[Stuart]

This journey has been a nightmare but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel which is 4.2p per KWH.

After the battle of getting the wall charger installed i have now been faced with another regarding the smart meter install. After switching from British Gas to Octopus Energy, BG were unwilling to budge on price even after 15 years of loyalty, they made my SMETS1 smart meter redundant meaning i had to get Octopus Energy to fit a SMETS2 smart meter before i could switch to the GO tariff.

Engineer booked from OE dually arrived 2 weeks later opened the electric box and instantly went off on one regarding the extra isolator that had been fit and the junction box that facilitates the electrics for the EV charge pod quoting nobody should be in this box all that should have been installed outside, basically it was throwing it down with rain and i think he was looking for an excuse to fob the job off but let me tell you i was having none of that. So after a massive row on the driveway and a few phone calls they told him to go ahead and fit it which he did. I now have up to a 2 week wait for the commissioning of the meter before i can finally charge on the cheap.

Not sure if its just me or if anyone else has had a path like mine but it does make you wonder if its really worth all the hassle, although i will add Motability and Octopus Energy have been brilliant from start to finish otherwise i think even a stubborn Yorkshireman like myself might have chucked in the towel.

Moral of the story is dont give in, keep fighting and you will get there in the end.

Now where did i put the charge cable…..

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Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate trim
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Loves 3D printing & Plastic model kits
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Topic

[Richard]

The guy will have been from Siemens or one of the other meter suppliers rather than Octopus themselves I know it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Also the main cut out isolator has to be between the meter and the consumer unit therefore should be in the cupboard. The cupboard belongs to the property not ukpn or whoever only the incoming supply up to and including the meter is the suppliers issue everything else is the customers so how he can argue that is beyond me. As you say trying to get out of the job.

Hope the rest goes more smoothly now. About to go thru this myself hope mines better, should be mines indoors and already have a working smets2 meter my only worry is it’s all upstairs so whether installer gets the hump taking armoured cable thru the wall at height, we shall see….

[Wigwam]

I’ve had this said about other stuff shouldn’t be in the meter box when I paid handsomely for the meter and the main feed to be moved. I resented being told what could and couldn’t be in the box especially as I had to supply the box!

[Richard]

Certain stuff has to be in there anyway, isolators, henley blocks and more. Besides it’s not like the avg customer fits this stuff in there that’d be qualified sparks so if anyone has a problem with it they should take it up with niceic not a homeowner.

As a contractor probably how does he know someone from the DNO didn’t put that fear in the box anyway.

Damn jobsworth types

[Abercol]

We have begun this painful journey…first step…replace all 3 consumer units (glass fuse) in house with new rcd ones – why we have 3, no idea, but 2nd floor one will do the EV charger as its the only way we can run the cable to the back of the house (via attic) without ripping up 45m of floors.

Called the provider, asked for a smart meter, they came round, looked at the meter board, said no and left. I think he must have moved to Richards area…lol.

Then the electrician doing our new kitchen found we had no earth at all, emergency call to the provider, SSE , they came out within the hour, pronounced our supply wiring to be dangerous and using flammable cable sheathing, it also goes next door before it goes to the street. They put in an emergency call to their supply team to dig up the road and fit a new supply cable – yay I thought, upgrade to 100 amp fuse from our current 40 amp. No they said, tails need upgraded on main consumer unit. Emergency team turned up – cased the joint, said it looked easier than they were told and left…

Meantime, I got  an electrician in to upgrade the consumer unit tails, still waiting for SSE to do the “emergency” fix, 6 months now…

Haven’t even got to the wall charger fun part yet, 25m run in attic (no crawl space) then a 4m drop in the stone wall in the kitchen (there is a huge 1x1m hole here with a door still embedded in the kitchen wall where an old hallway was) go through the 1m thick outside wall there & along another 3-4 m and into the wall unit – easy…I’m sure it will all be free…lol.

Wife wants an electric car & order date is right now…

 

In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.

[Stuart]

Good luck Abercol

@Richard, could not agree more, he thought he was gonna have an early finish but he arrived at the wrong address lol

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Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate trim
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Loves 3D printing & Plastic model kits
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[Author]

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