Rotten Soffets - mains inbound cable attached

[Lesgrandepotato]

As we near the end of our project - did I actually type that! we are replacing / covering the old soffets with a plastic overboard. The problem I have is at one end the power comes into the building via a pole. Said cable is attached to an end bracket on said rotten soffet. 

 

I'd like to replace the timber. I'd not like a massive bill for the work, preliminary discussions with the power network bods have mentioned a lead time of 12 weeks and a cost of £1200-£1500. This seems a mite toppy to me! hence wanting to know more...

 

The cable in question is on the far side (distribution side)of the meter (as opposed to domestic side). 

 

If the Soffet fails then the cable from the pole will drop across a bridleway. Who's problem is this? Am I responsible for the cable where it crosses my property? or only up to the meter?  The Pole is not on my land and services one other property. 

[ProDave]

I'll say no more than a repair on the distribution side should be free. So if the cable came free from the rotten board and was hanging down........  Are they bare wires or insulated coming off the bracket? (the ones that go across to the pole)

 

I had a similar dilemma at a previous house, I wanted to replace the back door but the cable entered through the door frame. When I pointed out to them that the cable was damaged they replaced it free of charge, and routed te new cable through a hole in the wall I had drilled prior to their visit.

[Nickfromwales]

Yup. Those cables being damaged and them having to do it for free is terrible news 

[Lesgrandepotato]

I'll look again later, I think its insulated, its then clipped down the soffet before running down the outside of the building to the meter box. 

[Jeremy Harris]

4 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Yup. Those cables being damaged and them having to do it for free is terrible news 

 

 

Different scenario, in that it was only a 'phone cable, but our long tale of woe from the Openreach main office meant that we had to have an "accidental" cable failure in order to get the job done.  We'd already laid all the ducts, laid the new cable in the ducts and the DNO had taken down the power cable from the old pole, put up a new pole etc, so all we needed was for Openreach to come and take down the 'phone wire that was on the same old pole and connect the new underground cable we'd laid (that they had provided).

 

The advice we were given was to let a digger "accidentally" break the overhead cable and then report it on the Openreach emergency repair number.  Within about half an hour an Openreach van turned up, we showed them the problem, pointed to the new underground cable coiled up by the new pole and the guys grinned, named the local Openreach chap and said "This is one of ******'s jobs, isn't it?".  Apparently this was a common trick to get a job moved up the priority list.............

 

I'm not in any way suggesting that you do anything like this, but if it's an insulated cable, and if the bracket/eyebolt on the existing facia/soffit was to "come a bit loose", then I think you could do much the same, and get an emergency repair for an unsafe installation.  Provided you're all set to go with getting the new uPVC on as soon as the guys have taken the cable down to replace the bracket, plus maybe slipping them a few quid to delay things for a short time whilst you fit the uPVC, then I think you could, perhaps, get this done for free.

 

I did managed to get a hefty discount off the cost of moving the pole and putting the power underground, because the original incoming large overhead cable was buried inside the branch of a tree, that had grown around the cable.  We'd taken the tree down, but left the bit of branch around the cable, as the tree guy

wasn't happy about trying to get the cable out.  A photo of this was enough to get the DNO to write off the cost of the new overhead cable, saving around £600.

[ProDave]

41 minutes ago, Lesgrandepotato said:

I'll look again later, I think its insulated, its then clipped down the soffet before running down the outside of the building to the meter box. 

Post a picture if you can.

 

The bit coming off the bracket down into the house will definitely be insulated.  The bit from the bracket to the pole if it's old may well be two uninsulated cables.

 

Can you replace a bit of the rotten soffit (and clad it with UPVC) right up to the rotten bit so when they come, there is a new sound bit of soffit to re attach the bracket to. Then you can replace the final rotten bit where the bracket used to be.

 

I don't think it has to be hanging loose, just look like failure is iminent so you can report it as being in a dangerous condition. My cable mentioned earlier merely had cracks in the insulation where is could fail at any moment.

[Triassic]

I'm in the same DNO area as you and about 18 months ago they replaced the overhead cable to our old house, at no cost yo me. I pointed out it was as a waste of time and their money as I'd already applied for the cable to be moved into a new meter box on another building, but they replaced it anyway.

 

Maybe you should report the cable as defective, saying the achore plate is pulling out as the soffits rotten. In out case they moved the anchor point off a soffit board and onto the wall, maybe they could do the same for you.