Upgrading consumer mains and meter panels: how the process works

Three things get called 'the mains'. The service line is the network's cable from the pole or pit to your property. The consumer mains is your cable, from the point of supply to the main switchboard. The meter panel, inside the meter box, carries the network's meter and service fuse, and in many older homes the main switch and circuit fuses too.

From the point of supply in, the property owner is responsible for maintaining and repairing the installation, including private lines on the property. Powercor lists customer installation defects, such as an insecure or missing service hook, a defective fused mains box or a defective meter box, as the customer's to fix.

Upgrades usually happen for one of three reasons: the house needs more capacity for new loads, the old cable or panel has deteriorated, or the distributor has issued a defect notice. In an older home in Altona, Laverton or Newport it can be all three.

Your registered electrical contractor (REC) is the one you deal with. It assesses the job, prepares the new mains, meter box and panel, and lodges the request with the distributor. In Powercor's area, alteration requests, including upgrading meters or meter panels and changing the supply setup, can only be submitted by an REC.

The distributor owns the poles, wires and network connection, and usually the meter. It approves changes to the supply, may set conditions, and sends its own crew, or someone it authorises, to remove and refit the meter.

The retailer, the company that bills you, doesn't do the physical work, but a meter change can involve a service order through it, and Powercor lists retailer service orders among the third-party steps that can affect timing. If the supply type changes, ask your retailer whether your tariff changes too.

First comes the assessment: the existing mains, meter box, panel and switchboard, what you plan to run, and whether the board should be replaced in the same job. Then the request goes to the distributor, which confirms what it will allow at your property. Nothing should be ordered for a bigger supply until that answer comes back.

Next is preparation. The new box, panel and cable route are planned, and if the old panel may contain asbestos, its removal is planned too. Then dates: the changeover is lined up with the distributor's booking and the inspector, so the house is off for no longer than it needs to be.

On changeover day the power goes off, the old panel and cable come out, the new ones go in, the meter is refitted, and the work is inspected before switch-on. The paperwork follows: the inspector's certificate of inspection, then your Certificate of Electrical Safety.

Mains and meter box work is on wiring you can't switch off from inside the house. Energy Safe Victoria describes prescribed work in a home as generally work on wiring and equipment that can't be switched off, usually the wires up to the switchboard, and lists consumer mains, the main switchboard, the meter box and the main earthing system among its examples.

Because a fault there sits ahead of your main switch, it gets a second check by someone who didn't do the work. Prescribed work can't be switched on, or left on, until it has been inspected, and Energy Safe Victoria says the inspection should be completed within 8 business days of the work being finished.

The certificate follows the inspection. The Electricity Safety Act sets the time to give you the Certificate of Electrical Safety for prescribed work at 4 business days after the inspector's certificate of inspection is given.

Many meter panels in post-war homes are dark, fibrous boards that may contain asbestos. WorkSafe Victoria lists switchboards and their backing boards as a typical location for asbestos-containing materials in buildings built or renovated before the late 1980s, and names pitch-based boards such as Zelemite among its examples.

You can't tell by looking, so the panel shouldn't be drilled, cut, sanded or cleaned. WorkSafe Victoria's compliance code says a licensed asbestos removalist may be needed if a mounting board has deteriorated or asbestos dust is present, and that an asbestos-containing panel that's removed must be replaced with non-asbestos material. That planning belongs at the quote, not on the day.

The house is off for the changeover, and the new work can't go live until it's inspected. Ask for the expected window once dates are set, and plan as if it might run long: keep the fridge and freezer shut, and freeze ice bricks the night before.

If anyone at home relies on powered medical equipment, say so at the start so the day can be planned around them. Home offices, aquariums, alarms and automatic gates are worth mentioning too. Leave the meter box clear, pets secured and gates unlocked for the distributor's crew and the inspector.

Afterwards, plug things back in gradually, reset clocks and timers, and check that the hot water, any off-peak circuit and a solar inverter have come back as expected.

The site work is usually the quick part. The overall timeline depends on the distributor's approval and booking, and on the inspection. Powercor's own guidance says alterations take between 3 and 8 weeks to complete depending on complexity, and that third parties, including retailer service orders, can affect that.

Because each step involves the distributor and an inspector, combine work where you can. If the switchboard is old, has fuses or lacks safety switches, replacing it with the meter panel means one shutdown and one inspection instead of two. If a larger supply or three-phase is likely in the next few years, decide now.