Moving of gas and electricity meters

[Porthole]

Hi there

Just wondered if someone could help - we are having a nightmare over moving of gas and electric meters.

I am struggling over the cost of these - both my meters could be located in the same positions around the side of the house which means that the same trench could be used for both, rather than pay thousands of pounds for each trench to be dug.

 

SGN networks seem to be able to dig the trench for less money than UK power networks so it would make sense for them to do their work first. The question is whether electric can be done afterwards? 

 

Also, I am a bit confused about how deep each service needs to lay their pipes. It sounds like the gas could go deeper so it could be 600cm for gas then 400cm for electricity. 

 

Does anyone have any direct experience of this? How hard is it to try and co-ordinate the trenches. Ideally our builder would just dig the trenches but he didn't sound too keen! 

 

The water main lead piping needs to be changed as well so I think there would be another trench for this but not quite in the same place. All very confusing, so your comments would be gratefully received!!!! THANK YOU! 

 

[ProDave]

Where is this trench?  your land?  Public pavement?  New build or rebuild or you just want it moved?

 

What I did was get the trench dug by the cheapest provider, and before it was filled in, I dropped in a length of black electrical ducting with a draw string.  I then got the electricity to re quote on the basis there was already a duct laid in for them so all they had to do was pull their cable through and connect it.

[Porthole]

Hello

Thanks for your reply. The trench will all be on private land. It is part of a renovation and extension of our house and as the garage is being converted, the meters have to be moved to the side of the house. I think that sounds a good idea - was thinking of SGN to do it first so that the gas is sorted then get electricity to do their bit, as SGN are cheaper. The only thing is, that they said they may mole rather than dig, and also, UK Power Networks need a joint bay dug which is about 1m square so the trench would need to be bigger at the point. There is a layer of concrete over the drive so I am not sure how easy it would be for someone (like us) to just enlarge the hole to form a joint bay square. 

 

Did you need to get the electricity company to come out to do their requote? It's just they seem to be saying that they have given their quote already.

 

Thanks again