On Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:38:42 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:

I've seen a country farmhouse in Latvia with the same - 5A stamped on the
meter and a couple of dodgey bits of T+E meandering off. Enough for the
telly, couple of light bulbs and well-pump (that was a modcon - another
place I stayed was a proper lob a bucket down the well on a rope affair).

A cottage I nearly bought some years ago was unimproved since rural
electric came to it in the 1950s. A 20A meter fed one fuse for the
sole light in the living/kitchen room and that was it.
Iirc, the hook-up cost in the 50s was thirty quid or so.
It cost extra to have a socket - so they didn't bother.