engineer out. It appears that a gas safe engineer is not allowed to take the meter off the premises.

Any solutions gratefuly received.

C_Mababejive

How do you know you dont require this size of meter and how did it get there in the first place?

The gas safe engineer cant take your meter out or take it anywhere as he would need permission from the meter owner ,in industry parlance,the meter asset manager/owner. What depot would he take it to? No one would accept delivery of it?

Having taken it out,how would you/he procure a new domestic meter?

No..the only person who can arrange for your meter to be exchanged is your supplier who will arrange it with the meter asset owner/manager.

As for a £700 charge, well that does seem rather excessive.

Tell them you will switch supplier if they dont change it for a fair amount.

Why is it such a bother to you?

spiro

A U16 meter would not have been fitted in the first place if the amount of gas going to be used did not warrant it. Has something change about the property i.e. changed from Fish & Chip shop to a house?

JoannaLewis_2

My house is a standard domestic property, the meter was there when we moved into the house, but we have just moved it from under the stairs, so did not realise how large it was. The only gas we have is a brand new gas boiler and gas hob. As far as i know there is no reason for the previous tenants to have had this large meter.

My gas supplier not interested in changing it, unless i pay a lot of money - i will certainly investigate other suppliers, any suggestions.

KimYeovil

Why should other customers pay for your vanity projects? If you want the meter changed, cough up the £700.

spiro

It may be that there are pipework changes that need to be done and this may have to be undertaken by the gas transporter. Phone your local one and ask them how much to change the meter. The other thing to bear in miknd is that they will be taking a working meter off the wall for no reason so you may be billed for any unused life of the meter which will add to the cost.

C_Mababejive

Gas transporters are not in the business of doing meterwork unless the meter asset owner/manager requests and pays for them to do so.

There is a further complication to this in that if your meter installation ever goes faulty/leaks,the emergency service will,in all likelihood,simply cut you off and go away. This is becuase the emergency service provider generally only have contracts with suppliers to do emergency work on metering sizes upto 6m3/h. Anything bigger than this,they simply cutoff and walk away. you then have to approach your gas supplier and ask them to arrange repairs...delays..delays etc..

I do think that £700 is excessive for this work and i would ask them how they have arrived at this figure and can they provide a breakdown of costs.