Connecting to mains electricity costs

[73jonathan123]

Hi there. I'm in the final stages of purchasing a building plot. I've sent off the online application to get my estimate from SSE regarding the cost of connection to the electricity grid and it can take 2 weeks. I can't wait that long thinking about the potentially horrific cost. Could anyone with a cup half full outlook give an idea of what it could cost based on a description?
So the plot is at the end of a row of houses. The electricity poles are on the opposite side of the road. The supply cable crosses the road from the last pole and into the last house. After the last house there is a privately owned track then the plot. I'd estimate the distance between the last pole and the nearest piece of the plot to be 60m
I've tried a couple of the power companies online estimators but I can't believe it could cost that much
(in excess of £15,000).
Surely not.
Thanks, Jonny.

 

[RF Lighting]

It depends if the DNO have the capacity available to add your house to the existing LV network and the distance is not too great or if they need to extend the HV network and install a new transformer for your property.

Sadly only the DNO can tell you this, but the price you mention is not unrealistic if the latter is the case.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

usually lots.............................

 

[johnny2007]

It all depends from how far you are from the closest usable point.
I have a couple of experiences with garages.
One was on same side of the road, 15 metres, £1800 all in including meter.
Another one was same 15 metres from source, but opposite side of the road: £9000.

 

[bernardgreen]

In 2011 I had to lay in a supply to my cottage. Before I bought the cottage the power was supplied from the adjacent retail unit

Meter at M.
Connecting under the driveway at point A quoted as £3000 which I paid up front.
When the surveyor came on site to verify everything was ready he suggested moving the connection to point B in the grass verge. He said "It would save a few pennies"

It bought the price down to £900 and they refunded the £2100.

I dug the trench for the cable and fitted the box for the meter into the wall at point M

 

[jacko555]

Diferent scale, but, my work needed power to a newly constructed building, and, it exceeded capacity so new cables had to be laid.
60k.

 

[SUNRAY]

I asked for a 'landlords supply' in some flats, all I asked for was a second meter in an existing meter box and the cutout already has a second fuse position and verified it is live.

So the cost of adding a meter and isolator?

£4500.
I queried it and asked several others for quotes...

What a surprise all 4 quoted exactly £4500. One was generous enough to offer a discount if we dig the trench despite receiving a photo as part of the request. Another stated we would have to provide and fit a meter box as we'd not be able to have 2 meters in the same box.

However the cost of a meter was £43 including delivery and post. Connecting to existing meter and Henly's and adding a garage CU etc and an arrangement on one of the flats leases another £350.

In another block of flats changing the head to provide a second fuse and adding a second meter plus isolator?

£390.

These were both requested in the same phone call.

The big difference being the ongoing rental cost; £1 Vs £100 per annum.


Back to OP.
The suppliers seem to have a throw a dice method of pricing. If needed, adding a pole is not an easy process.

 

[SUNRAY]

Diferent scale, but, my work needed power to a newly constructed building, and, it exceeded capacity so new cables had to be laid.
60k.

Yeah. I was working on a job, we trenched and laid 8" duct, covered with concrete marker blocks and backfilled, dug and laid concrete foundation for sub, craned sub off lorry and bolted down, pulled 11KV cable in.
They supplied sub and cable, their labour charge alone to connect their cable to sub and source [another sub] >£50K and to connect our 100A 3ph cable £4K. Customer also had to pay for sub, cable and glass fibre hut [which we installed over the sub].

 

[jelliottelectrical]

Last year had a new three phase supply put in on a job. We excavated to the boundary. Existing main in footpath was 0.06 pilc (around 35mm) so unsuitable for the new connection. Western Power laid 60metres of 185mm cable alongside it and jointed to a larger cable. Initial quote was around £13k. However when they applied for the street works permit the council imposed an operating restriction 9-3 on the roadworks, so we incurred an extra £1800 to remove and reinstate the traffic lights every day.

 

[73jonathan123]

This is a long shot but during my research I read about someone who had Power company hardware on land they owned and had never thought about wayleaves. During negotiations over their excessive quote they told the company that if they didn't reduce the quote considerably then they wanted the equipment removed immediately. Apparently this worked. It got me thinking about the cable that runs under my driveway and the one that runs through my loft to next door. Any other ideas for ways that I can blackmail them during negotiations?

 

[jelliottelectrical]

Whilst it can be potential for bargaining, most likely all that would happen is they would exercise their legal rights, they may remove the cable feeding the neighbour from yours at their expense.

Even if you turned around and said you wanted their equipment removed immediately there is a minimum timeframe they have to do it, I.e months, I do think that infrastructure in the 400kv range is actually years, due to the planning and permissions involved. telling them to remove it immediately will have little effect. I find it is easier to try and work with them to find a solution rather than fighting with them

Take my job today for example, two barns being converted to houses. New electric supplies quoted at around £5k to lay new mains to the transformer located on next doors land. Legal fees on top of this. Neighbour is difficult at the best of times.
Builder located a cable whilst digging drainage on my customers land feeding his property. WPD have no records of this cable so reluctant to suggest using it, even though with my knowledge I know it’s 185mm and has the capacity. After some talks, engineer comes out to site and agrees it’s fine, two new supplies at a total cost of £995, no legal as required as it’s in my customers land.
Now if I had gone about it with the ‘it’s on my land so use it’ approach I somehow think they’d be looking at the £5k option or gag stuffed!

 

[blup]

This is a long shot but during my research I read about someone who had Power company hardware on land they owned and had never thought about wayleaves. During negotiations over their excessive quote they told the company that if they didn't reduce the quote considerably then they wanted the equipment removed immediately. Apparently this worked. It got me thinking about the cable that runs under my driveway and the one that runs through my loft to next door. Any other ideas for ways that I can blackmail them during negotiations?

Pretty sure they can impose wayleaves on owners who don't co-operate. You can be compensated but if the cables are already in place, you are likely benefitting.

Blup

 

[73jonathan123]

Sorry, did I write blackmail? I meant to write bargain not blackmail.....

 

[blup]

Jelliottelectrical's approach is the wiser one.

Blup

 

[73jonathan123]

I've driven around the area to have a look at the poles and cables. Mostly there's a pole every 40m or so along the roads here, each pole serves 1 or 2 houses each, criss-crossing the road whenever it's needed. Sometimes the poles carry the broadband cable too. I'm guessing that if SSE are going to continue this method and there's capacity then they'll use another 2 poles to bring the cables up level to my plot then cross the road, put a pole on the plot and run the cable for 30m underground to the house site. Any ideas of the cost for this? The land on the other side of the road is privately owned by a large landowner, it's used for forestry and he owns thousands of acres. It's unlikely he would object but I'm wondering if the verge of a road where the poles are is public land anyway so there's no need to worry about wayleaves?