Moving gas and electricity meters in winters - bad idea?

kaboo

Hi everyone,
Is it a risk to try and get gas and electricity meters moved in winter months?

Our meters are inside an under stairs cupboard. We want to have a WC built there so the meters need to go outside the house. Most likely its going to happen in Nov-Dec. Moving the meters outside, reconnecting the supply and reconnecting the appliances in the same day - is it practically doable in the same day or it could take more than one or more days? Would you rather do it in summers? 

It might sound like a silly question, but I dont have much experience or knowledge of this stuff. So would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Rivers_mum

We had our gas meter moved outside  in 1 day. You know you can’t do it yourself? You have to contact your supplier or in our area it was Cadent who do the work. it’s not cheap although we got ours done free because it was actually half under the floor and dangerous because you could hardly reach the emergency cut off and had to lie on your stomach to read it!  I assume moving the elec will be the same.

spiro

Before you even think about it I suggest you  get quotes for both.  For elec, the DNO moves the intake cable and your supplier the meter.

Ectophile

I got my local gas supplier (the company that maintains the pipes, not the people I pay the bills to) to move my gas meter.

The digging and filling in of holes took a few days, but the actual meter move was all done in one day.

kaboo

Thank you, and sorry for not giving more info. I have enquired about the process from SGN for gas and SSEN for electricity (we are in Oxfordshire), and supplier to move meters. I will not be doing any of the work myself. Moving electricity should be simpler (i hope) as its an overhead line going into the house. Gas would require digging but will get SGN to do it. 

I am in the process of filling forms for quotes at the moment. l am expecting the cost to be in the range of 1000-2000 for both, its expensive but needs to be done as we do need a WC on the ground floor for our old parents who have been living with us more often since the pandemic. 

What I wanted to know was, in general experience, is it something doable in a single day? Or generally there are issues and we could be stuck without gas and/or electricity for longer during winter days. I guess prospects of being without heat or light, two old parents and a 4 year old is making us a bit nervous. Would you go ahead and do it in Nov-Dec or wait for next year summer, but give our parents more painful joints

Rivers_mum

As I said our gas was done in the one day. The first guys arrived about 8.30 then sat in their van until 10. Finally came and argued about where it was going as they wanted to put it outside at ground level for ease! Told them no as it’s on the drive at the side of the house so would be at risk of getting caught by the car. Agreed to put it at chest height. We think one of the guys was the worse for wear or on something and clearly trying to do as little as possible. One guy disconnected the gas then left.  They dug up the drive and put the pipe work in and the box and new meter but didn’t connect it. They left about 12.30- worked so slowly. They said the gas fitter would be there in a couple of hours. No one arrived by 4, it was cold and driving rain so started ringing and were told he’d be there soon, promised we wouldn’t be left without gas. He arrived about 5.30pm at the start of his shift, he covers overnight emergencies and worked like mad, felt so sorry for him in the rain. Finished about 8pm. 

He had several calls from his bosses about the first lot, they clearly realised what had gone on with them, their laziness meant the person who should have come to connect it up couldn’t as they’d not done their job on time and by then they’d had to send the emergency guy to do it out of normal hours, they weren’t pleased. As you can see it was easily done in one day and they were fantastic about making sure we weren’t left overnight without gas but I reckon the first guy was in deep trouble. We didn’t complain but they contacted us to ask for details as they were investigating it. 

Ectophile

My gas meter move was with SGN.  Their forms were all a bit confusing, but their call centre staff were friendly and helpful.

adam06_2

We had ours moved from inside to outside (other side of the wall)... Was done in less than a day.. not sure exactly how long as I wasn't in at the time. It wasn't cheap though... Cost about £500, which included a box for the outside wall.

kaboo

Hi everyone,
so made applications with SSEN and SGN for the moves. 

I have attached a rough schematic of the house and tried to show the current (red) and future (green) locations of the meters. Our plan was to move the meters outside, on the other side of the same wall where meters are at the moment but further towards front of the house. This is where our side driveway is. This position was chosen so that we are future proof in case in the next 10-15 years we ever want to extend the house sideways. However, this will make meter more than 3 m away from the fuseboard (consumer unit) so our builder suggested that we will need a sub-main fuse if we dont want to move the consumer unit too (to prevent rewiring, chasing in the recently painted walls and more costs!!). We thought thats ok!  

 But SSEN person visited today and said something like 'You currently have 100 amps line coming in but if you use a sub main fuse then it will be an 80 amps line from meter to consumer unit. Which would limit number of appliances that you can run.' Appliances like heat pumps, a few other things he mentioned that I cannot recall (it was a surprise visit that pulled me out of a meeting and my brain was taking too long to refocus...). But what caught my attention was electric car chargers. He said you might not be able to have EV charger on 80 amps, and definitely not more than one. He wasn't sure though!

What he suggested is it correct? Should we drop the plan with a sub main fuse and chose between (i) meters outside, immediately on the other side of the wall where they are now. (ii) move to the front, along with the consumer unit and rewiring? 

Ectophile

You can run an EV charger from an 80A supply, though it might be pushing it if all your heating is electrical as well.

Or just fit a 100A sub-main with a 100A fuse, and ignore what the guy told you.

tux900

I don't see any mention of an electrician in all of this. What's their view and what options have they given?