National Grid Electricity Distribution contractors may call at some Stone homes and small businesses during June as part of a door to door safety inspection programme.
The visits will take place at properties in the ST15 postcode area, as well as in the ST5 postcode area in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The checks are legitimate, but residents are being advised to ask for identification and authorisation before allowing anyone into their home.
The inspections will be carried out by A Coole Electrical, an NGED approved contractor. Inspectors should be clearly identifiable as working for National Grid Electricity Distribution.
They will be checking service termination points, also known as cut outs. This is the point where the main incoming electricity service cable and fuse are located, usually close to the electricity meter.
For many modern homes built since the 1980s, the cut out is likely to be in an outside meter cabinet. In some properties, it may be inside the home near the electricity meter or consumer unit.
Inspectors will visually check National Grid Electricity Distribution and energy supplier equipment, record basic details and take photographs for NGED records. No disassembly work will be carried out and customers’ power supplies should not be interrupted during the checks.
If residents are unsure, they should ask to see ID before allowing access. They can also contact A Coole Electrical to check the visit.
National Grid says customers can take their own photographs of their cut out and meter and send them to NGED, which will then decide whether a follow up visit is needed.
NGED says it aims to complete 400,000 inspections of cut outs in homes and small businesses across the Midlands, South West and South Wales every year as part of a rolling 20 year programme.
Richard Brady, NGED’s policy engineer heading the inspection programme, said
“The UK is recognised internationally as having one of the most resilient and safe energy systems and this inspection programme underlines our commitment to the highest safety standards.
“Inspectors will visually examine cut outs to check they are working as they should, taking photos and notes for our records. In the unlikely event of a defective cut out being found, NGED engineers will be sent to carry out repairs at no cost to the customer.
“Visits will also be an opportunity to confirm what types of low carbon technologies are connected to our network, for example electric vehicle chargers and solar panels, to help our planning for future load growth on the network, and enable low carbon technology items to be connected quicker in the future as we will have records of the cut out asset on site and its condition.
“These are important safety visits but we understand they could be inconvenient for customers and apologise in advance if this is the case.”
Inspection enquiries can be made to A Coole Electrical on 01226 296425, option 2, by emailing nged@acooleelectrical.co.uk, or by text or WhatsApp to 07585 326770.
