Hi All,
I recently embarked on the torturous road of having my main meter and fuse moved.
1) How things are:
The cable runs (I think) all the way from the road, into my property. Under my driveway, under the entire length of my house and comes up to the main fuse JUST INSIDE a wall to the rear of my house.
2) What I want:
I want the meter to be moved to the OUTSIDE of the same wall that it is on. It comes up exactly where the kitchen sink is going to go! It's a distance of about 40 cm.
3) What they say:
They say that the law REQUIRES them to dig up the entire length of the house all the way to the road and replace the old cable. There is no way to extend it by 40 cm. I would have to pay for them to do some of this, and I would have to incur the rest of the cost.
When I argued that this is simply crazy and that they should be able to extend the cable (there may even be enough slack!!) -- they said it was the law.
Now I have no doubt that they may have an OFGEM mandate to update their lines, but trying to do that by making excuses in response to a simple job by me (and asking me to pay for it) seems unfair. Their position is that ANY movement of the meter must ALWAYS be done by replacing the entire line (confirmed multiple times!). I asked what would happen if i wanted to move the meter again just ONE week after doing the job they'd proposed. 'The entire cable would have to be replaced again' was the answer. That cannot be right!!
It's possible to just have the meter in FRONT of the house -- leaving the old cable detached under the house. Still, that would incur a LOT more cost than just doing a simple 40cm extension.
I've tried asking OFGEM about their policies, but just can't get through to a person. I have left messages and nothing. Nobody has called me back. Useless.
So my question is, which part of the LAW or OFGEM rules specifies that
1) The entire cable from the road must be replaced and that the cable can not be extended.
2) I must incur the cost for that work specifically.
Thanks for your help. Any links / proper documentation etc would be great.
I recently embarked on the torturous road of having my main meter and fuse moved.
1) How things are:
The cable runs (I think) all the way from the road, into my property. Under my driveway, under the entire length of my house and comes up to the main fuse JUST INSIDE a wall to the rear of my house.
2) What I want:
I want the meter to be moved to the OUTSIDE of the same wall that it is on. It comes up exactly where the kitchen sink is going to go! It's a distance of about 40 cm.
3) What they say:
They say that the law REQUIRES them to dig up the entire length of the house all the way to the road and replace the old cable. There is no way to extend it by 40 cm. I would have to pay for them to do some of this, and I would have to incur the rest of the cost.
When I argued that this is simply crazy and that they should be able to extend the cable (there may even be enough slack!!) -- they said it was the law.
Now I have no doubt that they may have an OFGEM mandate to update their lines, but trying to do that by making excuses in response to a simple job by me (and asking me to pay for it) seems unfair. Their position is that ANY movement of the meter must ALWAYS be done by replacing the entire line (confirmed multiple times!). I asked what would happen if i wanted to move the meter again just ONE week after doing the job they'd proposed. 'The entire cable would have to be replaced again' was the answer. That cannot be right!!
It's possible to just have the meter in FRONT of the house -- leaving the old cable detached under the house. Still, that would incur a LOT more cost than just doing a simple 40cm extension.
I've tried asking OFGEM about their policies, but just can't get through to a person. I have left messages and nothing. Nobody has called me back. Useless.
So my question is, which part of the LAW or OFGEM rules specifies that
1) The entire cable from the road must be replaced and that the cable can not be extended.
2) I must incur the cost for that work specifically.
Thanks for your help. Any links / proper documentation etc would be great.