(Electrical) PME earth connection

reggie_rabbit

Hi

Just had a new consumer unit fitted as new electrics installed in new extension.
My contractor has advised that a PME is required as there appears to be no main earth at my property and that i should contact my local distributor.

Have done this and received a quote for £157.

Surely anything on the supply side of my meter is the responsibility of my supplier, had I not upgraded to a 17th edition CU I would have been non the wiser and i have never had any electrical issues.
PS= have only been at this house 2 years.

Comments, advice appreciated

Thanks .

fluffpot

Firstly, the electrician should not have done ANY work knowing that is no main earth. This should have been resolved first as I can't see how he will issue you any certs as some of the tests cannot be performed without an earth.

Still, I digress...

The electricity supplier is not obliged to provide you with an earthing connection - odd as it sounds. £157 sounds quite reasonable in my experience. You might like to investigate an earth rod (ie a stake in the ground, meaning that you supply your own earth) but it might not be any cheaper. However, I wouldn't ask the first electrician to do this - as per my comments above.

On the bright side, at least you now know there is a problem and can get it resolved

reggie_rabbit

Thanks v much for your prompt reply.

I don't feel so bad now.
just for info, my contractor had replaced the CU before carrying out any tests and this is when the earth situation was discovered, he has not yet issued any certs as he requires a suitable earth to the property before completion of his tests,

i will be replying to the distributor in due course and again thank you for you valuable response.
Ta

fluffpot

Yikes - even worse! Always test before upgrading, otherwise how do you know that the circuits will pass???

First test I carry out, even when going to do a quote, is an earth test and I would double check again before I started a board change

Ectophile

You need to find out, from your electricity supplier, what sort of earthing you should have, and whether or not it's possible to convert it to PME. In theory, they should keep records of this. In practice, they may have to send somebody round to take a look.

If you are supposed to have an earth, then it it's the supplier's responsibility to maintain it in a safe state.

However, on some supplies, the supplier can't provide an earth. In that case, your electrician would need to install an earth rod and set it up as a TT supply. I'm surprised the electrician didn't suggest this as an option.