Do these meters need, by Regulations, to be accessible from the outside? A gas shut off needs to be outside but I see no technical reason for the meters to be acessible from the outside. Can anyone give guidance?
Many are not accessible from outside.
Maybe when installing new ones they insist that they are, but there seems to be no requirement to make existing ones accessible. Gas companies have a statutary right of entry (i.e. you can't keep them out if they think there may be something up with the gas in your house - and I dare say they can force entry legally in such cases) and electricity companies may even have the same rights.
Gas companies do not have a statutory right of entry. If the owner does not allow them in they have to cut the gas off outside. If the place is in danger of explosion, then the police will have to force entry.
Are you sure? I recall an item on the news programme "Nationwide" years ago that listed the people that were allowed to force thier way in. I thought that one of the oddities that they discovered was that the gas board could force thier way in to prevent a fire happenning, but the fire brigade had no right to force thier way in to put a fire out. I suppose it may have been the other way around (my memory is not
100%).Does anyone have an authoratative answer to this?
Google search revealed the following.
So basically:
"An official of a gas or electricity company may enter your home if:
.=2E.
=B7 There is an emergency and the official has reason to believe that there is danger to life or property.
.=2E.
It is a criminal offence to obstruct a person who has a warrant or who asks to be admitted in an emergency; the maximum penalty is a fine of level 3 - currently =A31,000. It is not an offence to refuse to let the official enter if there is no emergency and the official does not have a warrant - Rights of Entry (Gas and Electricity Boards) Act 1954; Electricity Act 1989 and Gas Act 1995 ."
Sounds like a statutary right of entry to me.
I beg to differ, I am and I have....
Remove antispam and add 670 after bra to email
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.