Unable to have a gas Smart Meter fitted, due to broken meter bracket. Who is responsible?
Hello,
Sorry if this is a bit long-winded, but we are getting so frustrated with this matter.
Earlier this month, the fitting day arrived for our new OVO electricity and gas smart meters. The engineer was brilliant and fitted our electricity smart meter in no time. However, he was unable to fit the gas smart meter, as the bracket on the old gas meter was broken.
We live in a house owned by a housing association and, when we had an annual gas inspection in 2016, we and a neighbour required some work done and, in doing this, the contractor must have broken the bracket on the gas meter, but we never knew about it until we came to have a smart meter fitted. We have lived in the house since it was built and the gas meter was brand new and has been sitting in a meter box in a cupboard, clean and in excellent condition, until the bracket was broken.
The OVO engineer also wasn’t sure about the regs regarding the plastic gas pipe coming from the gas meter, as the pipe is in a cupboard (made of brick and attached to the house), so he called out Cadent. The Cadent man wasn’t sure of the regs regarding the plastic gas pipe, but he shook the meter bracket in front of us (the OVO engineer had gone by this time) and said it was solid and safe. He said he would return in 3 days, when he found out the regs regarding the plastic gas pipe. He never returned and my husband contacted OVO, but we are still awaiting them getting back to us!
So, I contacted the housing association and explained things to them. The compliance manager got back to me and said he has discussed this with their gas contractors and can confirm that there are no concerns with regards to the pipework at our property and went on to say this would be confirmed by the attendance of Cadent engineers not issuing any safety concerns or isolating the gas supply.
So, that’s fine; however, we still have the problem of the broken bracket and the compliance manager said housing association is not responsible for it. He advised us to contact the meter company and advise of this update and request that the meter is replaced.
This is where we are going round in circles, as the OVO man cannot replace the meter bracket, so cannot fit the gas smart meter.
The gas meter is now almost 28 years old, so does need replacing, but how can we get around this problem? We didn’t break the bracket and so don’t want to have to pay for it to be replaced.
Thank you, in advance, for any advice anyone can give, as we really need this gas smart meter, now the prices have gone up so much.
