Gas/electricity meter help please ...

[TeenSpirit]

We have old gas and electricity meters in our house, under the stairs and now want them changing to the new style that are housed on the wall outside our property.

Problem being, no one will help us...

Powergen said to ring EMEB and National Grid who both say they will not upgrade them till our meters appear top of their list on their database for changing or our supplier puts in a request and our supplier, Powergen, say that they won't put a request in unless their is a problem with the meter or we are changing meter types/tarriffs.

I now appear to be smelling gas outside our house from the vent from the gas boiler and have reported this to Powergen who have told us to switch the gas meter off and take all safety measures and are getting gas services out to us straight away. (How long this will take I don't know). They also said that if these people think that our meter is old then they will put a request in for us.

Has anyone had similar queries, had any experience of this or can offer any advice to me

[johnscarlet]

Originally Posted by MrsSigns

We have old gas and electricity meters in our house, under the stairs and now want them changing to the new style that are housed on the wall outside our property.

Problem being, no one will help us...

Powergen said to ring EMEB and National Grid who both say they will not upgrade them till our meters appear top of their list on their database for changing or our supplier puts in a request and our supplier, Powergen, say that they won't put a request in unless their is a problem with the meter or we are changing meter types/tarriffs.

I now appear to be smelling gas outside our house from the vent from the gas boiler and have reported this to Powergen who have told us to switch the gas meter off and take all safety measures and are getting gas services out to us straight away. (How long this will take I don't know). They also said that if these people think that our meter is old then they will put a request in for us.

Has anyone had similar queries, had any experience of this or can offer any advice to me

When the meters need changing , thats all they will do . Leccy is only a 5 minute jub . Had mine done last year .
To have them moved is going to cost . Have seen a similar thread elsewhere and the costs stated have been upwards of £700 . And that does not include reconnecting everything your side of the meter .
with regards to the gas , unless you have some kind of service contract , I wouls imagine that transco are on the way to cap the supply to the house until you get the boiler fixed

John

[Pat_C]

Originally Posted by johnscarlet

To have them moved is going to cost . Have seen a similar thread elsewhere and the costs stated have been upwards of £700 . And that does not include reconnecting everything your side of the meter.

I had to have both electric and gas meters (already on outside wall boxes) moved when I had an extension built. Cost me around £900 for both, just to get the feeds relocated. As you say, that is in addition to the reconnection costs inside the house, the cost of the wall boxes, and any building work needed (they fit into the wall, not onto it). It was great fun trying to get Transco, British Gas, and my plumber all around on the same day.

You'd think for that price they would dig the necessary trenches - but no, you have to arrange that yourself. Their only contribution in that area is to tell you how deep they have to be.

[Dave]

The posts above are correct. Your leccy distributer won't change the meter unless it's bust, due for renewal or you've been naughty and haven't paid your bill in which case they'll fit a pre payment meter.

It'll cost you over 500 squid to have it moved and as has been mentioned, all they do is connect the supply end. The rest is up to you.

[Setenza]

We had our gas meter moved to the outside of our bungalow in 2004. It ended up costing £1,500 or thereabouts.

Don't now how it would work in your region, but this is what happened to us down in SE England.

It's a long and tortuous story. Here's the brief version.

British Gas, our supplier told us that the piping and meter service were provided by TRANSO. So we called them.

They then arranged a date to fit a new meter to the outside of the bungalow. They also took the opportunity to renew the piping from the rod to the house at the same time (we weren't charged for this).

However, we had to arrange for the internal piping to be present from the old location to the new ourselves. This meant finding a CORGI registered fitter to carryout this task.

On the designated day, the meter got fitted and we sourced a 3rd party engineer to connect our internal piping to the new external supply.

Our drive was as mess having been dug up by TRANSO. They then arranged for another group to repair the drive. This took place 48 hours later.

Now on paper that doesn't sound do bad, does it. Well you try finding a CORGI registered fitter who do such a "trivial job" (His words not mine).

Also, TRANSO do not send an assessor round to do a site survey. NO, you get a guide book and you have to supply all the measurement details yourself. Of course if you screw that up, it's your fault and they just down tools and bugger off.

I refused to do this and caused such a stink, that they did in the end send one of their own guys to do the survey.

It was a very difficult process to arrange, trying to get all three groups to vaguely work in sync.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.

[Pat_C]

Originally Posted by Dave W

It'll cost you over 500 squid to have it moved and as has been mentioned, all they do is connect the supply end. The rest is up to you.

Although to be fair, they will also consume as much surplus tea as you have cluttering up the house - at no extra charge.

[TeenSpirit]

Transco turned up within 20mins to check gas smell - the guy tested all sources with no sign of gas escape - he said it was my heightened senses (with being pregnant) and it was probably just the fuel burning smell coming out of the outside boiler vent. So good news there, but he said there was no need to replace our gas meter as it worked fine.

Looks like we are stuck with the meters where they are as it seems ridiculous to pay these costs quoted and with all the upheaval.

Thanks for your advice folks