Safety checks head to St Just and St Mawes homes this year

If a stranger in an orange hi-vis jacket knocks on your door in St Just or St Mawes over the coming months and asks to check your electricity supply, there’s no need to send them away. It’s part of a new safety inspection programme, and knowing what the visit actually involves makes it much easier to be sure of who you’re letting in.

What’s actually being checked

National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is sending approved contractors to properties in St Just and St Mawes to inspect what’s known as the service termination point, or cut-out. This is where the main incoming electricity cable and fuse are situated, usually close to the meter. In most properties built since the 1980s it sits in a meter cabinet on the outside wall, though older homes can have it inside.

Inspectors will visually check both NGED’s own equipment and the energy supplier’s, recording basic details as they go.

What happens during a visit

No disassembly work is carried out, and power supplies stay on throughout. Inspectors take photos and notes for NGED’s records rather than opening anything up. Visits are also being used to confirm what low-carbon technology is connected at each property, things like electric vehicle chargers and solar panels, which NGED says helps with planning for future demand on the network and speeding up new connections down the line.

Why the visits are happening now

The St Just and St Mawes checks are part of a much bigger rolling programme. NGED is aiming to complete 400,000 cut-out inspections a year across homes and small businesses in the South West, Midlands and South Wales, spread over the next 20 years. The work stems from an Ofgem licence obligation to make sure cut-outs at low voltage metered properties are operating safely. Responsibility for these inspections has moved from smart meter operators to distribution network operators like NGED, who are responsible for all cut-out equipment. Cut-out failures are rare, but when they do happen, NGED says it works to recover evidence from the site to inform its investigation.

Richard Brady, NGED’s policy engineer heading the programme, said the work reflects the wider standard the UK holds itself to. “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.”

What if something’s wrong

“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,” Richard said.

How to know it’s a genuine visit

The inspections are being carried out by a company called Calisen, working on NGED’s behalf. Inspectors will be clearly identifiable as working for NGED and will be able to present ID and authorisation to enter a property. Full details of NGED’s arrangements for access to premises are published online, alongside more on the inspection programme itself.

Richard acknowledged the visits won’t suit everyone’s diary. “These are important safety visits, but we understand they could be inconvenient for customers and apologise in advance if this is the case.”

Customers who would rather not wait for a visit have another option: taking their own photographs of their cut-out and meter and sending them to NGED, who will decide whether a follow-up visit is still needed.

📷Credit: National Grid Electricity Distribution