Meter installer won't work on my supply

[aturneruk]

Hi all -- full disclosure I am a 'DIY-er' but wanted to post here for greater visibility seeing as I certainly won't be doing this work myself...

I'm in the early stages of getting my house rewired (estimates) and during one initial visit, the electrician pointed out that I would need a way to isolate my incoming supply as there is currently no way to isolate the meter tails. They suggested booking a smart meter appointment and the meter installer to fit a 2-pole isolator at the same time. My house has 2 consumer units which are both fed from the henley blocks at the bottom of the picture.

Meter installer visited, but stopped work due to an "asbestos back board" before starting anything. Admittedly I'm not an expert but it looks very wooden to me..! Either way, better safe than sorry and so they stopped work and reported it to the DNO (NGED/ex. WPD). However, fast forward nearly 3 weeks and NGED don't have anything on their records for my property and yet my supplier are insisting that the report has been sent to them. So far I've been working on the basis that my relationship is with my supplier and not the DNO, so haven't directly asked them to do anything (yet). I'm also a bit reticent to do that in case they charge, which I'm not opposed to, but at the same time would like to avoid it if possible.

Feels like I'm stuck in limbo with no way to get this moving for the incoming supply to be in a state where an electrician can work on it. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can actually do?

 

[7029 dave]

Obviously a damaged cutout would be catA and that would be quick response

 

[oscar21]

Just to jump on this thread, the job I was on yesterday had a dodgy old steel cutout with a hole in the top sealed with insulation tape and the whole lot painted yellow. However the brand new smart meter and isolator were right in the way of the new consumer unit so needed moving, the seal fairy got to work and then they miraculously moved to their new positions, not sure how, I only went out to get a sandwich.

Anyway, what would you do?

 

[mainline]

Just to jump on this thread, the job I was on yesterday had a dodgy old steel cutout with a hole in the top sealed with insulation tape and the whole lot painted yellow. However the brand new smart meter and isolator were right in the way of the new consumer unit so needed moving, the seal fairy got to work and then they miraculously moved to their new positions, not sure how, I only went out to get a sandwich.

Anyway, what would you do?

I would call the relevant authority, of course.

 

[aturneruk]

Thought I'd provide an update on this one as all your expertise and thoughts on my situation were very helpful and confirmed that I was doing the right thing!

Anyway, to cut a long story short I gave up trying to go through the "correct" route and explained the situation directly to NGED using the contact form in their website. The local depot rang and a couple of gents came out to survey back in September and quickly came to the conclusion that the cutout did need replacing.

Just this morning they have visited to do now the work and so now I have a lovely shiny new plastic one! The final twist in the tale was they confirmed that the old did have asbestos in it, so that meter fitter was right all along!

Thanks to you all for your help and expertise.

 

[BenCos18]

Just this morning they have visited to do now the work and so now I have a lovely shiny new plastic one! The final twist in the tale was they confirmed that the old did have asbestos in it, so that meter fitter was right all along!

Nice to see you got it sorted

 

[pc1966]

Good to hear you got that done!

However, what is the story about the grey cable who's end is now lying on the floor?

 

[Timbo]

Did they fit an isolator?