Water meter ?

[nml]

I have a small leak on the water meter not before or after but actualy from the meter.

The leak is so small that it not urgent, but will ultimatly need to be fixed.

The meter at the moment is on our driveway with locked gates when we are not there, 2 questions
firstly the responsibility for cost of replacing the meter, will that be mine and secondly will they force me to move the meter to the gate area ?


Thanks nml

[spanish_lad]

its their meter, not yours.

its their responsibility, not yours.

they *MAY* want it moving, but again, thats *their* responsibility.

its not that difficult, couple of joints, bit of pipe inside the gate, they fit a new meter outside the gate.

[peteroldracer]

As far as I know, the meter readers for water and electric are not allowed to enter your premises, so the meters must be readable from public land, without them having to bend down too far or use anything to reach up - health & safety and lack of insurance cover should they either damage something on your land, or damage themselves on anything ditto.

[spanish_lad]

this is very true peter, i can say for certain on the electric meter front.

[nml]

Thanks to you both i do hope that they will pay for the resiting of the meter, shame to have to dig up part of the driveway though. Fortunatly the existing meter is outside and not inside.


nml

[peteroldracer]

Another good reason for having the meter and a stopcock outside the property is that should there be a burst, a neighbour or passer-by can turn off the water, saving you a fortune and a lot of mess!

[spanish_lad]

recently heard of someone getting a 7000€ water bill for a leak inside their property.. it had been leaking for months but they never knew!

[peteroldracer]

I have just had one for 94€, due to one leak overnight, and a washing machine that stuck on fill because the pressure valve inside was cal'd up!
That was bad enough for me!

[oliveview01]

Our old neighbours had a leak from the water meter and they had to pay the council for the repair, it was about 50€ ( 4 years ago) the council said it was up to them to pay as the meter was theirs. It was not easy to prove if it was the pipe in or out of the meter.

[wendyakemp]

I had to have my water meter moved to the outside of my property last year,you have to pay or get your own plumber to do it, it will cost quite a bit.......Mine was leaking at the meter too and the only ay I could get it replaced was to get it moved and refitted with the old meter put on the outside of the property and then getting Gestagua to come and replace the leaky meter!!! They were not at all interested in moving the meter, my spanish is not good but they told my plumber to call them once it was on the outside of the property. Once that was done they came within a day as it was a LEAK!! It was a leak before but they only wanted to help once it was moved....also they do charge for a new meter if it is quite new but mine as quite old and they happily replaced it free of charge.

[Andy1]

As far as I know, the meter readers for water and electric are not allowed to enter your premises, so the meters must be readable from public land, without them having to bend down too far or use anything to reach up - health & safety and lack of insurance cover should they either damage something on your land, or damage themselves on anything ditto.

Both of our meters (water and electricity) are on our house walls and within a fenced garden. Where do we stand with that if they ask us to move them as I assume they were fitted by the companies. With our water meter you almost have to lie on your belly to be able to read it!!

[Julie]

We had a leak last year and had to have the meter resited outside the gates , I imagine until you have a problem, its ok, but if you have a problem you would probably have to resite the metres, my bill was 150 euro more than normal, and the water was only leaking a day.

Luckily for us, we had workmen at the house and they resited it with no extra cost, we had to have the tiles lifted etc, but it was like new when they finished the job

[spanish_lad]

As far as I know, the meter readers for water and electric are not allowed to enter your premises, so the meters must be readable from public land, without them having to bend down too far or use anything to reach up - health & safety and lack of insurance cover should they either damage something on your land, or damage themselves on anything ditto.

Both of our meters (water and electricity) are on our house walls and within a fenced garden. Where do we stand with that if they ask us to move them as I assume they were fitted by the companies. With our water meter you almost have to lie on your belly to be able to read it!!

IF you have a leak, or IF you want to change the name etc etc, do anything to the bills, they will have to be re-sited to OUTSIDE the gate.

[Wicksey]

Friends put up gates to their house when they moved in and the electricity meter reader said that they must have it moved to outside of the gates at their own expense. As Spanish Lad says, in the meantime Endesa will not change the contract into their name, (although that doesn't seem to be a problem for them at the moment). Another friend has paid about 1400€ to have a new electricity meter put in when his very old electricity supply needed to be upgraded.

[spanish_lad]

Friends put up gates to their house when they moved in and the electricity meter reader said that they must have it moved to outside of the gates at their own expense. As Spanish Lad says, in the meantime Endesa will not change the contract into their name, (although that doesn't seem to be a problem for them at the moment). Another friend has paid about 1400€ to have a new electricity meter put in when his very old electricity supply needed to be upgraded.

thats a different matter entirely, but a fair point, while changing the name on a contract you have to "bring the house and everything after the meter "up to current spec", its worth upgrading the supply etc if you want to / are able to (ie dont leave it, you´ll need to upgrade the house again!)

if you are "just" moving the meter, it can be done quickly and "cheaply"... the meter has to be moved and a box built, outside the gate - this can be anywhere on your boundry, as long as it is accesable by road and at "head height" ie - 1m20 ish off the groud (from memory). from the new position new cable must be run (special cable, wont tell you what, i´ll be out of a job ) in a trench, with the right colour tubing and something else over it (wont tell you...) all the way to the house / breaker box inside the house. the old stuff in the ground can be left there or ripped out its only good as extension leads now

it costs alot more that people think sometimes, new cable is about 5€ per metre (single phase, 3 phase is about 12€/m), new meter box 200€, new "little shed" for it to sit in is 200€...then theres labour etc. if your gate is 100m from the house then it is gonna start looking expensive - 500 for cable, 35 / 40€ per hour for a digger to dig a trench...