After filling out online forms, uploading photos and giving his inside leg measurement to his energy provider, this Bungay homeowner quickly realised that his installation didn’t meet their ‘standard installation’ criteria and would need to get someone else in.
Someone who knew what they were doing.
Instead, they employ meter fitters whose training takes a matter of weeks, rather than years.
They then ‘upskill’ them on short courses on how to install EV chargers in ideal conditions.
This is one of the reasons they’re so cheap – the staff are low-skilled, low paid and can only perform the most basic installations.
Said staff can’t leave and compete with independent installers as they’re not qualified…
…says a lot about how the energy companies are operating in the EV charger space, none of which is good.
Great question. Glad you’ve asked.
The Electrical intake was in the middle of the house, in the kitchen, on an internal wall.
Having seen our case studies and blogs online, the homeowner booked an EV charger consultation without any prior communication.
On arrival we inspected the kitchen and could see there was NO easy route to get to the front of the property.
Low level under the kitchen units wasn’t possible as there were 2 doorways to contend with
High level would have been a massive eyesore across the middle of the kitchen.
The only way was up into the floor space above the ceiling, below the floorboards across the landing, out the front of the property and down to the charger.
It’s not.
Not if you know what you’re doing (or who to bring in if you don’t).
But if you’re an energy company employing meter fitters to do the job of time-served electricians, you walk away from anything that can’t be taught in a few days.
We advised without Jargon or confusion:
See photos below of before and after for the electrical cut-out:
As a surveyor himself, the homeowner appreciated the work involved and opted for us to do everything.
We submitted the forms for UK Power Networks (UKPN) to attend to update the electrical cut-out and confirm the fuse size – meaning 1 less task for the homeowner to navigate.
Once we had this date from UKPN we scheduled the installation and the rest as they say, is history.
An internal cable run that showed no signs of our work and an external cable run that was neat and tidy along the front of the property. The cable does stand out due to the colour contrast, though the homeowner is intending to paint the cable when the weather improves.
Extended 5-year warranty applied for and confirmed by manufacturer.
All certifications and notifications completed with 48 hours and another glowing
