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[Plonker 3]

Was talking to a meter fitter a couple of weeks ago regarding cutting seals, he said all they do is reseal if they find them missing as they have no way of proving who cut them. He had never heard of anyone being prosecuted for just cutting the seals, finding the meter by passed is another thing altogether though.

 

[Darkwood]

With the rise of smart metering and online monitoring of use its now getting to stage where legal prosecution becomes plausible, the excuse it was already cut wont work anymore, if power is lost to meter and their is no local power issues then they have a time date etc fuse was removed all they need now is a house owner saying electrician has just replaced fuseboard and a related invoice and you have enough evidence, in the past it couldn't be known when the fuse was pulled, but now it can.

 

[Amp David]

I have a new CU to fit tomorrow and they were having the new meter fitted today. I hope that they've checked their polarity is correct.

Wonder if they'll of fitted an isolator?

 

[Delboybully]

Here is the update. We phoned the supplier who then arranged an emergency call out. Guess who they the sent- the DNO. The guys swapped the tails over in the head job done. The customer then phoned to complain about the situation and they said she should of phoned on saturday when it was first noticed. The customer told them we phoned the DNO first and they said in that case the DNO should of come out then.

So I should of been more forceful in insisting the DNO come out.

I also phoned my scheme provider in regard to whether i acted correctly. He said i was in a difficult situation and will be damned if i do and damned if i dont. He said as i hadnt actually done any work I hadnt done anything wrong, if fact i had done everything i could legally do. He did say i should of given the customer a potentially dangerous certificate though. I then asked about morally whether i could of done something and he again it a tough decision and each sparky needs to make a decision for each individual circumstance. He did say they can never recommend to a sparky to pull the main fuse. I was worried about cutting the seal on the meter, I wasnt worried about cutting the seal on the main fuse as they always seem to be missing when i go to do a CU change!!!

The set up was an unusual one. There is the head with the CU above it. To the left of this is a box with a door that opens inwards with the meter on the back of the door. When this door is closed the meter if facing the brick wall with a glass brick in it so the meter reader can see it from outside. There was no slack on the tails from the meter to the CU, I asked the scheme provider if i could put a henley block in between the head and meter and he told me this was a no no. Swapping the tails in CU would of proved extremely difficult due to there being no slack

Ok so i didnt do anything wrong but having said that if i find myself in this situtation again and the DNO wont come out them i am just going to tell them in that case i am going to swap them myself, and at the same time arrange for them to come out and reseal the head!

 

[mark ju]

what you are suggesting is dangerous!!!

working live is against all things HSE preech about!

Working live is dangerous, but...........
I know a great number of sparks who not only cut the seals but also remove the main fuse to work on cu changes, additonal cu's involving a service connecter etc. this does away with the need to work live!
And as for the HSE, they may like to preach about not working live and so on but sometimes its unavoidable, rectifing lighting circuit faults, central heating problems etc, the easiest way to fault find these sort of prioblems is to do it live.

 

[Delboybully]

I thought i would give you a quick update to what has been happening.

The billing company (SSE) have taken things very seriously. They are investigating and the meter fitter has been suspended. They told me he will either be sacked or sent for re training.

SSE are not happy that my first phone call to the DNO was met with a 'not our problem' and also that the customer couldnt find a emergency number for them. Also they should of come out to fix the problem themselves and not send the DNO to sort it

The DNO have been a nightmare. They logged the job as a missing neutral. Thats all they will tell SSE, they wont give them the job report. I have had to send a email to them to explain what i found and what i saw the DNO do. I have spent about 2 hours on this in phone calls and emails

The customer has had some problems with electrical equipment. The programmer on their (old) washing machine stopped working and there newish flat screen TV has some shading to one side. SSE have ask the customer to get these items looked at and have asked for my bill due to the problem

Overall from my view i can say the SSE have been good (they certainly havent tried to let the problem disappear), but the DNO (UK power netwroks) seem to be wanting nothing to do with the job (from what SSE have told me)

 

[Strima]

Looks like a result at last, let us know the full outcome.

 

[Knobhead]

I’m glad you’ve got it sorted and there are going to be repercussions with the meter fitters.

Yes I was one of those that criticised you, but we all have different views on legal and moral issues. I can understand your viewpoint due to your training. Time will bring with it experience.

At times real life and the law are poles apart, it’s a sad fact of life.