Electricity Meter Placement

Property & Home
1

Hi,

I am in the process of buying a house in Lot-et-Garonne. When viewing the house I noticed the electric meter and fuse board are on the wall between living room window and the front door.

I have two questions;

1/ Is it a requirement for the meter to be near the front door or main entrance to the house? While renovating I would like to move the meter and fuse board (they need replacing anyway) into an adjoining room which I intend to use as an office, so this room will no longer used as a bedroom but be a “public room” rather than private. This would mean shortening the supply cable as the office room is closer to the supply pole outside the house, so no need to replace what looks like a relatively new cable.

2/ Can the meter be installed in a box outside the house rather than inside? It’s not the most beautiful item so I don’t mind having it hidden away if possible.

Thanks, Jimi.

2

It is possible to have the supply & meter moved - EDF have to move it and it is quite expensive.

It can go in a box elsewhere also, this too will be expensive, you are also then liable to get the supply from the outside box to your consumer unit.

3

Mat,

Thanks for the reply. I was not sure if this was possible. If the house purchase is completed I will investigate the costs, I will be arranging for a complete rewire in any case, as the current wiring looks like a fire waiting to happen.

Jimi.

4

From memory, moving the meter was about 750 euros, moving it to outside was about 1500 euros (plus your costs of wiring from meter to house).

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5

You might want to investigate this before the house purchase is completed in the event that it might be a price negotiation issue. After completion would be too late.
The standard of old IIRC was for the mains switch top be close to the main exit door so (for example) in the event of an electrical fire, you could isolate the mains as you vacated the building.
In new builds, the requirement is for the meter to be accessible on the boundary, as far as possible and the supply run to a suitable housing in an appropriate place in the building with access to the breakers to isolate circuits. There are specifics about how deep the cable has be buried from the meter to the building and the nature of the trench.
It requires much research.

6

We had ours moved 3,5mts at a cost of 205€.

1 Like
7

You need to contact ENEDIS (not EDF). Here you go…

3 Likes
8

Graham,

Great info, thanks. I suspected there might be a reason for the meter being so close to the door as I kept seeing the same arrangement in other old houses. I will look into it further but it won’t stop me proceeding with the purchase as I like the house and the area. Just going to be more expense as usual!

Jimi

1 Like
9

Thanks Mat, Good to have a rough idea of costs. It’s something that I would like to get out of the way sooner rather than later, these things are more disruptive when left until the end of the building work.

Jimi