sub meter or secondary supply

[jack10101]

hi, i have leased out some ground at the back of my commercial premises. the guy wants to run a car washing business and requires an electrical supply to his portakabin. he asked me to provide him with a supply from my fuse box and fit a meter in his portakabin so he can pay me to use my electricity. is this legal? his requirements will be low and i have a very large commercial capacity. i want tp help but not break the law, any help would be appreciated. obviously only professional electricians will be used to do the work

 

[Lectrician]

Of course you can!

You would need to run a submain out to this portacabin.

I would recommend placing the meter in your building rather than his to prevent the temtation to fiddle.

You would typically charge him a tad more than you pay per unit.

It is a very common setup, and infact we do the same thing in our industrial unit as we run two business from the same site, and also lease out the ground floor offices to another company.

 

[rebuke]

There are certain things you will need to be careful of though, you obviously need to have the capacity on your supply (although I'm guessing the most he's going to run is a few pressure washers on it, so this will probably be OK), and there are certain considerations to be made over earthing depending on the supply type, but if you get an electrician in then they should be able to sort it all out.

 

[jack10101]

as long as its legal i will leave it to the pro's. thanks for your advice, keep up the good work.

 

[Spark123]

Not sure in scotland but here in england I thought that it was illegal to sell electricity on at a profit?
Heard about it from a caravan site - can sort of get around it by having a maintenance charge.

 

[securespark]

I thought that it was illegal to sell electricity on at a profit?

Prosecute all the suppliers then!

Surely not? Think about all the bedsits with coin-op meters where you can set the rate.

 

[Stoday]

You can resell for commercial purposes at any price you agree. It's only when you resell to households that you are constrained on the price.

 

[Spark123]

Sorry - I meant without a license so the distributors are OK.

The reason I'm questioning came from a caravan site installation - it was very difficult to meter the individual supplies and charge the same rate as the incomer as the incomer was on E7.
It was the caravan and camping club which put it across that it was illegal for a consumer to sell electricity on at a profit, so in the end they didn't bother with the meters and just had a fixed price per pitch. Bit rubbish for tents etc who didn't need a hookup.
Not sure what law it comes under either - maybe BAS will know?

 

[flameport]

Resale of gas and electricity:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Consumers/CCI/Pages/Resaleofgasandelectricity.aspx

 

[Lectrician]

Although this factsheet is intended for landlords, it is equally of use to tenants. You will note from the guidance that MRP provisions do not apply to gas or electricity resold for use in commercial premises. In these circumstances, it is likely that the cost of energy use is set as a bilateral agreement between the landlord and tenant. The issue therefore becomes a contractual matter between the contracting parties.