Hi,
We live in a place that used to be 7 different apparments. Now it is one single residence we live in.
We pay a huge amount because there's an extra charge per electricity meter. Ends up being over $2,000 a year.
It will (evevtually) be turned back into apparments but not for a while (years).
We got quoted by an electrician to convert them to one meter but the cost was huge.
Does anyone have any idea/options for me? Cheers
Leave the meters there and disconnect 6 of them. Re-wire the essentials from the one meter you want to use. Or perhaps two might give you what you need? ie do you need to use the power outlets etc that feed from six of the seven.
I am not a sparkie, but it wouldn't be much work for a sparkie to disconnect the house side from a meter and leave it there surely? Depending on location of the other meters can he/she then reroute one of two back to another meter.
Might be worth sketching out where all the circuits are throughout the place. Work out what you really need to use and where it connects back to.
To do the job correctly there will be more involved than just disconnecting meters, the entire layout will have to be rerouted through the one meter box.
For now you could have some of the existing connections disconnected, would save some $.
There is more to it then merely disconnecting. You pay more because for each meter you may be paying service fee which usually is fairly substantial amount and no discounts are given on this fees. There are few things involved in the process. You will have to get a sparky who knows about this stuff. He will complete an electrical work request to let the retailer know what you intend to do. That is forwarded to the distributor for action. They will turn up on an appointed date to switch off power whilst your sparky removes the meter. Meters are required to be returned to the distributor as it is their asset. Then the sparky would change the connections. It will have to be certified by an inspector before you can use the power again. The removed meter numbers will then be removed from your account. Idea is to minimize the distributor truck time as it is very expensive.
When you need more meters follow the process again. This process is for Victoria. May be look for a sparky who does the smart meter installations they will know the process and will be efficient in the work which will cost you less.
You may also speak to the distributor they are pretty good with this stuff. Not much point in speaking to the retailer Imo.
Yeah wow this is a biiig process. I really don't know how we can justify the spend. If that's the case in Victoria, it may be different for NSW. Can anyone advise me here?
Get more quotes. Ask the power company.
If it costs $5000 to convert to one, you'll be ahead after the 3rd year for sure.