Who's responsible for the cost of relocating an electricity meter?

littlewren

My Dad, who's in his 80's, is having problems with his electricity meter as it's not working properly and needs to be replaced. He's now been told that as it's too close to the gas meter, it'll need moving because of EU regulations. It looks like there might be room to move it further away, if not it'll have to go outside, but my Dad can't get an answer as to who's responsible for paying for it to be moved.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks in advance.

trickytree1963

As it sounds like its the supplier who requires it replacing as its faulty I cannot see any logical reason why the supplier doesn't pay for its moving away from the Gas Meter. If its less than one metre , usually the Supplier pays anyway.

Has your Dad registered on the Priority Services Register (PSR) with his supplier? Might be worth doing so.

JC_Derby

Generally the property owner would bear the cost, but I agree with tricky, in this case, it's not the property owner who is asking for it to be moved, but I'm presuming the supplier

badmemory

My instinctive answer is - they want to move it - their problem - they pay. They will probably try to get him to pay but he/you should challenge it. Is it a smart meter? Pretty sure it must be. Suggest they move the meter at their cost or reinstal a non-smart meter.

FestiveJoy

littlewren wrote: »

My Dad, who's in his 80's, is having problems with his electricity meter as it's not working properly and needs to be replaced. He's now been told that as it's too close to the gas meter, it'll need moving because of EU regulations. It looks like there might be room to move it further away, if not it'll have to go outside, but my Dad can't get an answer as to who's responsible for paying for it to be moved.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks in advance.

How close are they today? :eek:
Perhaps you could gives a a piccy? They say it saves a 1000 words

There's usually no need to move it.
The latest regulations apply to brand new installations, not existing installations.

However, even if someone doesn't understand that, then the regulations are not too severe.

Gas pipework needs to be at least an inch away from electrical cables, and at least 6inches from electrical meters, distribution boxes, electrical switches, etc.

There's usually more than enough space to move an electric meter so that it's 6 inches away, especially as old, 'spinning'electricity meters were often much larger than the latest 'digital' meters they usually replace them with nowadays

But all is not lost if that is not possible. The other option if the gap is still considered too small is simply to install a non-combustible, electrical insulating partition between them.

The fitter should sort all this out for your elderly father. Has your father informed the supplier of his age and asked to be put on their Priority Sevices Register?

Something perhaps you could assist with over this loooooooong festive period? Don't worry, we're on the downhill leg now.


:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

littlewren

Many thanks for all your replies. I've mentioned the Priority Services Register to my Dad and will pass these replies on to him.

Robisere

Sorry about the Hijack, but I have a similar question. Both my gas and electricity meters are new as of April 2016 due to our Social Landlord changing our heating from ancient NS heaters and Economy 7, to GCH.

The electricity meter was new, but the meter box, directly outside our front door on the wall, is not. The flimsy door hinges have broken, I had to hold it on with packing tape. Reporting to Northern Energy and EDF just gets the "Not our responsibility" response and our landlord just does not answer any queries about this. (Not an isolated event in itself.)

Does anyone have any idea which organisation is responsible for repairing the meter door? I can understand EDF not being responsible, but surely Northern Energy should be?

Inner_Zone

Robisere wrote: »

Sorry about the Hijack, but I have a similar question. Both my gas and electricity meters are new as of April 2016 due to our Social Landlord changing our heating from ancient NS heaters and Economy 7, to GCH.

The electricity meter was new, but the meter box, directly outside our front door on the wall, is not. The flimsy door hinges have broken, I had to hold it on with packing tape. Reporting to Northern Energy and EDF just gets the "Not our responsibility" response and our landlord just does not answer any queries about this. (Not an isolated event in itself.)

Does anyone have any idea which organisation is responsible for repairing the meter door? I can understand EDF not being responsible, but surely Northern Energy should be?

EDF:

https://edfenergyuk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/817/~/the-box-my-meter-is-in-is-broken.-who%E2%80%99s-responsibility-is-this%3F

Npower:

https://customerservices.npower.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1451/~/my-meter-box-%2F-meter-box-door-needs-replacing-%2F-repairing.-what-should-i-do%3F

molerat

As above, meter boxes are the responsibility of the property owner, nothing to do with the supplier.

Carrot007

Robisere wrote: »

Sorry about the Hijack, but I have a similar question. Both my gas and electricity meters are new as of April 2016 due to our Social Landlord changing our heating from ancient NS heaters and Economy 7, to GCH.

The electricity meter was new, but the meter box, directly outside our front door on the wall, is not. The flimsy door hinges have broken, I had to hold it on with packing tape. Reporting to Northern Energy and EDF just gets the "Not our responsibility" response and our landlord just does not answer any queries about this. (Not an isolated event in itself.)

Does anyone have any idea which organisation is responsible for repairing the meter door? I can understand EDF not being responsible, but surely Northern Energy should be?

As per the above two your landlord.