Electricity Meter box, what can I change?

[Tarquintar]

The electricity Meter box is fixed to the solid brick wall of our Victorian house and protrudes approximately 8 inches.

We are being encouraged to convert the meter to a smart one and see this as a possible opportunity to set a shallower box in the wall. This will require the delicate removal of some brickwork and hopefully - if available - a smaller box can even be fitted? Some adjustment to the main cables will probably be needed but I can't yet get a view from the Smart meter people as to whether this can even be done (for free or a reasonable sum) and they'll only assess and cost if we confirm and book the exchange of old meter to new.

The ideal situation would be for me to fit a new box and the electric company make any adjustments free of charge!

Any thoughts?

 

[Adam_151]

The meter fitter will not and cannot disconnect and re-fit the cutout. You would need to contact your DNO about having the supply removed from the old box and fitted into the new box. Sometimes this will require your supplier's selected meter fitting company to be on site at the same time to move the meter across, sometimes there will be agreements in place that let the DNO do this at the same time as the rest of the job

 

[Murdochcat]

The electricity Meter box is fixed to the solid brick wall of our Victorian house and protrudes approximately 8 inches.

The ideal situation would be for me to fit a new box and the electric company make any adjustments free of charge!

Any thoughts?

Yup - not up to you to don anything to the service head or meter.

You need to talk to the DNO AND your energy provider AND probably a local spark

 

[Tarquintar]

....starting to sound expensive. Last time I enquired we were given a price of around £1000 and that was some years ago!

Just to clarify, by meter 'box' I mean the cabinet. On closer inspection I can see there's more to it than just a surround.

The cabinet is 9" deep. The gap from the front of the meter to the cabinet door is a generous 5". If I can leave the existing back board and reduce that depth by 4" with a shallower surround, the existing one looks like it's fitted with half a dozen long bolts, then *problem solved.

*the cabinet is in a corner and is preventing us from having a decorative door surround fitted.

Final questions, are shallower surrounds available and are smart meters shallower than the existing?

 

[FrodoOne]

The cabinet is 9" deep. The gap from the front of the meter to the cabinet door is a generous 5". If I can leave the existing back board and reduce that depth by 4" with a shallower surround, the existing one looks like it's fitted with half a dozen long bolts, then *problem solved.

The cabinet is 230 mm deep. The gap from the front of the meter to the cabinet door is a generous 130 mm. If I can leave the existing back board and reduce that depth by 100 mm with a shallower surround, the existing one looks like it's fitted with half a dozen long bolts, then "problem solved".

Apart from Roads (!?!?!?)
(since the 1970s)
the UK is a country which now uses SI,
particularly in Building Construction.

 

[Tarquintar]

The cabinet is 230 mm deep. The gap from the front of the meter to the cabinet door is a generous 130 mm. If I can leave the existing back board and reduce that depth by 100 mm with a shallower surround, the existing one looks like it's fitted with half a dozen long bolts, then "problem solved".

Apart from Roads (!?!?!?)
(since the 1970s)
the UK is a country which now uses SI,
particularly in Building Construction.

Thankyou for your contribution.
Do you use mm when talking to the Sheila's?

 

[FrodoOne]

Thankyou for your contribution.
Do you use mm when talking to the Sheila's?

I try.
However, most women are fixated on using the "pseudo Inch" of the Centimetre.

See https://themetricmaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/centimetresORmillimetres.pdf

 

[flameport]

Final questions, are shallower surrounds available and are smart meters shallower than the existing?

No.

Meter boxes are made in specified sizes. Making and installing one which is some other randomly chosen dimensions will result in problems and is not an option.
Smart meters vary in size, some are smaller than others, but this is irrelevant as you will have no choice as to what the supplier installs, and meters can and are changed at intervals to different ones.

a possible opportunity to set a shallower box in the wall. This will require the delicate removal of some brickwork and hopefully - if available - a smaller box can even be fitted?

Meter boxes are the same size whether they are surface or flush.
The only difference is that flush ones are designed to mount into a cavity wall, with the recess being the depth of the outer skin of bricks plus the cavity.

If your house has solid walls, then that is not an option, and is probably why it's in a surface mounted box.

If there is a cavity then it may be possible to change to a recessed box, but that will be an expensive, time consuming and mostly pointless exercise.

 

[ericmark]

Centimetre.

This is a non ISO unit, if one want to work in metric either mm or meter, and this means decimal or large numbers, and I don't know as a rule of thumb how long items are without converting from the length of a thumb to first joint, approx one inch.

@flameport has given a good answer, I have not a clue as to the heat output from a smart meter, I know the heat from fuses, MCB's, RCBO's can be quite high, and rules as to what can go on to the board provided for the DNO equipment do seem not to be followed too strictly, however the guy fitting the meter often is not trained and authorised to even change the fuse size. I see some one has made a lovely box around my back board, and no comment was made, but I did need to get the CU the solar guys fitted moved. And the lid has been removed as can't lift it as box too close to it.