Skip to main content
Answer

Identifying items in meter box - disconnected ground cable?

  • May 25, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 210 views
J
New Member***

Hi,

 

I’ve moved into a house which had a new smart meter installed by Ovo in February 2025 (prior to my ownership).

I can’t work out all of what’s going on in my meter box. Specifically, what’s the role of the two grey boxes with “WARNING” labels in the top-right, and what is this disconnected ground-coloured cable doing… should it be connected to anything!?

 

 

I’m just a layperson, but I can see the supply comes in as the black cable on the bottom left of the board, into the 100A fuse terminal and then up into the meter. The grey meter tails then go in the bottom of the fused “main switch” and back out the top of the switch, into the house. A ground cable comes out of the house and goes into the side of the 100A fuse terminal’s N side.

 

But there are two more grey tails coming out of the “house” and going up to these WARNING-stickered boxes. I don’t know what those components are or what they do. How do they relate to the rest of the setup on the board, as they’re not directly connected to the meter or anything else? There’s also then the disconnected ground cable coming out of the house and hanging loose in the meter box…

 

What is going on and do I need an electrician/Ovo to take a look at this?

 

It may be relevant that when searching for energy quotes online, the property comes up with two MPANs, but there is only one meter here running everything. I’ve separately emailed Ovo asking to get this situation sorted and the extra MPAN removed from the national database, so that I can more easily get quotes from different suppliers. I am assuming the second MPAN is indeed redundant as there is no second meter here and I’m only being billed for the one MPAN.

The reason I mention the two MPANs is that it may well be the case there used to be two meters here (e.g. prior to this meter being installed in February), but I really don’t know… could that explain the meter box layout? Any advice appreciated please!

Best answer by Blastoise186

Howdy ​@jhwalker ,

I’ve just checked that with a contact of mine at one of the DNOs (thank you!!!). They’ve advised that you’ll probably want to get that fixed sooner rather than later and that a private electrician would be best suited for the task.

The second MPAN is likely because there was a second meter in place, most likely an RTS setup that may have been removed shortly before you moved in. OVO can indeed remove that from the systems since it looks like the other meter is gone - but it takes around six weeks due to industry processes.

I’d suggest you request that via Live Chat at https://ovoenergy.com/help where you can also request a status update.

6 replies

Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Blastoise186Plan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • Answer
  • May 25, 2025

Howdy ​@jhwalker ,

I’ve just checked that with a contact of mine at one of the DNOs (thank you!!!). They’ve advised that you’ll probably want to get that fixed sooner rather than later and that a private electrician would be best suited for the task.

The second MPAN is likely because there was a second meter in place, most likely an RTS setup that may have been removed shortly before you moved in. OVO can indeed remove that from the systems since it looks like the other meter is gone - but it takes around six weeks due to industry processes.

I’d suggest you request that via Live Chat at https://ovoenergy.com/help where you can also request a status update.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
Abby_OVO
J
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • BPLightlogPlan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • May 26, 2025

The two boxes top right are ‘Henley’ blocks and are generally used to connect high energy cables in a primary feed. You can see in this case that there’s only one cable in each 

It looks likely that the engineer has left these safely isolated after the meter swap, hence the lables.

The earth cable (ground is an American term) could be a similarly redundant cable from the swap but it would be best to get it sorted/isolated by an electrician.

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP}
Abby_OVO
J
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
  • Abby_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • May 26, 2025

Hey ​@jhwalker 

 

I’m glad to see a couple of our volunteers have already stepped by to help out here, I do hope you’ve found their advice helpful.

 

As Blastoise mentioned, it’ll also be worth checking in with the Support Team about this too.

 

Keep us updated with how you get on.

Currently Playing: She's Electric
J
J
New Member***
  • jhwalker
  • Author
  • New Member***
  • May 26, 2025

Thank you all for the replies, much appreciated.

I shall plan to get an electrician around to check the setup and properly isolate that earth lead. At least I now understand that the Henley boxes are being used in an isolating role for those grey cables. (Not knowing what they were, I didn’t know whether there may be other connections going into the boxes from behind, out of sight.)

I have contacted Ovo support re. getting the second MPAN removed from the systems. I’ve now read a few other posts where this has been successful. However the first response from support isn’t clear on whether they’ve actually submitted the delist request:

The second MPAN (S xx xxxx xxxx xxx) has been de-energized and is no longer in use. It won’t affect your supply or any future switching activity. However, we understand how this may cause confusion on comparison websites, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.

Well, I’m afraid it is affecting future switching activity, because most providers - Ovo included - won’t even quote online! So I’ve emailed back asking again to try and get this MPAN removed from the database.

For the time being I’m very happy to stay with Ovo, but I want the situation cleared up for simplicity going forwards.

Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Blastoise186Plan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • May 26, 2025

It could also be that the comparison sites are broken… Again…

It wouldn’t surprise me so you may want to generate random quotes directly with suppliers - at least to check the theory.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
  • Abby_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • May 27, 2025

Hey ​@jhwalker 

 

It might be worth just double checking with the Support Team whether they’ve made the request to the National Database to have the 2nd MPAN removed. It may have been removed from our OVO system, but I’d double check with Support if it’s been removed from the National Database too.

 

There’s a similar topic linked below that may also be helpful:

 

 

Let us know how you get on.

Currently Playing: She's Electric
J
Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement