Meter fitting career change advice please

[jack9998]

Ello men, im 22 and currently doing an adult trainee apprenticeship in installation (2330) with Southern Electric, the thing is im not really enjoying the house bashing and im really keen on getting into meter fitting due to the "promises" of £12 to £15 per fit and easy days (lazy i know, but each to their own eh).... my questions are basically:

- what sort of qualifications or tickets do i need to get into this line of work?
-is this sector a stable career choice?
- anything else that may enhance my views on the whole situation?

Mucho appreciated

 

[Adam W]

I wouldn't know specifically about meter fitting, but any 'get rich quick' career is bound to be volatile - if it's that easy and there's that much money to be made, why isn't everyone doing it?

 

[antimatter]

I done it for a DNO who shall remain nameless, I then left and shall never return!!!

They do the training in-house.

PM me if you need more info bud

 

[johnboy6083]

my best mate is a meter fitter, and he hates it. he works on his own day in day out, and drives 100s of miles a week. he would swap with you any day.

 

[ezzzekiel]

yup ive done it before - lots of running about to make your money (although you can earn decent if youre prepared)

you require a pto to work on the network unfortunately you can only get one if working for dno or meter firm.

 

[jack9998]

so, am i to understand that i would not require my eletrical qualifications to go down the meter fitting route, but would need to become employed by a company who specialize in meter fitting and they would in turn put me through the neccessary course to obtain my ticket (how long?) and then i would be free to run around fitting meters for £15 a pop, doing say for arguments sake 10 a day, so therefore raking in £750 a week? i know im obviously coming from an unschooled perspective, but that sounds like a sweet deal... ok, i know i may miss the lads banter and it may be a lonely and somewhat unsatisfactory working day, but on the otherhand your sort of your own boss, if i want an early friday, i can get one, and once again the money sounds great...and the mortgage needs great money.
i get the impression that there are a lot of negative factors to this line of work....but am i living in an imaginary world with the positives i mentioned earlier? cheers for your replies guys.

 

[antimatter]

it took me about a month to get through my training, we were paid a basic salary and anything over 8 meters a day we got a bonus, about a tenner a meter.

in my experience the scheduling was poor so we were basically "cold calling" customers to meter change, they has a letter from us saying the meter was about to be changed, but had no date on it, so it was hit and miss (mainly miss) trying to catch them in, before you knew it the day was over.

 

[ezzzekiel]

the test will take about an hour and and you can be trained in about an hour (its only pulling a fuse) you would also get some meter installation training also and your electrical quals mean nothing for this role.

and as stated above it sounds great £12-15 per fit but runnung 20 odd mile between fits on the off chance that someone is in or will let you in is a different matter, you may get 2-3 appointments a day but the rest are usually cold calls

 

[MarkP]

I work for a energy provider as a meter fixer. I'm salaried which is a safer bet than getting paid per meter. Especially in the current climate. At our company you don't need any electrical qualification to do a single phase recert as the training is provided in-house but you need to be Level 3 C&G to work on three phase and CT metering systems.

 

[ezzzekiel]

its a choice,
salaried - set wage and appointments
per fit - better money, if you can make it.
per fit is subby work so you tend to get fewer actual appointments and more all day jobs (pretty much a cold call)

 

[martysparky]

Scottish and southern energy are highly target driven with the world against you to achieve target.

.