home electrics changing consumer unit

[ZenStalinist]

I think whoever designed meters is a twonk. Would it be too hard to have tails that could be removed, and everywhere else sealed, so that one doesn't have to breach any seals. That way it could be arranged so electricity cannot be stolen, and one can disconnect the supply (they could hold the cables in with some sort of screw you adjust to loosen the tails, therefore, if you use an insulated screw driver, it should not be too unsafe for anyone unqualified.)

Now that's my design. Instead, we have the service fuse before the meter , a meter that has to have its seal broken , etc, making it not only harder for people to do their jobs and home improvements, but also making it harder for the electricity companies to check nobody's been getting free electricity. Plus, when somebody steals, who ends up out of pocket, the REC or the supplier? Does the REC force the supplier to make compensation,, I mean, if the supplier reads the meter, notices the seals are broken but doesn't do anything about it, surely the REC pays the bill for that electricity?

 

[plugwash]

yeah obviously the rec pays which may explain why the suppliers don't give a ****

ofc if you really wanted to steal leccy without being noticed wouldn't the obvious method be to resin TEE the service cable?

 

[securespark]

Zen. New-build meters have two access plates on the meter. The REC side is sealed up, and the outgoing side is accessible by the consumer. There is also a rocker switch isolator on these meters, or a plunger operated by a screwdriver, depending on which model it is.

Not sure if the rocker is DP, but know that the plunger is only SP, so would still need a DP isolator for safety.

 

[plugwash]

nice to know meters finally have a decent design but the older ones are going to be around for some time yet

SP isolation is pretty safe at the start of an install in theese days of PME standard backbones and its all pulling a fuse gives you anyway

not sure if isolation of the neutral is required by the regs for single phase (i know its not for 3 phase TN-S and TN-C-S and im pretty sure it is required for any TT)