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Hello, I am converting a property into 10 student accommodation flats. A three-phase supply is required and we received an offer for an MSDB board 180KVA. Today I was told by National Grid, that with an MSDB board we will require 10 separate meters in either the rooms or the communal areas. As this will be student accommodation and all bills included, I'd rather have one meter positioned in the existing meter room. National Grid told me that for this, only with a Cut Out will it be possible to have one meter only. Can someone please help me out with this? - What is the difference between a Cut Out and MSDB? - How does the difference between the two impact the number of meters required?

Last year, I had has an electricity kiosk installed by UKPN on site for a TBS (see below). Now I need to "turn it on" so I can use it for things like an electric chipper for learning the site. What do I need to do? 1) get a electricity company to install a meter in the box? 2) sign up for a tariff? 3) get an electrician in to connect up some outdoor sockets? Is that right? By the way, I am going to keep the meter cabinet here when the house is finished, not move it inside. Its located in plain site just next as you come through the main gate so, at the end of the build, I am thinking to replace this cheap meter cabinet with something nicer to look at, perhaps made of brick or perhaps one of this nice green posh-looking meter cabinets. I am also going to have an EV charging point here too for an electric car, exactly where this is positioned. (p.s. vandals knocked the door off; so I have taped it back on with parcel tape.)

ENWL (our Network Operator) is coming next week to make the connection, and I thought it would be useful to go into some detail about establishing the supply connection in terms of what a self builder needs to do before fitting a Consumer Panel. I also have a couple of questions. I have already done all the paperwork necessary, and paid the fee. There have been two pre-inspections on site: but things have been a bit fraught recently, so I'm running behind schedule. I need to dig the trench this week. My principal concern is to do it once and do it right. I need to dig the trench over our land to meet up with the incoming trench from across the road. How deep should it be? ENWL used to provide a guide for making connections, but, as is often the case, large organisations don't maintain their hyperlinks, and so the hyperlink is dead. However, I found the correct one here. (accessed November 2017) Quite why such a document should be found on this type of online resource ( but not the DNO's site) baffles me. The document may well be out of date. The DNO guidance says (on footpaths or verges) that low voltage cable should be 450mm from the surface. But that crossing a road, it should be 600mm below the surface, So, I need to dig a trench 450mm deep plus 150mm (the low voltage cable diameter), but the cable across the road is 600mm below the surface (plus the diameter of their ducting) So there's a mismatch. I only need 3 meters of ducting across my land. (it's less than that from the road to our piggery - where the meter box will be)