It has become apparent over the last few years that the fitting of an isolator between the electricity meter and the consumer unit has been frustrated by the current rules which require the work to be undertaken on the instructions of the electricity supplier appointed to that property or where the Operator is already appointed to that property. This has caused many issues where, for example, a local authority wishes to refurbish many dwellings but first needs the consent of the electricity supplier. There are currently over 100 licensed domestic electricity suppliers.
There have been numerous complaints into the industry including Electrical Safety First and trade bodies such as ECA, NICEIC and Select. It is believed that there are many hundreds of occasions where a non-MOCoPA party breaks specified seals on Distribution and Supplier owned equipment to complete their work. Whilst this is a breach of ESQCR there has been no enforcement as the industry has not been able to provide a simple solution that can be adopted by all stakeholders.
The installation of Electric Vehicle chargers and other customer generation equipment has seen the number of unauthorised breaking of specified seals increase, with the uptake of EVs increasing year-on-year then it can be reasonably assumed that the associated unauthorised breaking of seals will also increase.
Within the industry there is a programme to enable Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs) to engage with the smart metering installation programme. This will involve installing additional equipment in various MDU locations, it is feasible that in some of these locations it would be advantageous to install an isolator switch.
It should be noted that only MOCoPA accredited parties have the authority to break Distribution seals and remove the main fuse. This proposed change maintains that requirement.
This issue has been recognised at the DCUSA Safe Isolations Working Group and previously agreed as an issue at the BEIS Smart Metering Operations Group (SMOG) The removal of specified seals and fuses by non-authorised parties is both a health & safety issue and a contravention of ESQCR. The proposed solution maintains the requirement for a party who has acceded to MOCoPA to undertake the activity but broadens who can instruct that party to undertake the work. As an example, a local authority or housing associate could contract with a MOCOPA party of their choice based on a commercial agreement. This could be either a Distributor party or an Operator party.
This proposal maintains the integrity of ensuring that only REC parties, following the Meter Operator Code of Practice (MOCOP) can undertake this work.
