[jmax]

For the third time in the past three years E.ON have failed to install a smart meter because my property has a fused neutral connection.

After the first failed attempt, every time you have made an appointment, I have told the person I was speaking to that the property had a fused neutral, and that E.ON needed to make arrangements with SSE to change that. And every time, E.ON has failed in their duty of care to do that.

In each case I have had to rearrange my working schedule to accommodate the installation appointment. I now request some sort of consideration of the not insignificant amount of time and effort I have expended on emails, phone calls, and rearranged schedules due to your failure in your duty of care in this matter.

[retrotecchie]

@jmax

Everything from the meter to the rest of the house is your responsibility. Everything back from the meter is the responsibility of your local DNO. Only the meter itself is the responsibility of the supplier.

The fused neutral is an absolute no-no under all regs since 14th Edition, so you should contact your DNO (SSE) to have the problem remedied, without needing to get E.On Next involved. Once the DNO rectify this seriously dangerous 'fault' in their part of the installation, then nothing to stop you gettin a new meter from E.On Next.

[meldrewreborn]

@jmax

This is a customer to customer forum for the most part but sometimes Staff drop in - but its not guaranteed (a bit like your smart meter installation - sorry).

There are the guaranteed performance standards which should get you a little compensation, but much beyond that I'm lost for words. @retrotecchie loves these types of threads and has great electrical experience - I on the other hand don't really know the significance of fused neutral - and although i could guess it doesn't add anything.

I suppose its a stupid question but can the fused neutral not be sorted in advance of the smart meter installation?

[jmax]

@retrotecchie I called SSE the first time around three years ago and they told me that the request had to come from E.ON and they couldn’t discuss it with me.

[retrotecchie]

@jmax

Nonsense. It's their cutout, their responsibility and their safety issue. E.On should have arranged for them to turn up when they sent a meter engineer, sure, but even if you are not changing a meter, your property is UNSAFE....and on the DNO side. No matter what your meter or who your supplier is.

The NEC, CEC, IEE Wiring Regulations and IEC 364 specifically prohibit fusing the neutral in building wiring and permanently-connected equipment. You could point that out to SSE, and if they won't listen, escalate the request to someone higher up their food chain.

However, are you absolutely 100% positive you have a fused neutral, and the fuse has not been previously replaced with a solid link as sometimes happens with these outdated connections?

[jmax]

@retrotecchie This is the response from SSE

"If they have a non-urgent issue with any of our assets that they require amending for their works, they must report it to us via a Data Flow. This is as per MACoPA Guidelines (the Meter Operation Code of Practice Agreement) and all suppliers must abide by these guidelines to best serve you as the customer, and to correctly raise any issues with the retrospective DNO's (Distribution Network Operator). This is an industry standard and requirement, all suppliers have acknowledged.

After a non-urgent data flow is raised, once received by your local depot, they will contact you within 40 days to organise a time and date that best suits you to attend to resolve the issue that was requested by the supplier. Once completed the supplier can continue with their works and should be in touch with yourself again."

[jmax]

@retrotecchie And yes, it is a fused neutral, confirmed by both of the meter installation engineers who were sent out over the past three years.

[runamonk]

@jmax I am on my third attempt as well and we had a really old (from the 20's - 50's) fused neutral cutout/off. The first guy that came out said he couldn't touch anything because the previous owners had boxed everything in and he needed full access. Fair enough, I ripped it all out so everything is free and clear. The second guy came out and said he couldn't touch it because the cutoff was too old and needed to be replaced by national grid first. National Grid came out within a week and replaced it, it was deemed a priority. National Grid also said that fused neutrals were no longer supported or recommended and replaced it and rewired it . Have you been in touch with National Grid yet?

[jmax]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

I don't know whether it was from my chasing SSE, or E.ON requesting it, but SSE came out today and replaced the cutout.

Now let's see how long it takes to get the smart meters installed . . . .

[runamonk]

Awesome man. EON came back out for ours after our cutout was replaced and installed the new meters. Everything working great now. Good luck man.