2 semi's converted into 1 - Gas / Electric / Water ?

[AlwaysOnTheGo]

Hi,

I'm looking at the short term conversation of 2 semi's into 1 house for 5 years or so.

(Long story I won't go into, I'm not looking at financial gain)

Currently we are paying two council tax / and utility rates. Not ideal for sure.

The wife has been on the phone all day trying to get advice on what options we have to get the electric and gas down to one charge but ended up with a nightmare pass around on the telephone.

She's been told that from one property the gas and electric meters would have to be removed and the feeds removed from the house. This may involve digging the road up outside to do this !
They did not give a charge for this.
They then said that when we wanted these supplies re-enabled the charge would be large but they could not use the existing gas pipes as this would need to be upgraded at even more cost to meet latest standards.

The water is unknown.

Can anyone please offer any further advice that would allow us to do the conversation without huge expense. I believe she was told that if we class it as one house only 1 utility feed is allowed.

Many thanks

 

[joinerjohn]

Dunno that only one feed per utility is allowed, but if it's only short term as you say, I think I'd leave the two sets of utilities connected. This at least will save the expense of having them re-instated at a later date (which could be thousands) As a minimum you could have the main incoming fuse on one pulled, but would have to extend the wiring from the other property (yet another expense)
Council tax should be easy to sort, although they'll probably re-band the property to a higher band.
Water all depends if both properties are on meters or not.

 

[big-all]

you would probably save £300 a year on standing charges plus whatever you save on council tax
have you asked if you will get planning permission for what you propose

 

[AlwaysOnTheGo]

Thanks for the replies guys. What a minefield.....

I thought it would just be a fuse pull for the electric but it appears it must be removed totally so not feed is internal.

Yes we have been granted permission, building inspector visited and was very helpful. The only requirement we have is that 4 mains interlinked smoke alarms need to be fitted, top of stairs both sides and lower hall.

Door access between the two houses is needed upstairs and downstairs also.

I'm happy to do this as it's straight forward enough. It's just the utilities that has my head in a spin... And the wife !

Thanks

 

[OwainDIYer]

you could try to get both meters put on the one account, so the standing charges etc are shared between the two. Not all suppliers will offer this on domestic although it's not uncommon for farm buildings etc

 

[Aqua]

Interesting question which sounds simple but after a little thought becomes the nightmare you mention.

Taking a kind of middle ground & starting with water (and dont forget, that charge covers sewage as well.....are you intending to use the toilets in both parts of the house?)

So, is it possible to change to a tariff that has little or no standing charge but a higher than normal unit rate...and then switch off the supply?

Gas, same again re tariff and switch off at the meter.

Those two would not require total disconnection and assuming you didnt switch them back on would not attract a bill other than maybe a small tariff charge.

Electric is a bit tricky, as there is the possibility of reverse feed using my idea above.

Could it be done by having a sparky remove the consumer completely and making off cables for supply from the other side. Leaving only a meter on the wall connected to the grid but supplying nothing? I've seen that plenty of times on site, but in truth not in a domestic set up.

If possible what problem would there be in leaving a blind meter for use again in future with which ever company you choose to supply it. Can't see why a cable feed would need updating to an existing meter, that sounds like smoke and mirrors to me.

Edit, re sewage there wouldn't be a problem as the water to fill the cistern would come from the other side of the house and be billed accordingly as too would the sewage charge even though technically the outfall pipe would be different, but there would be no gain to you or loss to them...

 

[big-all]

also worth asking your insurance company/companies this may push your house to a higher level off insurance

 

[tallguy]

I have converted 2 semi detached hours into one property 3 years ago. The conversion has been done in a way so that I can reconvert them to two separate houses if I wanted to with minimum fuss. If are still looking for advice from someone with first hand experience of this, let me know.

Interesting question which sounds simple but after a little thought becomes the nightmare you mention.

Taking a kind of middle ground & starting with water (and dont forget, that charge covers sewage as well.....are you intending to use the toilets in both parts of the house?)

So, is it possible to change to a tariff that has little or no standing charge but a higher than normal unit rate...and then switch off the supply?

Gas, same again re tariff and switch off at the meter.

Those two would not require total disconnection and assuming you didnt switch them back on would not attract a bill other than maybe a small tariff charge.

Electric is a bit tricky, as there is the possibility of reverse feed using my idea above.

Could it be done by having a sparky remove the consumer completely and making off cables for supply from the other side. Leaving only a meter on the wall connected to the grid but supplying nothing? I've seen that plenty of times on site, but in truth not in a domestic set up.

If possible what problem would there be in leaving a blind meter for use again in future with which ever company you choose to supply it. Can't see why a cable feed would need updating to an existing meter, that sounds like smoke and mirrors to me.

Edit, re sewage there wouldn't be a problem as the water to fill the cistern would come from the other side of the house and be billed accordingly as too would the sewage charge even though technically the outfall pipe would be different, but there would be no gain to you or loss to them...