South Hams residents warned of electricity safety checks at their homes
Inspectors will check electricity cut-outs at properties across the PL21 area, with National Grid saying supplies will not be interrupted and defective equipment will be repaired
Residents and small businesses across parts of the South Hams are being visited as part of a programme of electricity safety inspections.
National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) says approved contractors are carrying out checks on service termination points, also known as cut-outs, at properties in the PL21 postcode area.
The PL21 postcode includes communities on and bordering Dartmoor such as Ivybridge, Cornwood, Bittaford, Lee Mill, Ermington, Modbury and more.
A cut-out is where the main incoming electricity cable and fuse enter a property, and it is often located close to the electricity meter, either inside a property or in an external meter cabinet.
Inspectors will carry out a visual check of NGED and energy suppliers' equipment and record basic details.
No equipment will be dismantled and customers' electricity supplies will not be interrupted during the inspection.
The work forms part of a wider NGED programme to inspect cut-outs at low-voltage metered properties.
National Grid says it aims to complete 400,000 inspections each year across the South West, Midlands and South Wales as part of a rolling programme.
Richard Brady, NGED policy engineer leading the inspection programme, said: “Inspectors will visually examine cut-outs to check they are working as they should, taking photos and notes for our records,” he said.
“If a defective cut-out [is] found, NGED engineers will be sent to carry out repairs at no cost to the customer.”
The inspections are being carried out by contractors from A Coole Electrical, and NGED says inspectors will be clearly identifiable, carry identification and be able to show authorisation to enter properties.
Some inspections may take place without a prior appointment.
If the cut-out is visible and accessible in an outside meter cabinet, the inspection can be completed even if nobody is at home.
Where access inside a property is needed, inspectors will knock or ring the doorbell before entering.
NGED is also offering customers the option of taking their own photographs of their cut-out and meter and sending them in, with the company then deciding whether a follow-up visit is required.
Mr Brady said NGED understood that visits could be inconvenient for customers.
“These are important safety visits, but we understand they could be inconvenient for customers and apologise in advance if this is the case,” he said.
The inspections are part of NGED's obligations as an electricity distribution network operator to check that cut-out equipment is operating safely.