Rewiring of old houses, and in particular stone built houses, poses a particular problem for contractors in that it is seldom possible to find a suitable location for an external meter cabinet.
Houses over a certain age invariably have the Distribution Board fitted either over the entrance door or on an adjacent wall in the entrance hall.
There is rarely another suitable location for the replacement consumer unit and, that being the case, it becomes impossible to comply with the maximum consumer unit heights shown in the current ETCI Wiring Rules.
Consequently both the Consumer Unit and the ESB Meter generally have to be located in the same position as the original units.
ESBN cannot insist on the relocation of such a meter to an outside meter cabinet and ESB NTs are not entitled to demand that either the contractor or the customer provide for such relocation.