Advice On The Latest, Landlords Type Card Swipe Meters Needed

[Evans Electric]

Not really Ducky   ,  I have enough problems without volunteering for more TBH . 

Its a poor show if a so called "Professional "  outfit cannot turn up to two flats and fit two meters  without weeks & weeks of phone calls back & forth ...some of them going to Asian call centres ...so you can imagine how they went.

 

[ProDave]

The electricity supply industry is a shambles.

I can bore you all with the details of getting a new supply onto my building plot if you want. Suffice it to say it took nearly 6 months, I had to be a little "inventive" to get the price down to an acceptable level, and once the supply was in, it was 6 more weeks to wait for a different man to come and fit the meter before I could use it.

Getting the water connected wasn't much easier or any quicker.

I also know a customer who joined two cottages into one. He wanted the supply to one of them disconnected  They quoted him silly money to disconnect claiming they would have to dig the road up, so he ended up putting the unused one on a zero standing charge tariff.  I wonder how long before they get bored sending him bills for £0 and decide it might actually be a good idea to disconnect it?

 

[Evans Electric]

Well today    Western Power came to see the landlord  . who put him on the phone to me .

Very knowlegable ,  obviously knows his onions  and spoke sense.  

BUT ... not a great help to the landlord really.    Can't change the head to a twin fuse one , new regulations ...basically one meter  = one incoming cable = one Mpan number.     Can't budge on that .   And because the meters are at ceiling height  they can't work at that height   ...H&S   

Can only suggest a new supply to the ground floor flat from the street with Mpan number and meter  ,  many sheckles , landlord is stuck now .

And 1st Direct  say they cannot now remove the meter they fitted ......so they've buggered up his business and are not prepared to sort it .

Landlord asks me  " What can I do now , what options ?"        I can't see any ....not with one pre-payment meter covering two flats  .

I'm thinking .........ombudsman TBH  

 

[Sidewinder]

Yep they've mucked it up.

What's new.

I'm amazed that WPD cannot split the supply though.

Did you mention a Ryefield?

That still happens!

 

[Evans Electric]

What is a Ryfield Sides ?    Not heard of that .    OK  Googled that ,  yeah they look good BUT  ...One supply = one meter

He was pretty adamant about their regulations TBH  .... one cable ..... one Meter .

AND  second supply can't be PME  unless the bonding is divided in case a fault goes down the other supply  .

Another new one on me ... no good looking in the OSG for THAT one  !     Can only imagine you install main bonding in both flats , same water supply . :C   

Can't work on anything at ceiling height !!! ........ wonder if that applies to us ?        What happens if they have walk up some stairs ?  Wooooo  Scarey.

I think the landlord , my cousin , has been stitched up like a kipper by these twats TBH.

 

[misssweden]

The electricity supply industry is a shambles.

I can bore you all with the details of getting a new supply onto my building plot if you want. Suffice it to say it took nearly 6 months, I had to be a little "inventive" to get the price down to an acceptable level, and once the supply was in, it was 6 more weeks to wait for a different man to come and fit the meter before I could use it.

Getting the water connected wasn't much easier or any quicker.

I also know a customer who joined two cottages into one. He wanted the supply to one of them disconnected They quoted him silly money to disconnect claiming they would have to dig the road up, so he ended up putting the unused one on a zero standing charge tariff. I wonder how long before they get bored sending him bills for £0 and decide it might actually be a good idea to disconnect it?

The 6 week wait is annoying, but your DNO's bog standard jointer isn't allowed to touch meters unless it's a service alteration. Metering is a different department.

As for your mate's disconnection, the service needs to be pot-ended as close to the main as possible and it's not supposed to be left live within the boundaries of the property. Hence the need to dig up the road with all the hassle and aggro that means with excavation, permits, reinstatement, traffic management etc.

 

[ProDave]

The 6 week wait is annoying, but your DNO's bog standard jointer isn't allowed to touch meters unless it's a service alteration. Metering is a different department.

As for your mate's disconnection, the service needs to be pot-ended as close to the main as possible and it's not supposed to be left live within the boundaries of the property. Hence the need to dig up the road with all the hassle and aggro that means with excavation, permits, reinstatement, traffic management etc.

Yes, in the good old days, The DNO fitted the head and the meter at the same time and you were live the same day.

It would be fine having the responsibility split if you could book the installation of the meter to coincide with the installation of the supply, or say book it for the next day to be sure. But the "system" does not allow you to submit the form to choose your energy supplier (and hence join the queue to get the meter fitted) until you have your MPAN and although I had  a 4 week wait for the supply to be installed, I did not get my MPAN issued until the day before the jointers came.

Just no joined up thinking whatsoever.

My friends supply, his house fronts straight onto the street.  The cable comes up the outside of the front of the house in white conduit, and into the loft (it's a bungallow).  Couldn't they just pot the cable where it comes out of the ground for a minimal cost rather than the cost of digging up the road?  His stubbornness to not pay a silly fee means he has a supply head and meter in the house with nothing connected to the meter, on a zero standing order tariff, and a quarterly bill for £0.00 to be sent out and "paid". I guess every year someone insists on coming into the property to read this meter as well.  His hope is eventually someone will realise this is stupid, and disconnect it for free, but due to the lack of joined up thinking I somehow doubt that.

 

[misssweden]

You are absolutely right about the meters. If it could all be booked in one go it would be far more efficient and make life easier for everybody.

As for the disconnection, a pot-end shouldn't be left live above ground and there still need to be enough room in an excavation in order to open up the cable safely.

 

[ProDave]

So on that basis, he's not going to pay someone to open up a 1 metre hole in the road, so it will just continue with a dead unused supply billed at £0.00 each quarter then.

 

[Evans Electric]

And so it continues ,  from its beginings in September we are now here.

Meter company promise landlord to get it sorted within 2 weeks , so 2 weeks down the line landlord phones to see when they are coming .

       They have never heard of him , no record of his address or the ongoing problem . :C

They are now coming to remove the card meters and fit a standard meter  , landord has ordered 2 modern coin meters which I will fit . 

This is after writing to their CEO  apparently. :shakehead

 

[apprentice87]

You do know that the LAW states that you can provide and fit your OWN meter???? They CANNOT dispute this. The supplier HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO AGREE TO THIS...... You can have any sort you like, as long as it is a proper certificated one. While i am on the subject, the latest thing is to bully people into having a smart meter. They have no power to do this either, the answer is simply NO...

Anyway.....

Go here; http://www.meteroperators.org.uk/faqs

It is the 8th FAQ down the list....

NOW you will get some sense........

Me??? If some one fitted a meter at my house and told me they could not remove it, they would soon find it out in the street. "Terrible area M'Lud, never mind a little  meter, once someone took my ENTIRE car away......"

john....