Can't install a new smart meter due to asbestos...?

General_query

Hi,

Just a quickie really.

We are moving in to a house (100 years old) soon and have been told the electric meter in the pantry needs replacing with a new smart meter.

Someone from the energy company came, then said they can't do it due to asbestos, then went away and are now saying they can but they'll have to get a specialist team to come and do it.

And yes we all know "asbestos is safe unless disturbed".

Just taken the below photo's showing the very old meter in the pantry, the (asbestos?) board it's fastened to and also the very old fuse box (consumer unit). I believe this was put in in 1984....

Can anyone tell by looking please if it IS the wooden board the current electric meter is mounted on, and does that also mean the fuse box is also on an asbestos board (after it was wiped clean and painted) 

Other question is how can the energy company now install a new one, and what happens should the electricity "fuse box" need replacing with a modern consumer unit?

And what is that black thing to the left of the electric meter? 

Thank you.

Robin9

That "black thing" is the DNO's service cable termination and contains the main fuse.

Section62

General_query said:

Hi,

Just a quickie really.

We are moving in to a house (100 years old) soon and have been told the electric meter in the pantry needs replacing with a new smart meter.

Someone from the energy company came, then said they can't do it due to asbestos, then went away and are now saying they can but they'll have to get a specialist team to come and do it.

And yes we all know "asbestos is safe unless disturbed".

Just taken the below photo's showing the very old meter in the pantry, the (asbestos?) board it's fastened to and also the very old fuse box (consumer unit). I believe this was put in in 1984....

Can anyone tell by looking please if it IS the wooden board the current electric meter is mounted on, and does that also mean the fuse box is also on an asbestos board (after it was wiped clean and painted) 

Other question is how can the energy company now install a new one, and what happens should the electricity "fuse box" need replacing with a modern consumer unit?

And what is that black thing to the left of the electric meter? 

Thank you.

Impossible to say for sure from a photo, but from the style, shape, and brown coloured area behind the service head (to the left of the meter) I'd suggest the material was more likely chipboard, but you should get it tested by a professional asbestos testing company if you intend to do work on it.

If the supplier is just needing to use a different team to change the meter I wonder whether there are some crossed wires here?  If the board is asbestos then they will probably need to use an asbestos removal company, not a different meter-change team.

The age and style of your consumer unit means this could contain asbestos - and if the supplier needs to replace the meter tails as part of the meter swap then they would need to open the consumer unit and do work inside it.  It could be that which is causing them concern and wanting to use a specialist team (i.e. trained for working with asbestos-containing equipment). Or have they specifically said the material the meter is mounted on is asbestos?

'Board' is also a term used for consumer units - as in 'fuse board' - just to add to the scope for confusion about what the actual problem might be.  "I can't work on that, it is an asbestos board" could mean two different things.

Vortigern

Robin9 said:

That "black thing" is the DNO's service cable termination and contains the main fuse.

... and that cable head is possibly the component that contains asbestos. If it needs to be replaced it would be done by the DNO (live working) - not by your energy company.

Ildhund

General_query said:

Someone from the energy company came, then said they can't do it due to asbestos, then went away and are now saying they can but they'll have to get a specialist team to come and do it.

I just spotted this post about an asbestos backboard on a different forum: 

So, we do have teams internally that should be able to do the asbestos work. Ill get a marker put on the account, itll be added to the asbestos list that we have!!

OVO Field Operations Team Leader

The elaborate anti-split fixings would lead me to suspect that the board was indeed asbestos, or at least contained asbestos. 

General_query said:

And what is that black thing to the left of the electric meter? 

That is the distributor's (DNOs) service head, the cut-out containing the main fuse. It's possible as someone else remarked that that fuse also contains asbestos, in which case it's a job for the DNO.

FreeBear

The consumer unit is well past its use-by date and should be replaced with something more modern.

Before OVO come to replace the meter, get them to agree to fitting an isolator switch between the meter & CU - If you tell them that you are thinking of getting an EV charging point installed, they should fit an isolator automatically. Even if you don't have an EV charger installed, it will make life a lot easier and safer for the electrician when he/she replaces that vintage CU.

General_query

Hi, thanks for the helpful replies. Had an electrician round for a quote for some new security lights and asked his opinion on this asbestos matter and he said it could be there's a strand of it in the black DNO junction thing, and really not to worry about it as they (energy company replacing the meters) have the specialists to deal / remove it. Will post an update when I have one!

Albermarle

General_query said:

Hi, thanks for the helpful replies. Had an electrician round for a quote for some new security lights and asked his opinion on this asbestos matter and he said it could be there's a strand of it in the black DNO junction thing, and really not to worry about it as they (energy company replacing the meters) have the specialists to deal / remove it. Will post an update when I have one!

Did he not say that a new consumer unit was needed to replace that old fuse box ?