£2700+ to replace two fuses

john800

Please accept my apologies as this is going to be a long story, however the gist of it is that Electricity North West Ltd. is currently attempting to charge me in excess of £2700+ effectively to replace two fuses, what follows is how this situation has arisen, any advice you could offer would be very gratefully received.

Having purchased a property (mid terrace) that had been vacant for some time, when I took possession there were stickers on all the taps, switches and gas appliances explaining that the services had been turned off and all the water drained down. The electricity supply had two fuses one of which had the security tag removed to open the cover and the fuse pulled out (not by me I hasten to add). Inside the fuse was a length of wire that looked like it had been cut from a coat hanger rather than any legitimate fusewire. Needing to get the electricity back on I called NPower who service the property, an engineer came out, removed the section of ‘coat hanger’ left the fuse on the windowsill and resealed the fuse holder. He then explained that the fuses and holders would need to be replaced (I’m assuming this would be because fuse wire is a thing of the past now) and that this work would have to be done by Electricity North West Ltd (ENWL).

I contacted ENWL and after several calls managed to get an engineer to site who informed me that he was also unable to do the work as the cables that fed the two fuses came from a junction box where the incoming cable to the building terminated and if the box was disturbed it could explode (his words). I’ve since spoken to a friend who says chances are it won’t explode, more likely there’ll be burning smells and buzzing and crackling sounds coming from it, still not totally reassuring when the gas meter is sat right next to it. The engineer went on to explain that a new cable needed to be run into the building, this involved digging up a section of driveway and cutting and re-jointing the cable, then feeding the new one into the building and onto the backboard with a new fuse. He explained to me that the work would be carried out free of charge as the equipment needing to be replaced was ENWL’s responsibility.

The engineer even asked me if I was available the next day (a Saturday) for them to come and do the work on an emergency basis. This is when I made my big mistake – I explained to the engineer that I thought I had a damp problem behind the backboard and asked would it be possible to disconnect the supply and ‘cap’ it somehow, allowing me some time to sort the problem prior to the reconnection. The ENWL engineer was adamant that it should still be done free of charge with the caveat that “they may try to charge you for the reconnection, as it’s yourself that wants the extra time, depends if you get them in a good mood!”.

I’ve since had the property checked and there is NOT a damp issue, it just hasn’t been lived in for a year and was cold, however a good deal of the plaster has come loose behind the backboard and that itself may be grounds for a delay between disconnection and reconnection, I honestly don’t know.

I had to apply for a disconnection via the ENWL website and received a quote from one of their engineers for £1163, I rang the person in question and explained the situation in more detail including what the site engineer had said, none of which was possible to include via their website, he promised me a phone call back later on. Instead I had a call from another engineer who said the total cost would now be £2700+ as there would be a further charge of £1600+ for the reconnection after the damp problem was sorted. I explained that the damp had never been a confirmed diagnosis and that the site engineer explained that it should be done free of charge even though he believed at the time that there was a damp problem. The engineer promised me a call back instead I received a call from the complaints dept the next day explaining that they would not carry the work out free of charge due to the damp problem. I AGAIN explained that there was not a damp problem there and that their own engineer had said it would be free of charge, the person put me on hold to talk to a manager, then came back saying they still won’t pay for it because the backboard was too crowded with equipment and that the installation had been ‘made safe’ by the removal of the fuse and therefore was no longer classed as an emergency. Obviously the site engineer knew at the time that the fuse had been removed and as for the backboard being too crowded, there is only the termination box for the cable, two fuses and a meter, nothing else, there may not be much room for anything else on there but that is because of THEIR equipment alone.

I’m convinced that they are simply coming up with excuses to avoid the promise made by the site engineer and are playing me to see how long I can go without power before I give in and pay them. So far I have had more than fifteen calls to and from ENWL totalling more than an hour and a half and am still getting nowhere.