Home electric feed nightmare.. :(

Narj · 24 Mar 2011 at 10:27

Partly a rant, partly wanting some advice...

I need to get my front door replaced, however, the firm that would be doing the work noticed that just inside my front door, by the hinges, is where the main armoured electrical cable for the house comes in, so they won't touch it with a bargepole.

I called up the electric company and after getting through to the right dept - I asked how much it would be to move the feed over a few inches - their reply, £2000-3000! :eek:

Their reasoning is that, "the cables in that area are old so we'd take it out and replace it completely" - surely if they want to do that, *they* should be paying for it?

I know of someone who actually does this work full time and am wondering whether I could get him to do a PJ, however I'm extremely nervous in case something explodes.... Has anyone else come across this situation, and how did you deal with it? I don't really want to move the front door forward as it'll look stupid... Although I suppose I could move it over a bit... :rolleyes:

To put that price in perspective, the gas firm just moved my meter to the outside of the house and had to do a fair bit of excavation - that was only in the region of £800 which I thought was fair enough.

Spit · 24 Mar 2011 at 10:45

Dont think anyone but the electric company can touch the cable. Electricians will only touch cables from your consumer unit.

Westyfield2 · 24 Mar 2011 at 11:27

How's a sparky gonna turn the power off if it's the far side of your consumer unit?

Abraxaz1 · 24 Mar 2011 at 11:35

Its illegal for a sparky to touch anything before the consumer unit as it offically belongs to the electrical company.
Also previously stated their is no way in which the avery elctrician can turn off the incoming supply.

What does that quote include? i.e new run of SWA only or does it also include a a new set of meters as well?

Narj · 24 Mar 2011 at 11:47

Abraxaz1 said:
Its illegal for a sparky to touch anything before the consumer unit as it offically belongs to the electrical company.
Also previously stated their is no way in which the avery elctrician can turn off the incoming supply.

What does that quote include? i.e new run of SWA only or does it also include a a new set of meters as well?

I said that I only want the armoured cable moved over a few inches to allow for safe installation of a new doorframe.

The electric company insist that they will only do it in the fashion mentioned - eg: cutting back, providing new armoured cable as the cables in my area are really old. I don't see why I should pay 2-3K when they could probably just shuffle the flippin' cable over a bit! The quote didn't involve a new meter or anything...

The thing that confuses me is the amount of people on forums elsewhere saying they've had their meter moved (and hence, I assume the feed) by less than a metre for free, or next to nothing.

Brian8bit · 24 Mar 2011 at 11:51

Keep the old door. Problem solved.

Benihana · 24 Mar 2011 at 11:53

Move.

a1ex2001 · 24 Mar 2011 at 12:01

Two Cheap Options

Fit a new door using the existing holes, zero risk and no extra cost.

Move the cable yourself, it's not difficult or particularly dangerous as long as you are carefull.

Narj · 24 Mar 2011 at 12:07

Brian8bit said:
Keep the old door. Problem solved.

It's crap - the rest of the house has been fitted out with new doors and windows so it'd look ridiculous

As I say.. I know of someone who actually works for the electric board doing this kind of work so may approach him and find out if he has any contacts or ways of getting this done cheaper.

The only thing that makes me nervous is that the cable is pretty ancient, so if it snaps, all hell breaks loose.. :S

Cheers though guys, May just knock out a bit the other side of the doorframe and let them put the door in a bit further over. I'm getting a new porch too so can get it to match.