Moving an electricity meter

[Whyisitsodifficult]

Has anyone moved their electricity meter to an outside wall? We need to move ours for some renovation and thinking we could get it moved from where it is to directly outside. Any idea of cost? Also the fuse box will need moving any ideas of cost on this one as well? Thanks

I am not sure the fuse box is such a big deal but I have in the back of my head that the actual electricity meter is expensive to move. Sorry not to be of more help - perhaps you could do an @ thing to someone like PigletJohn who would probably know or indeed contact your current electricity supplier on phone to try to at least get a start on who to ask as to how much it may cost.

Again - sorry not to be more help - but I would start with your supplier - you may at least get a lead on who to speak to

Good luck though & hope renovations go well

First a team came and dug up the side path to expose where the feed entered the house, and from there a new trench to where it was due to enter the house.

Then the Grid came to reroute the live wires to the new location.

Then the first team came to make good the holes.

Then your energy provider install the meter and supply.

Then you have to arrange for an electrician to reconnect your meter tails in to the consumer unit - or in your case do that and install a new one.

The Grid charged £600 to dig holes and route the supply. NPower didn't charge for connecting the meter. A sparky charged about £100 to connect the tails (and also install an isolator before the CU).

It's not a difficult or expensive job,... the hard part is coordinating everything to happen in a day or so.

Expect your Grid will have a PDF How To, on their website. Northern Grid's is here www.northernpowergrid.com/asset/0/document/2682.pdf

We have done this with both electric and gas - our builder dug the holes and then the gas and electric boards moved them.

Cost just over a grand in the end. Electric was fairly easily done - gas was a whole other game .....

Yep

But older houses may have lead supply cables with bitumen and steel protective armour, often hard, cracked and rusted, so it would need more digging and jointing in the ground.

It is an old house so I suspect it won’t be straight forward! What I don’t understand is why the need to dig up the path? All I want is to move the meter from the internal wall directly behind to the external wall, so if anything it’s moving it nearer to the original source. Or am I being incredibly naive!? Thanks for your replies.

If it's an old cable, it might not be safe to bend it, so a new modern cable may need to be jointed in the ground. Possibly the old cable will be in a poor state, or undersized, and need go be replaced.

It would be interesting to see some photos of yours where it comes up through the floor and goes into the cutout.

Watching with interest as I'm trying to do exactly the same thing.
Spoke to my energy supplier this morning who advised that I need to speak to UKPN to get the supply moved.

Why the meter couldn't be outside with tails coming through the wall to the master supply fuse in-side I'm not clear. But I'm told it's a no.

UKPN have sent me a form I need to fill in to get a price.

Once UKPN have moved the supply, my energy supplier wants £60+vat to relocate the meter and connect with new tails.

I’ve just been on UK Power Networks webpage where you can use their calculator to give an estimate for moving the supply. It will be £2,172 if they do the digging or £1,148 if we do the digging! Are they taking the piss surely that can’t be right? £1,000 difference for some digging! I’m shocked. Plus we then have to pay to get the fuse box moved.

millstone how long ago did you have yours moved? Your price is so much cheaper than what I’ve been estimated!

About 14 months ago. Northern Grid charged £583.46. I have the invoice to hand.

I forgot to mention in my 1st post, prior to any work being carried out a chap from the N Grid came to do a 5 minute recce.

PS - I say Norther Grid, they sub contract and If I remember it was Cadence who did the recce and dug the holes / made good.

I'm talking rubbish, it was O'Connor Utilities, not Cadence.

I think the answer is that they have to have qualified people doing it. Not quite the same but the cost of having a lead pipe ( in a previous house ) replaced seemed expensive but to be fair - had to pay for salary for those doing it needed to be factored in. Labour ( with a small L ) isn't free.

& this is the reason our electricity meter is still in our tiny downstairs loo Mind your head everyone ) too expensive to move.

Also & @pigletjohn may have a more sensible comment to make - if you don't touch something - no-one will ask - once you do - e.g. electrical stuff or anything else - it has to adhere to current regulations. & thereby hangs the cost. But actually for stuff like that I am happy to pay because it is safe and done by someone who knows what they are talking about. @pigletjohn - do I have a point here or just bonkers.

The digging - well maybe - when we had pipes replaced in a previous house the digging ( in our case ) meant removing tiles ( up to front door) and then digging down to a depth which i am pretty sure I could not have done and DH would have got very bored long before he thought "Am I actually going to hit the "thing" here?" I do think it is worth paying people for doing things they know about & one doesn't. Especially if e.g. electricity or gas.
These people have qualifications for a reason.

hiya

water pipes have to be buried 750mm - 1350mm below the surface to protect against frost and reduce the risk of an eager gardener sticking a spade through them, and so that workers know where to expect them. If it's not done by an approved contractor, the water co will inspect your trench before it's filled in to verify that it complies. If you can use a spade, you may save some money.

The electricity supply cable, upstream of your Company Fuse, is effectively unfused current, and if it breaks or is damaged, it will happily flare away like a roman candle as it slowly burns away. The distribution electricians and jointers use special protective clothing and masks. It doesn't often happen, but an old cast-iron cutout with a damaged fuseholder, or a cable that's cracked or rusted away, can spray droplets of molten metal at the person working on it. There is no switch on the supply cable, but if necessary they will cut off the power to your street at the substation. This sort of work is outside the scope of an ordinary electrician, though some may do similar work on industrial sites.

here's an interesting document

Cables upstream of the meter are not subject to the same regulations as the electrical installation of your home. There is not an official depth, though 450mm is often considered suitable. Your electricty network operator will have some rules.

ESQR says "14.—(1) Every underground cable shall be kept at such depth or be otherwise protected so as to avoid, so far as is reasonably practicable, any damage or danger by reason of such uses of the land which can be reasonably expected." and goes on to recommend marking methods.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I totally appreciate it must be done by a professional I’m just shocked at the estimated price, especially when you see they’re trying to charge 1k for digging! Also why would the price vary so much looking at what millstone paid. Is this a North South divide!

They are going to send a surveyor out to look so hopefully the price will be a lot less! I will be getting my spade out!