Do we have to be home for a pre-mayment meter to be fitted?

t0rt0ise

When my meter was changed from a pay one to a credit meter, the guy came in and plugged a little gizmo in to test it. What was he testing exactly?

wr1ght

polarity at your sockets

its done before and after as a point of reference

misterbarlow

well over the past 7yrs that I have been doing it, i have changed probably hundreds of meters without gaining access to the property at all, either via external box or communal hallway...
some guys i work with have been doing the job 25yrs and have always done the same too...

most (not all granted) external boxes in my area have isolators in them, and all communal hallway setups always have isolators, as long as the polarity is correct at the meter tails and to the isolator, if its wrong on the other side of the isolator, thats their problem!!!!

in that 7yrs where i do a 'normal' internal meter change and do test a socket, I have NEVER came across a reversed polarity in probably 1000's of meter changes and have never heard any of my colleagues coming across one, so its extremely unlikely (I accept not impossible) to even happen to start with, and as long as the tails are well marked before starting, its hard to cross them during the change, unless you are incompetent!!!

Like I said already, the company provide letters and NA cards stating we will change if have access to meter, so if they are happy for us to do it....!!!
If they change policy and tell us not too do this at some point, then we will have to stop!!!

wr1ght

just shows how companies procedures differ

reverse polaritys are not unheard of especially after council have been doing work

wr1ght

to answer the op question i guess it depends on which company is doing the change

SwanJon

OK, sit corrected.
We've always advised that customers need to be in for the polarity test, and especially for credit to PP so that the meter can be explained (although this doesn't seem to happen all the time).
I suppose if you can test the polarity from outside then it covers it.