Moving Supply to house and meter tails query

[nrwilliams]

Hello all,

I wonder if anyone can help. The Electrical supply to my house is currently an overhead cable attached to the chimney, this then comes down the chimney into the loft space, out of the loft space through the barge board. It then runs along the underside of the barge board along the side of the house, then the front and then along the other side on the house where it goes through the wall to the meter. Total distance about 16m.

Now I am planning a roof extension with removal of the chimney, I spoke with EON and they said they will not simply move the cable I will have to have conduit put under the road etc and a wall box to mount the new meter in.

So my question is, is it acceptable for the meter tails to run external to the building for around 16m? Or is there another acceptable way to do this?

Also how much do you think an electrician would charge for doing this? EON say I have to have an electrician present on site to disconnect the house and reconnect it when they have move/installed a new cable.

Rubbish diagram to show current installation.

Untitled

• nrwilliams
• 5 Jul 2011
• 1

thanks for your help.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[nrwilliams]

Are you saying that there is no there other way to do this and if I understand correctly it will require moving the consumer unit to?

Which would in turn require the house to be completely rewired.

Thanks

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[nrwilliams]

Hi again,

What I was thinking was have the conduit laid, put the box in the wall of the house facing the lane and have EON lay new supply cable to box as you have described.

I think I know what you mean by switch fuse but submain? I take it this is different to the tails I have at the moment from the supply isolator to the CU?

Also do I have to use EON for this work? I only looked on their site as they supply my electricity, is it possible to get comparitive quotes from other suppliers?

Thanks for all your help!

Neil

 

[westie101]

Also do I have to use EON for this work? I only looked on their site as they supply my electricity, is it possible to get comparitive quotes from other suppliers

Bear in mind that up to the meter it is all the property of the DNO so only they can work on it.
You mention EON as your supplier, but AFIK the DNO in your part of the world would be UK Power Networks - you should be talking to them.

As regards the tails, the maximum length of the tails protected by the cut-out (main) fuse is 3 metres. After that you must install a point of protection (switch fuse) and run your own submain (or get an electrician to do this) from there to the consumer unit

 

[bernardgreen]

If you can persuade your DNO to allow some leniency on the location of you meter then you might be able to install a duct from the new meter location to a point close to the pole for the DNO to install a new cable.

(The DNO , District Network Operator, is the company that install and maintain the supply network and NOT the company you pay your electricity bill to )

If the building is listed or in a conservation area then DNO will almost always agree to a "non standard" meter location to preserve the appearance of the building. And to avoid problems with local authority planners and conservation officers. The fact that the meter is already at that location and ( I assume ) has access for meter readers may also influence them to allow it to remain there. The only thing they make insist on is it being external if it it now internal.

Talk direct to the DNO ( not via the electricity supplier ) and see what they are willing to do.

 

[JohnW2]

The problem is your existing supply does not comply with modern standards. You cannot have 16mts of supply cables running through your property the maximum is usually 3 mts.

I'm a bit confused here. Although the title of this thread and the OP's message refer to 'meter tails', aren't we talking about the DNO's pre-cutout external cabling, in which case I don't think there's any limit to the length of that (after all, it's merely an extension of their overhead cabling)? My overhead supply travels nearly 30m along extrenal walls before entering the house to the cutout.

I agree that there is generally a 3m limit on the true 'meter tails' (post meter) but, as you have said, that can be overcome with a switch fuse.

I suspect the OP's main problem may be the existance of the lane. Although private, that still probably imposes a minimum height for overhead cabling. Otherwise, I would have thought that it would probably have been possible to simply lower the connection point from the chimney to some point on the wall facing the lane, and otherwise leave the cable run just as it is now. That's precisely the arrangment I have here, but the overhead cable travels only over garden, not any roads/lanes, with the cable hit the house wall less than 6m up.

Kind Regards, John.

 

[westie101]

I suspect the OP's main problem may be the existance of the lane. Although private, that still probably imposes a minimum height for overhead cabling. Otherwise, I would have thought that it would probably have been possible to simply lower the connection point from the chimney to some point on the wall facing the lane, and otherwise leave the cable run just as it is now. That's precisely the arrangment I have here, but the overhead cable travels only over garden, not any roads/lanes, with the cable hit the house wall less than 6m up.

The sense of what the OP posted seems to be that he has got information from the website of EON his electricity supplier, rather than contact his DNO to discuss the matter and get a site visit.
Until the DNO visits he will not know all the solutions to his issue.

 

[westie101]

District Network Operator

Bernard, Distribution Network Operator!!

 

[bernardgreen]

District Network Operator

Bernard, Distribution Network Operator!!

Oops Thanks for the correction.

 

[Stoday]

Work on a consumer's connection to the DNO's distribution network (i.e. before the meter or the cutout) is NOT limited to the DNO. The work can be done by anyone, provided they are accredited.

Look under "Independant Connections Provider) in UK Power Networks' here

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Are you saying that there is no there other way to do this and if I understand correctly it will require moving the consumer unit to?

Which would in turn require the house to be completely rewired.

A small cost compared to what you're looking at for the re-routing of the supply, no matter who you use to do it....

 

[westie101]

Work on a consumer's connection to the DNO's distribution network (i.e. before the meter or the cutout) is NOT limited to the DNO. The work can be done by anyone, provided they are accredited.

This only applies in the case of a new connection, this case is moving/renewing an existing one

 

[nrwilliams]

Are you saying that there is no there other way to do this and if I understand correctly it will require moving the consumer unit to?

Which would in turn require the house to be completely rewired.

A small cost compared to what you're looking at for the re-routing of the supply, no matter who you use to do it....

Any ideas on those costs?