Electricity meter move - thoughts? (with diagrams!!!!)

[BustPipes]

Afternoon. We are looking to get our electricity meter moved. It's currently in a stupid place (under one of the bay windows), but I'm wondering if that's because there is no sensible place...

We're getting our floor in the lounge done (£4k! Eeek!) and it's basically now or never. Whatever happens, we need to do something with the meter, as the wall behind it is falling apart - touch the plaster and it falls off.

As far as I can see, there are two options:
A) On external wall outside (basically above where we put our wheelie bin), with consumer unit lower to floor in alcove. Problem with this is that we are (eventually) going to have built in shelving in the alcoves. There will be a cupboard bit at the bottom of each, so consumer unit could hide in there - but could be awkward to get to in the event of a tripped fuse, as the TV would be in front of it.
B) On an internal wall - basically on the hallway wall above the front door. But then Western power says it needs to be on an external wall. Do they mean external external, or would a wall between two terraces work? And how would they get the feed there? They'd have to chase into the wall, but I think they don't like the external feed not being accessible (to them) all the way to the box?

It looks like most of our neighbours have option B, as I can't seen meter boxes outside theirs - so it must be possible?

The form on the Western Power website seems to think you should know exactly what you want, without knowing where the feed actually runs. Do I need an electrician before contacting them? We had an electrician round for something else, and he gave the impression we should deal with the power company on our own, and then call him in when we'd got the plan sorted.

Aargh. I just want a decent floor in the lounge. It's going to end up costing nigh on £10k, isn't it, what with Western Power, the actual floor, and our electrician (need new consumer unit and more sockets)?

Any thoughts/advice?

i'd probably go for A to minimize the amount of moving cables around etc, but i'm not an expert.

I’ve never had an outside electricity meter. Surely it would be a smart meter if it’s new? Then it doesn’t matter where it is as long as the signal works. My meter is option B in my terraced house, and in most terraced houses I’ve seen it’s either there or under the stairs.
In my detached house it was under the stairs, which ran side to side in my house so in effect smack bang in the middle if the house and three walls between it and outside, so signal never strong enough for a smart meter.
Ask the power company, who I believe owns the meter, to sort it, stating where you want it. I think they will charge if it’s over a metre from original position - anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.

We had the power people to quote for moving the point at which the power goes in - they told us where it could go. I imagine you’ll get a quote with a range of options and costs? We didn’t have to commit in advance (decided it def wasn’t worth it for us!)

Every house I've lived in, the electricity meter has been hidden away under the stairs in a cupboard. If that's a possibility, I would put it in there, instead of in the way of your lovely new floor or alcove shelving.

This is interesting as both my gas and electricity meters are outside. I assumed they were for all houses. They’re by the front door and the water meter is on the pavement.

I would move it outside if possible as I assume it's the cheapest option. My electrician once told me of a job he was working on where the meter had to be moved by only a few feet and it was costing thousands.

You can go for the external meter but put the consumer unit somewhere else. Western power will only relocate your main fuse and meter, you will need to get your electrician to move the consumer unit.

How does the rest of the floor look? Do you have a side path that could house the external meter so its closer to the hall consumer unit position?

I'd put the meter outside (A, unless it could go with the gas meter??), and the consumer unit at B.

Thanks all - and yes, everywhere I've lived previously has had it in the hallway, or in an understairs cupboard.

It seems such a ridiculous cost to move something quite small (we're estimating 2k, just for the move, nevermind the associated electrician costs) for aesthetic reasons. And we're not rolling in funds...

But it currently (when it's Christmas) buggers up the glory of the Christmas tree in the bay. Obviously, the glory of the Christmas tree in the bay is also buggered up by the slopey floor, the peeling anaglypta on the ceiling, and the crumbling plaster.

And we've got myriad other house things we could spend the money on.

Pah!

Above the gas meter could be an answer, but I think it would look quite ugly ( given clearance requirements it would be almost at shoulder height, right by the front door) from the outside, and also I'm not sure if it's possible?

What we really need is an electrician to tell us what would work/be least disruption, and Western Power to then tell us how much it'll cost. But so far it has been very chicken and eggy, with us having not the slightest clue whether to cross the road.

@purpletrees16

This is my hope - that the electricity board will give us some guidance before we have to commit. It's not the impression I've got from their website though!

If it’s the same thing - moving the source at which it comes into house. They came took us round the options and approx price differences. We chose one and they sent a formal quote.

We’ve just done this, cost a fortune.

Get someone who knows to advise. We were told that moving it further massively increases the cost, so I’d go with A from your plan.

We paid about £1500 to our own electrician to move the consumer unit (quite a distance - cupboard in different room) and I’m struggling to think of the exact number but I think it was a similar amount to northern power or whoever to move the meter from an internal wall about a foot and a half to an external wall…

I'm currently looking at moving mine, the prices decided my move! My energy supplier will move it up to 1 meter for about £300. Anything further than that it has to be done by western power which is going to be knocking on £2k... fortunately we can do what we need by just moving it slightly, so what I'm saying is, unless money is no object... get all the prices first and then decide!

The cost is because they have to dig to lay the new cable route. I think they have to trench dig rather than bore a new route. Moving the meter from inside to outside is fairly simple as the original cables can be used, any extension needs a jointer - a person who can attach new cable and connect it to the old cable.

They want meters outside for a couple of reasons, one is they have to visually inspect meters for damage or tampering as a safety requirement, secondly should you fail to pay for your electric or gas they can fit a prepayment meter without having to obtain a warrant to break into your property to fit one if your meter is under the stairs. I used to work for a utilities company a long time ago.

Speak to an electrician first to find out where they can put your consumer unit and they may well know about your meter location options too.

I’d speak to your energy company first of all because you are potentially looking at more than £2k so how much you want to spend will probably determine where you put it, rather than where it is most convenient.

It is your energy company that deals with it. A private electrician should be reputable enough to know not to touch it but if they do, then you will charged with meter tampering and not the electrician.

Why can't you have the meter outside above the gas meter and the wire from the main fuse can go through the wall and have the distribution box on the inside wall behind the gas meter?

You must have serious money to burn to move the electrics it will cost thousands, factor in them finding faults on your existing wiring installation that need rectifying too. As you will be spending so much it might be worth seeing how much a total re wire would cost, depending on when the last full re wire was. I think if it's getting on for 50 years then most electricians would insist on it.

Your energy supplier will be able to move it a certain amount (I think it was 2m when we looked into it) otherwise it gets very pricey. We ended up getting outs moved for free for a reason I'm not quite sure of...something to do with our (attached) neighbours supply?? Western Power did it and I get the impression it would've been four figures, even though they only moved it 4m along the same wall.

I had mine moved (within 1m) from an inside wall to an outhouse, which is the other side of the wall. In total it cost bout 1k.

Someone came to dig and expose the supply. A jointer came to move the live supply cable and fit a new meter. The digger came back to make good the hole. An electrician plugged the meter tails back in to the new supply fuse.

The supplier can move the meter if its within a set distance of the main fuse, but I think OP needs the fuse moving too?

A will be cheaper if the fuse does needbto move as they will pull back the cable and not need to joint it. But as previously mentioned the consumer unit can be moved anywhere by an electrician so meter at A and consumer unit at B is totally possible.

Thanks for the responses.

Photo of the monstrosity attached, so you can see why it might be worth the money to move it. The plaster behind it crumbles if you touch it.

Time to try another electrician, I think, and see if they can give us more guidance.

The big lump is called your service head, I would imagine the DNO (network operator) would prefer to move that into an external meter box too. That will not be cheap but the only way to find out is to ask. The meter technically belongs to your supplier and they'd have to move it. They could move that relatively easily to an outside wall but you'd still have the service head inside and possibly an overcurrent device above it therefore you wouldnt have gained anything.

Your "fuseboard" is fairly dated and doesn't offer any shock protection. It would not garner a satisfactory Electrical Installation Condition Report. It looks like the cables for the house all drop down to it in that plastic trunking, that probably makes it easier to at least move it up higher but you'd still have to get from the meter to any new position with "tails" or armoured cable and it might not be that easy to hide them.

My advice to go would be to find a joiner to make some kind of attractive cupboard solution and budget from £450 onwards for a consumer unit change leaving it in the current location by a local electrician.
One of my firms is an Electrical Contracting Business though we don't operate at this end of the market

Oh god that’s almost as bad as mine. And mine’s the worst.

I’d be tempted to get a carpenter to do a bay window seat cupboard thingy to hide it instead, with panelling and general Victorian bay window loveliness.

Or burn the house down? Or just drape nice long curtains in front of it, the kind that puddle attractively on the floor like a stately home in a magazine?

Thanks for the perspectives. We are coming down on the side of not moving it. Or burning the house down (TBF, it's so damp at the moment that I'm not sure a flame would 'take').

It does seem absolutely nuts to spend a couple of grand moving a reasonably small thing for aesthetic reasons. On the other, the wall behind it has the consistency to frosted icing, and it seems sensible to do something about that...

But no - leave it where it is. Maybe