We had fun today, we had new "smart" meters fitted. I wasn't that fussed about them tbh, I know what appliance uses what power & I'm not about to switch the oven off in the middle of cooking dinner because it's using too much leccy. After four pleading phone calls from British Gas I gave in & agreed to have them fitted today.
Started about five to three when two British Gas techies arrived in two separate BG vans. Having assessed the job, checked that the boiler (new last December) worked OK, etc., they started on the Electric meter first. I must say they were extremely through & very safety conscious, they even fitted a lock to the main consumer unit to stop it being inadvertently switched back on. The guy working in the meter box put on two pairs of gloves, one on top of the other, when working on the live cabling. He also wore a helmet & face shield at this time. They had two tablets which they used to take numerous photos during the changeover. They took even more photos on a mobile phone. I suspected one guy was actually a trainee although they didn't mention this. They pointed out that a bung was missing from the underside of the incoming cable block, which could mean that (if stupid enough) someone, having gained access to the box, could insert a finger from underneath & possibly get a shock. Anyway they cut a piece of rigid perspex to cover this area & stop anyone accessing it in future. Bear in mind it must have been like this for probably 35 years since the house was built, certainly for the 23 years we've been here. They said our local distribution company, Western Power Distribution, (WPD) would be notified to come & fit the missing rubber bung.
They then moved on to the gas meter, which was connected by two flexible pipes, which is apparently not legal. Only one flexible pipe is allowed, so they had to make up a rigid copper pipe for the outlet. They also replaced the regulator & the incoming flexible pipe. All good so far, but they then informed me that the Gas Control valve (main shut off valve) had the handle secured to the spindle by a nail & it should be a split pin. No problem I said, I have plenty of split pins. Oh no, we have split pins as well but we can't touch that, that's distribution, we'll have to notify them to come & fit one. With that they were finished & off they went in their two BG vans. This was about 5.15 pm.
About 6.30 pm a WPD van arrived with two techies. I was staggered, (I was half way through an ice cream at the time). I thought it would be sometime never before anyone came to replace the missing bung, but here they were & a few minutes later they were done & gone. Sit down to try & finish my tea & OH says "they're here again" & not one but two National Grid vans arrive. Believe it or not these guys had come from Birmingham city centre to replace the offending nail with a nice shiny new split pin which took all of two seconds. But why two of them? Well again one was a trainee but why he couldn't have come in the same van I don't know.
So, five vans & six techies later we have our smart meters installed & working. I'm still not convinced of the value of this exercise but it will save me having to read the meters occasionally & e-mail the readings in to them. I can see why it's costing a fortune though. Also, although the readout unit is supposed to be able to be plugged in anywhere in the house, it doesn't seem to be very happy to be working in the lounge. I'll have to investigate further in due course, they did say to leave it for a week & see how it goes but of course I didn't try it in the lounge until they'd left. Probably leave it plugged in the kitchen anyway, where the old NPower unit was, but that one only showed leccy.
Anyway I'm delighted with the impeccable service, why don't things always work like this? Nevertheless, I remain to be convinced of the value of this expensive exercise.