New Electicity Meters

[jennyshaw]

6 months after buying our property we had our Electric cut off, luckily we were not there permanent we got a phone call from a friend in the same village.
We assumed that it was the electric company that did it, straight away I got in touch with our solicitor to see what was going on, all he said is that the estate agent had agreed to do all the necessary paperwork to change everything over for us, so.......... i contacted the estate agent and she said it was the solicitors fault, anyway to cut a long story short in the end it took us about a month to get it put back on, we paid just over 800 Euros, that was for a new meter, new fuse box, something called a bulletin, apparently this had to be registered in Guadix? (nearest big town) and the labour and add on costs for the estate agent.

The estate agent said it was a new law that came in at the end of last year. Edit, sorry i meant 2005.

Now someone else in our village as had the same done to them, they too bought their house at the end of last year, their cable has just been cut through because their box is inside the house, and now they are having big problems getting it connected again.

have any of you had this problem also, by the way all the bills had been paid for the consumption of the electric.

[kexon]

Hi, i know there will be others who can shed more light on this subject,but i can tell you that this also happened to us following the purchase of our property,ours was disconnected because the wiring was out of date and considered dangerous,we had to organise with the electricity company for a temporary re-connection whilst new wiring was installed,which was a shock to our budget,however i understand this is how the electricity company are going about updating the old and the dangerous wiring in older properties.Have to say,despite the inconvenience it was worth it as we now have much safer and up to date wiring and fuse-box which is much more realiable.

[Heston]

Yes the law did change and it is now law that the box has to be outside the property..whilst a rewire can be done by an electrician this moving of the box can only be done by the electric company.
A lot of people buying older properties need to bear this in mind as it will cost anything between 300 and 800euros ( location depending) any decent agent will tell propspective buyers that however I think we all know that they are few and far between!

[fearfulfred]

Now you have me wondering as just two months ago the electric company were here to add and extra meter . We had asked to be put on dual tariff. Our box is inside the fence ..not accessible to a meter reader . They said nothing about the placement of the box etc.

Fred

[Heston]

yes but is it outside the property?

[RichardCoeurdeLion]

Heston

At our development all the meters are outside the properties in groups of 6 or so so the meter reader can get to them. However the box with the circuit breakers is inside. Presumably this is ok, otherwise people could go around switching your electric off.

[jennyshaw]

But our meter is on the outside of the property, it is an 2 storey apartment next to our neighbours and theirs as not been changed.
Also what do you mean by an old building, I think ours is only about 20 - 30 years old, and the people we know that has been cut off theirs is even newer.
I think it could be due to the change over of names on the Electric bills that starts off the process, and unfortunately if you don't live in it you don't know its happened until some one tells you or you just arrive for an holiday to find you have been cut off.

[jennyshaw]

Forgot to mention, there is nothing wrong with our wiring, that didn't need anything doing with it.
And the Electric Company took away the meter completely, there was just an empty cupboard in the wall left.

[spanish_lad]

the rules changed, then changed again, etc etc this is spain lol

a single meter is no longer allowed.

a double meter box will be fitted (at your cost, which you have to do or get done) making provision for a "night meter".

a meter box must be fitted with a metal door over the top.

a new meter will not be fitted if the house does not have a "bullatin" under 5 years old.

a bullatin will not be issued without prior inspection (from a private company legally allowed to do them, at your cost and arranged by you)

[fearfulfred]

Yes Spanish lad
We do have a double meter box now but it is on our property. Not inside the house but in the garden, we must open the gates to let the meter reader in. There was another company that came and did an inspection and approved it before the double box was inspected!

Fred

[spanish_lad]

oh and a "name change" will not be made by sevilliana without a current bullatin.



so you cant read the meter without encrouching onto your land? that wouldn't pass under present inspection.

[zanuck]

Spanish Lad
I'm confused.

Are you saying that a house/property must have 2 electricity meters, and that the meter must have a metal cover rather than the more common (in our area) of a plastic cover so that the meter can be read without opening the cover??

Our house is circa 1975, and has one meter (a low rated fuse/supply which causes the circuit breaker to trip every so often if we use the washing machine, kettle and TV at the same time), and a plastic cover........

Or, does all of your post only apply to new or recent builds/reforms?

[fearfulfred]

No you absolutely can't read the meter without coming onto our land through a gate. Sevillana/endessa were the ones who put it in. This was 2 months ago! They did change the box though as the old one only had room for one meter and the cost to us was 124.00 Euros. By the way had they wanted to change its placement there is a hole in one of our gateposts that it would probably have fit in.

Fred

[Troglodyfae]

I had my new meter fitted at the beginning of last year before we moved into the cave house. Unfortunately my brother over saw the work and had the new meter fitted on the outside of the house, to be honest it did not occur to us at the time and we built a wall with drive gates to enclose the property as we have dogs.

When the inspection was due they would not entertain it being behind a wall and gates, so we had to get the electrician to move it for us. We built the housing on the outside wall and the electrician placed the meter and box into it. This has a metal door and you cannot read the meter without opening it I think the electrician charged us €180 for that but it was a bit of a big job due to the distance involved, and the amount of armoured conduit which was needed.

[spanish_lad]

ONLY €180 to move a meter box, move the meter, extend the cable, ?? it cant of been far!! the proper green sleeved non halogen cable is about 2€ / metre.

Spanish Lad
I'm confused.

Are you saying that a house/property must have 2 electricity meters, and that the meter must have a metal cover rather than the more common (in our area) of a plastic cover so that the meter can be read without opening the cover??

Our house is circa 1975, and has one meter (a low rated fuse/supply which causes the circuit breaker to trip every so often if we use the washing machine, kettle and TV at the same time), and a plastic cover........

Or, does all of your post only apply to new or recent builds/reforms?

i'm not saying a house must have two meters, i'm saying it must have provision for two meters. ie; it MUST have a "double" or "triple" box installed even if there is only one meter in it.

the plastic box must be recessed into the wall by approx 3cm and a metal door fitted on the front (they are 60cm ish square and have an "electricity" sticker on the front (i'll try and get a pic of one we've installed). the door of this can be opened with anything, a coin, a screwdriver etc etc, there is no key. its just a saftey thing.

my post applies to anything new/recent/reformed. ie, if you want to change the name on the bills, from the old owner to the new one, you need a bullatin. in order to get a bullatin you need an inspection. to get an inspection you need new wiring. it doesn't matter if your house is 5.5 years old or 25 years old. it needs it or it cant have a name change.

[fearfulfred]

Spanish Lad
You were right. Today the meter reader was here. I let him in as usual. he saw the new box and asked why it was placed inside the fence.
The upshot... Mecol who installed the double box should have moved it to outside the fence. Anywhere accessible to him. He would like it moved before coming back in two months! So we paid 124 Euros to have a box installed that 2 months later will need moving. I think there will be some shouting at the Mecol and Endessa offices next week, both sent people out to look at the installation.
Fred

[jennyshaw]

So, Can anyone say who should tell the prospective buyer that the property needs a Bulletin in order to purchase the house without finding out the Electric will be cut off sometime in the near future, is it something the estate agents should tell you?
I ask this just to warn people who are in the process of buying something that to make sure to ask this question.

[Troglodyfae]

Spanish Lad it was about 7m, not really that far but a pain none the less. I felt it was a reasonable price to charge us, and it was all over and done in no time. Did you think that we were over charged ??

[katy]

Spanish Lad is correct if you change the contract name or the voltage you need a boletín if the house is over 5 years old. Have a look at
www.endesaonline.com there is an English section.

[hillybilly]

So, Can anyone say who should tell the prospective buyer that the property needs a Bulletin in order to purchase the house without finding out the Electric will be cut off sometime in the near future, is it something the estate agents should tell you?

The requirement for a boletín and/or resiting of meter(s) is something that your surveyor will tell you in the survey report. I certainly do.
Don't rely on an estate agent for this sort of info.