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Indoor meter boxes - any regs applicable?


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+1 to choosing a supplier who fits meters. SSE has to be the simplest option, but don't sign up for any fancy fixed term deal.  Then you can shop around.

 

One thing that hampered my switch was the new house not yet being on the postcode database. Is that an issue you have looked at?

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7 hours ago, Crofter said:

A what now?

 

"The" go to trunking since time began, you might hear "Run it in a bit of MT2....." etc:

 

http://www.marshall-tufflex.com/shop/section.php?xSec=33

 

Then "fancy" stuff beloved by those with wall mounted tellies:

 

http://www.d-line-it.co.uk

 

(You'll get both at Screwfix btw).

 

Use whatever fits and blob on with some CT1, Sika etc to save drilling the pb.

Edited by Onoff
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Ok I'm drawing a blank here on finding a list of meter suppliers/installers. There's supposed to be a list on Ofgem's website but they've hidden it extremely well.

Being the stingey git that I am, I don't like just picking up the phone to the most obvious supplier, if there's money to be saved by going elsewhere. But maybe SSE are the only game in town anyway? And does this mythical list exist, or is it a case of wasting half a day phoning individual electricity companies?

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On 9/3/2017 at 22:45, ProDave said:

+1 to choosing a supplier who fits meters. SSE has to be the simplest option, but don't sign up for any fancy fixed term deal.  Then you can shop around.

 

One thing that hampered my switch was the new house not yet being on the postcode database. Is that an issue you have looked at?

Missed this post until today- this is a very good point! Yet another thing to look into. It's never ending...

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On 03/09/2017 at 22:45, ProDave said:

+1 to choosing a supplier who fits meters. SSE has to be the simplest option, but don't sign up for any fancy fixed term deal.  Then you can shop around.

 

One thing that hampered my switch was the new house not yet being on the postcode database. Is that an issue you have looked at?

Just looking into this just now. Highland Council have a page on this, with the inevitable form to fill in and the even more inevitable fee (£150 in this case).

However it refers to submitting this within a month of the building warrant being approved. Well, I don't have one of those.

Also, loads (the majority?) of people get a site connection right at the start of their project, and also plenty places have electrical connections but aren't houses- so how does that work?

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I am steadfastly avoiding paying this "postcode database" tax.

 

I thought it would come to a head when the Council tax man came to assess us (in the caravan) for council tax, but no, he seemed to accept the address. Likewise BT and SSE just accepted the address.  So far the only "issue" is we are not on the postcode database so I have to keep entering the address manually. Normal post and parcels to the new address arrive without problem.

 

I have tried a few tricks like reporting a missing address to Royal mail. They just say they can do nothing until highland Council inform them.

 

I have phoned Highland Council Had a bizare conversation where they confirmed our address was in fact on the councils own address database, but until we pay the fee they won't inform Royal Mail.

 

So I am steadfastly refusing to pay £150 just so the council can inform Royal mail of one address that is already on their own database. There is something about council fees having to reflect the actual cost. Well I recon if I pay their £150 I will be paying for a staff member for a whole day. So I am just not doing it at the moment.

 

We will see what happens.

 

 

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No fee down here in Lincolnshire but I was advised by local council to call the local police and fire services to make sure my address was on their databases. I did do so though what good that is if they don't actually know where the address is beats me. But if your lucky one of these services databases might get synced to the postal address database in the future

Edited by readiescards
Grammar
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There are obviously multiple versions of address database out there. If you go to Royal Mail and search there, then you just get (in our case) all the house names in that postcode listed (no houses here have numbers, the road does not even have a name)

 

But last night I booked a hotel, and the address database that threw up not only listed all the house names, but all the businesses, including my electrical business, and a couple of neighbours trading names (some that I didn't know)

 

The FB would get here just from the postcode. Our postcode just covers the one road with 12 houses in it.

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I think that one problem is that lots of companies buy access to the official PAF that the Royal Mail operates.  They may or may not update this very frequently, and they may or may not buy access to the version that includes company names and addresses as well as domestic addresses.  To make matters worse, it seems that a lot of companies (and it seems the finance sector are the main culprits, from what I can see) then alter the PAF base dataset by adding their own linked data for particularly names or addresses. 

 

The classic example is an address that may have a debt registered to it from some previous owner, or, as happened to my other half a few years ago, an error led to her name being mistaken for someone with a similar name and she had a lot of hassle for a time with her bank and our mortgage lender.

 

In a perfect world, everyone would use just one address database, the PAF, and it would always be kept up to date, but somehow I can't see that ever happening.

Edited by JSHarris
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You have got me thinking.

 

Where (on the originators site, e.g Royal Mail) can I access the version of the PAF with company names?

 

If I can find that, I can point out to them that my electrical business has in fact moved to a new address, and that might be a back door way to getting the new address on the database?

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4 minutes ago, ProDave said:

You have got me thinking.

 

Where (on the originators site, e.g Royal Mail) can I access the version of the PAF with company names?

 

If I can find that, I can point out to them that my electrical business has in fact moved to a new address, and that might be a back door way to getting the new address on the database?

 

I'm not sure.  There is an online form somewhere for requesting changes to the PAF, as the Royal Mail sell the data as a product, so are keen to try and keep it up to date.  Perhaps a dig around on the PAF web site may find something: http://www.royalmail.com/business/services/marketing/data-optimisation/paf

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I have put in my request to update the PAF.  Last time I tried I was trying to get them to add the new address and hit the brick wall of only your local council can inform us of a new address.....  This time, since I have found my electrical business has it's own entry, I have tried telling them that the business has moved,. i.e this is amending and entry in the PAF not adding one.  It will be interesting to see how I get on with that (when they find the address I have moved to is not there)

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