Re-locating gas and electricity meter - Can OVO help?

Hi @mgilbert82. I’d be interested to hear OVO’s view on this too!

I’ve twice had (non-Smart) electricity meters moved, and this was undertaken by a local electrician. It involves snipping the security seals, including that on the Service Fuse owned by your Distributed Network Operator. The electrician then summons an engineer from the DNO to attend on-site as the work is completed. The seals are restored once the system is approved.

This is a quick and painless process.

I can’t see why it should be any different with a Smart Meter. In the unlikely event that the new location failed to provide a clear enough GSM signal or was too far from your gas meter, you could still provide manual readings whilst a remedy was found.

Local electricians generally enjoy a good working relationship with the area team of engineers from the DNO. Why not contact one and ask their opinion too?

Our gas meter is in the back of a kitchen corner cupboard so is a bit of a pain to get to and reduces the cupboard space considerably. We’d ideally like to move it to the outside of the same wall. Would OVO be involved in a move like this as our supplier?

Many thanks

Anthony

I thought I’d update this thread, as I now have a quote, to save others the bother.

I asked on the forum how to move our external gas meter by 150mm, away from the house wall, so that we could have external wall insulation behind it, and I was told £106 on this thread, and to contact OVO customer services.  If you look back in this thread I posted a photo.

I did contact OVO customer services by ‘phone, then emailed a picture, then they phoned me, then finally emailed to say OVO could not move the meter “as it is outside”.  They told me to contact Cadence, who would do the job instead.  I did this, and have been quoted £1170.  I tried to explain to everybody that it was in earth, and so could just be pulled into the new position, but it has all been in vain.  I hope this helps others.

Hi Nancy

I sent in the photo 2 months ago under my username RobL when I started this quest, to help I’ve attached it again.  I gave Ovo customer services the information than I’ve already put on this forum, and they initially said “you don’t need to insulate behind the meter”, before coming to the conclusion they couldn’t do it because it was outside.   While it’s true that I don’t “need” to insulate behind the meter, it will be a significant heat loss if I don’t.  I’m sure the meter could physically be moved easily, as the feeder pipe is just in earth. 

Thanks for the positive vibes, but as I said, I phoned, I emailed, they ‘phoned then they emailed “no due to outside”.  I think every contact was with a different person, so I’m not confident that the person calling had seen the photo etc, maybe that was what went wrong?

Rob

We’d like to move our cut out, smart meter and fuse box as they are all currently situated on the site of an old door, which we’d like to reinstate. The connections engineer has been round and said it would be fine to move it to the adjoining (external) wall, which is where the main cable comes in from the outside. I understand the whole process of getting it all set up with SSE/OVO/our electrician, but I’m worried that Ovo might turn up and say that they can’t move the meter to where we want it to be. We’d like to move it above a window, so it would sit just above door height (see photo - the meter is currently behind the photo board and we want to move it to the wall above the window alcove - the top of the alcove is exactly 6ft

). The connections engineer said that sometimes suppliers do not want the meters to be placed too high up - I really don’t want to book everyone in and then find that it’s not possible.

I’ve moved your post here, @losmith, the above thread holds some info that may be handy. 

I’m pretty sure @PeterR1947, is correct regarding the height restrictions of moving a meter, but it’s worth double checking, please reach out to our team. 

You can send us a message on Facebook, Twitter  or webchat via the Help Centre. You can reach our team on: 0330 303 5063. Our opening hours are 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

Thanks! 

We’ll still be required to read the meter regardless of whether you have smart meters, @losmith, it’s worth getting in touch just to double check! :)

@Emmastar from what I remember reading on here it involves both OVO and your Distribution Network Operator (DNO).

I think the DNO needs to move the supply first then OVO will move the meter. They are cost implications depending on the complexaty of the job. Also prepare to be off supply for a day.

The customer care team will be able to provide specifics and the easiest way to minimise disruption. 

Hello, I hope someone can help me find some answers. We planning to install a new front door and close out the spare space we have meanning we would be enclosing both of our meters. I was told by the builder that they can’t do the job as it is against the law to have meters enclosed and they need to be moved outside. If that is the case, can Ovo help and do DNO need to be involved? It would be moving outside so don’t think any extensions will be needed. Or maybe there is no such law forbidding to have meters inside the building? Thank you.

Thanks for the reply @Blastoise186. We were not planning to move them ourselves, to be honest not planned to move them at all until today when told that the new door can’t be installed due to meters can’t be enclosed and need to stay outside the house. We would like them moved outside the house, gas would move about 50cm, for the electricity it would be around 1m-1.3m. I am confused a bit as read some posts where people have their meters in the kitchen or living room. 
We live in Berkshire, if you could let me know DNO contact details that would be great. Will they be able to tell me if they need to get involved? I rather they don’t due to costs 😊

Hi @Eirida - yes I’m well aware of the ‘rules’ concerning the re-location of meters. There is no law as such about where meters may be moved to.

There used to be such a ‘principle’ prior to the roll-out of Smart Meters. That principle was to have meters sited within enclosures on the outside of a building, such that they could be read without an appointment being made to enter the premises.

The guidelines are implemented by your local Gas Distribution Network (GDN) operator and electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO). The latter have an umbrella organisation, called the Electricity Networks Association (ENA) which assists with harmonising those guidelines across DNOs.

There is a stronger case for any relocation of a gas meter to require that it be within an external enclosure. That allows the shut-off valve handle to be accessible from outside in the case of emergency, and reduces the risk of gas escape inside the property. So if you want it moved such that it should be within the house then you’ll need to have a pretty good reason why!

A GDN will typically charge about £150 for a gas meter relocation into an enclosure which has been provided by you (via your builder). You will then need to employ a Gas Safe engineer to connect your internal pipework to that new position, and an electrician to connect and test the safety earth to that pipework within 600mm of the entry point to the building. That’s four possible bills:

• builder for installing the enclosure
• GDN to move the meter feed pipe
• Gas-Safe engineer for internal pipes
• electrician for earthing

And that’s why it’s worthwhile seeking advice from OVO who may be able to coordinate this within a one-off fee and avoid issues where part of the work straddles two tradesmen. The meter is in any case their responsibility.

Turning to the matter of electricity: If @Blastoise186 is correct that UK Power Networks is your DNO, then you should read their website page about moving meters… and especially Point-3.

In some cases a DNO will require that the cable feed to your house is upgraded and the Service Fuse capacity increased. This would apply for example if it is already too small to allow for installation of an EV charger.

You should in any case consider now how you are going to heat the house within the next few years. If a Heat pump is a possibility, then this is the moment when your DNO are within their rights to require that your supply is changed to 3-phase.

This depends on factors not known to you or your builder, such as the available spare capacity of the local substation transformer and the associated underground feed cables.

Just to clarify this one - as it appears your builder was suggesting the meters aren’t allowed to be inside, we’re not aware of any restrictions which would prevent you having your meters located within your property, so long as they are still accessible (ie, the door shown in your photo perpendicular to the front door is still able to open and the meters can still be read in their current location). Obviously if this isn’t the case and the meters become inaccessible that becomes a problem!

Some great advice from our resident home-building expert, @Transparent here. Whilst we can help move a meter short distances, if you’re looking to move it over 1 metre from it’s current location or onto a different wall, that’s where your DNO would also need to be involved - Usually we’d advise contacting your DNO to schedule an appointment with them (with at least 17 working days notice), then contacting our Support team, who can co-ordinate one of our engineers to visit and complete our part of the meter relocation on the same day. As there will be costs involved (we charge £125 to move an electricity meter and £145 to move a gas meter - find out more here) it’s worth considering carefully whether this work is necessary. It would obviously free up some space inside for other uses but is by no means a legal requirement for the meters to be outside.