I have a new house in Reading which I'm renovating (including a complete re-wire) and I want to have the meter moved.
The REC/DNO appears to be SSE Power Distribution. After I phoned their 0845 switchboard, they sent a letter asking me to write to them with more information or, they wrote, they could come round and look at it but that this "may incur an additional charge". I never got around to writing to them so I phoned them up and asked for them to come around.
A couple of days later a chap phoned from his mobile and came round a few minutes later.
I was looking for an inside to outside move on the meter.
He said I could have a meter move, but after asking and looking around he suggested a different spot for the meter, which was better than the spot I had thought of.
He also suggested that if I dug a trench from the house to the pole that they could change the supply from overhead to underground for only a little bit more money, and that this would be cheaper than having them come out again later on to do that work separately.
He said that I would need to provide my own cabinet and hockey stick and that these could be had from Jewson's.
He said that they would happily/normally terminate to an isolator(!), and that this isolator would be in the meter cabinet(!)
This was in response to my questioning, and he made it clear that they would not be bothered about the consumer side wiring and that this was entirely my responsibility.
This is excellent because it means I should only need them to come round once, and the supply can be connected up to the new consumer unit as soon as the new electrical installation is ready.
Not only that but it means I can completely rip out and refresh the inside of the house without having any fiddly bits of electrical installation having to be left in because they are un-isolatably live.
Cost, about £210+VAT for the meter move alone, and "about" £282+VAT to move the meter and change the supply from overhead to underground.
The supply is currently TT. I mentioned about PME and he suggested that it may very well be possible to change the supply to PME.
I also mentioned that I was seriously thinking about having a backup generator. This would mean that I would want a local earth, so I would probably want to keep it as a TT supply to keep the earthing arrangements simple and he was in agreement.
The house currently has an unverified and inadequate local earth (a cloth-covered cable disappearing off into the render on the outside of the house). I asked if they would want to see a proper verified earth before connecting the supply and he indicated that they would not; again consumer-side stuff that they didn't get involved with.
There was no suggestion of REC "nannying" and things like refusing to connect or being awkward about putting in an isolator.
So from my point of view, all good.
The REC/DNO appears to be SSE Power Distribution. After I phoned their 0845 switchboard, they sent a letter asking me to write to them with more information or, they wrote, they could come round and look at it but that this "may incur an additional charge". I never got around to writing to them so I phoned them up and asked for them to come around.
A couple of days later a chap phoned from his mobile and came round a few minutes later.
I was looking for an inside to outside move on the meter.
He said I could have a meter move, but after asking and looking around he suggested a different spot for the meter, which was better than the spot I had thought of.
He also suggested that if I dug a trench from the house to the pole that they could change the supply from overhead to underground for only a little bit more money, and that this would be cheaper than having them come out again later on to do that work separately.
He said that I would need to provide my own cabinet and hockey stick and that these could be had from Jewson's.
He said that they would happily/normally terminate to an isolator(!), and that this isolator would be in the meter cabinet(!)
This was in response to my questioning, and he made it clear that they would not be bothered about the consumer side wiring and that this was entirely my responsibility.
This is excellent because it means I should only need them to come round once, and the supply can be connected up to the new consumer unit as soon as the new electrical installation is ready.
Not only that but it means I can completely rip out and refresh the inside of the house without having any fiddly bits of electrical installation having to be left in because they are un-isolatably live.
Cost, about £210+VAT for the meter move alone, and "about" £282+VAT to move the meter and change the supply from overhead to underground.
The supply is currently TT. I mentioned about PME and he suggested that it may very well be possible to change the supply to PME.
I also mentioned that I was seriously thinking about having a backup generator. This would mean that I would want a local earth, so I would probably want to keep it as a TT supply to keep the earthing arrangements simple and he was in agreement.
The house currently has an unverified and inadequate local earth (a cloth-covered cable disappearing off into the render on the outside of the house). I asked if they would want to see a proper verified earth before connecting the supply and he indicated that they would not; again consumer-side stuff that they didn't get involved with.
There was no suggestion of REC "nannying" and things like refusing to connect or being awkward about putting in an isolator.
So from my point of view, all good.
