Unnecessary Work?

[Sp3no]

Phoned my energy supplier to upgrade the main incoming fuse from 60A to 100A and fit 25mm2 tails to the meter. Obviously the work was free but is it usual practice to have to dig a dirty great big hole in my tarmac driveway in order to locate and cut the main incoming cable and re joint it? All this for a fuse. This was unexpected and now i will have a patchwork quilt effect driveway.
Is this H&S gone mad?

 

[londonboy]

How come you didn't have to pay for it?

I notice on another forum a guy has been quoted £1200 to have the work done you have mentioned.

Yes that is normal, they will not work on old cut outs live.

 

[Sp3no]

When i phoned the network supplier informed me that it was part of essential maintenace and upgrade work on their network system so it was free of charge.
I could not get my head around that as surely the cable is live when they cut it? Why can they not cut it and join it where its exposed under the meter? The sparks told me that the old cut out was fairly modern compared to some they see.
I now have to wait 5 days for someone to come and re patch my drive.

ED-F energy are now going to send their sparks to fit an isolation switch and upgrade tails after the meter free of charge too

 

[electronicsuk]

I think you should count yourself lucky rather than complaining. As already mentioned, some pay £1000+ for such supply upgrades, and you've managed to get it FOC.

The only thing that would be wrong is if you didn't agree to have your driveway dug up, in which case I would expect it to be returned to its previous state when the work is finished. However, I expect you signed an agreement allowing them to carry out such necessary work.

 

[Alarm]

And all for FREE.

Bet you complain when you reach ejaculation too!

 

[Sp3no]

Funnily enough, i recieved a letter from the spark working on behalf of the provider stating that i shoud contact them to arrange an apointment for them to carry out the works. I phoned them booked the appointement, they turned up did the work and left and i signed absolutely nothing. The only mention of diggin was on the phone he said he may have to dig a hole in the garden, not the driveway. They did not leave any details what so ever regarding who and when a contractor is coming to replace the tarmac he only mentioned someone will contact me in the next 5 days. Thing it is the drive is not your usual tarmac finish so its going to be very difficult to match

I though all of this type of work was free, i wont moan too much then

 

[cumbriahandyman]

And all for FREE.

Bet you complain when you reach ejaculation too!

 

[westie101]

Upgrading a main fuse/cut out to 100A should not be chargeable in any circumstances as supplies should be 100A

Some cut-outs can be worked on and changed live

(Bear in mind DNO staff are allowed to work live on the LV network under long standing agreements with the HSE. They are trained to risk assess prior to starting)

It may be that the cut-out was of a type that must be made dead before being changed, or perhaps the jointer had spotted some problem before starting so decided to make it dead (they are allowed to).

There is no approved technique for jointing a cable when it is vertical, were any member of staff to try it and be discovered they would be risking losing their authorisation to work on the network

 

[Alarm]

he may have to dig a hole in the garden not driveway

Now did he say, " I might have to dig a hole"

Or " I might have to dig a hole in the garden"
OR " I might have to find the incoming head and dig there"

Bet you £1000 quid he never said "Not the driveway"

As for working "live" it is done when neccessary.

 

[Sp3no]

he said and i quote "i may have to dig a hole in your garden" but this was before he had seen the job, fair enough if its what needed doing, i though he may have been creating work to charge back to the network supplier My bad.

 

[Alarm]

Respect for realising you might have misunderstood and admitting to it.
Your quids in, I know of several times people have been charged fortunes for this work, by all services.

I`m sure a patch up could be done on the drive of you asked the people whi fitted it.
As in the materials used and the RAL colours if it is a stained one.
I assume it is not a block one.

Ask away here, maybe others can asssit in that. Obviously in the relevant forum.

Obviiouisly in the correct forum

 

[OwainDIYer]

The only mention of diggin was on the phone he said he may have to dig a hole in the garden,

If he said 'garden' then he meant 'your land'

Your driveway is part of the garden isn't it?

What sort of driveway finish do you have and we might be able to make some suggestions about making good the hole.

If they'd dug up the lawn and found the dead hamster that would have upsetting wouldn't it?

 

[Sp3no]

Only the mother inlaw is buried in the front garden and yes i would be upset if i had to see her again

No idea what the drive is made up of, i think it once was hand laid bitmac thats possible seen better days as the topping is very loose grit and it has a pigment in it.
i will see what the guys who come round to reinstate suggest

Thanks for the help guys

 

[westie101]

We dug up part of a coloured drive last year to restore supply to the customer. Ended up retarmacing about 12sqm to match it all in and avoid a patch..

If you arn't happy, keep on at them to avoid an odd coloured patch

 

[MarkSmith]

Quick bit about why they couldn't just reconnect inside the house. I have a broadly similar thing ongoing at the moment, and the gist problem in my case is that the old "head" (where the supply cable connects) has been there since 1930 and is filled with resin of some sort - you can't just open it up and take the cable out. So you have to cut it off and connect a new cable...

..except you can't just cut a live supply cable, you have to peel back the armor in a particular way, and that requires a certain length of it to be exposed, and that requires a hole in my drive.