Electric meter security seal missing

paulinefromtheuk

Hello.
My neighbour told this evening that the black box where the main electric cable rises from the ground and goes into the fuse/black box the security seal was missing. She noted this as she was preparing the small cupboard in the hall that holds the gas and electrics for painting. They moved in a few months ago and never noted this but today moved a shelf and the case on black box moved and that's when she noted this.

Question is who does she contact? She also said the big white fuse had a black mark on it. The property was previously rented out over the years.

Thanks.
ps - IMO they are decent people and only the couple live at the house and out to work for 6 days a week so I can't see them doing anything wrong.

Nilrem

IIRC if the missing seal is on tuse holder it's not a massive issue in terms of your friend being in trouble, as it's when the seal on the meter is tampered with that it tends to indicate a possibly interfered with meter, whilst the fuse holder seal can just be someone forgot to replace it after doing work* and is more safety related.

The people to contact would probably be the supply network (you can find out who it is here), as up to the meter it's the supply networks job to maintain it.
Have her tell them basically what you've posted here, but also make it clear that the cover on the fuse holder is loose as that is a safety issue (that fuse is the first bit of protection for the house, and the contacts under it are always live on at least one side, both if the fuse is present and working).

Also tell her not to touch the fuse holder any more:p if it's loose you really don't want to knock it off and expose the contacts as that's before the main fuse board/RCD so risking touching them is bad.

I'm guessing the network supplier will send someone out as a non urgent appointment to check the fuse/meter are untampered with, and replace the seal (possibly the entire fuse holder) to make the fuse holder safe.



*Ours is currently missing the seal (which from memory is just a metal tie), and has been since the electricity network replaced the incoming mains cable after it got damaged a few years back, and they replaced the fuse holder at the same time - however the cover on ours is very tight without the seal, and is where it can't be knocked/touched without making a real effort (so not a safety issue). It wasn't commented on at all by any of the meters readers, or even when the meters got replaced (that might have been when the seal was removed thinking about it).

paulinefromtheuk

Thank you.