Splitting a single dwelling electrical supply to three houses

[Moonshine]

This is purely speculative and i don't know if its even possible, but.....

 

There is electric supply (purple below labelled 'Service line' on the distribution drawing i have) which is patched from a 'LV' line in the pavement directly in front of the plot.

 

I am proposing two additional houses either side of the existing (as below).

 

To try and save the cost of two new electrical connections (currently unknown how much these would be) and the hassle of digging up the pavement / road outside, instead of two new connections (green) to the LV line, could the two new houses be "patched" into the existing connection (orange)?

 

If this was actually possible, i presume the electric company would have to confirm that the cable that feeds the existing house could take the load of the additional two houses, and also that the local network could take it. How could i get them to confirm it could?

 

The patching does potential cause a few more legal considerations, and may be worth it.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

what made me think that this is actually possible is the below is shown on one of neighbours with the same service line serving two houses. All other houses in the immediate area have a dedicated service line.

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Yes, a looped service is possible, and used to be pretty common in semis and terraced houses.  There are some downsides, in that the maximum load will be limited to all the houses on a looped service.  I've seen some older looped services with incoming fuses rated at just 30 A, although 60 A might be more common.

 

This current limitation may impact on what can be installed in each house.  For example, it may not be possible to install an electric shower, or an electric vehicle charge point, in a house with a looped service (depends very much on the total load).

[Moonshine]

5 minutes ago, Jeremy Harris said:

es, a looped service is possible, and used to be pretty common in semis and terraced houses

 

Interesting as i didn't know the name for it, from my 5 minute google of them, it seems that the looped service has to come from the meter of the host house, which would mean the cable would branch out from the existing house meter, rather than being patched at a location along the service line.

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

Not wanting to hijack, but my daughters is the other way around. Pair of semi's and my daughters has the incoming. This comes into the understairs cupboard to a 60amp fuse, and exits from the fuse out through a hole, up the wall, and is clipped to the underside of the soffit, running around the back of the house, and around to the property next door. If my daughter was away, and the neighbour managed to blow the main fuse, how would access be gained to my daughters property to fix it ? If my daughters fridge was off for any time, the drugs that she has to inject herself with weekly would be distroyed. (They cost the NHS a fair few bob) Would anybody now if i can insist that the supply be removed, and that a new supply is fitted to the next door property ? Thanks.

[Jeremy Harris]

1 hour ago, Moonshine said:

 

Interesting as i didn't know the name for it, from my 5 minute google of them, it seems that the looped service has to come from the meter of the host house, which would mean the cable would branch out from the existing house meter, rather than being patched at a location along the service line.

 

 

 

 

Yes, normally a looped service comes from the cut out of the first house, and is then fed to the other houses in line.

 

Connecting into the feed to one house and splitting it out may or may not be possible.  It depends very much on the layout and size of the cable. 

 

For example, we have a 95mm² 3 phase Wavecon cable running along our boundary, a few feet from our meter box.  That only feeds one other house, so we had loads of spare capacity just a few feet away, and there would have been no problem in running a couple of additional runs of 35mm² concentric out to supply a couple of adjacent houses.  At the opposite extreme, our last house had an underground run of 35mm² concentric running from a pole a fair distance away, so there wouldn't have been much spare capacity available to supply any more houses from that, they would have needed cables run back to the 95mm² ABC at the pole.

[ProDave]

I thought looped services were no longer allowed, so I suspect you will have to have two new supplies.

 

You can probably cut down the costs by digging the road and pavement only once, and then running the supply to one of them through the front gardens of the other two but I suspect that is the only saving you can make.

 

At the end if the day is is up to your DNO what they will allow so all you can do is ask them for a quote and if they want separate supplies discuss the idea of routing cables under your gardens so it can be done with just one road opening.

[redtop]

if it causes a reduction in the max power each house can have I would be wary, there are talks of gas boilers being banned, etc.  That prob wont happen but more and more people will over time move to ASHP, electric cars, etc so anything reducing max power below the norm could have valuation / sale issues downstream

[joth]

You might be able to save costs by having one new 3-phase supply fed in from the road, then picking a different phase off that to each house. (Assumes the road has 3 phase in it).

My DNO said this is common reason they install new domestic 3ph installs in London, where a big house is being split to flats but they don't want N feeds in from the street.  But for detached houses, it seems pretty annoying situation in the long term as Big Jimbo mentions.  On top of the cost of building 2 new houses, the cost of one additional electrical connection doesn't seem like it would be a great saving.

 

[Jeremy Harris]

15 hours ago, ProDave said:

I thought looped services were no longer allowed, so I suspect you will have to have two new supplies.

 

You can probably cut down the costs by digging the road and pavement only once, and then running the supply to one of them through the front gardens of the other two but I suspect that is the only saving you can make.

 

At the end if the day is is up to your DNO what they will allow so all you can do is ask them for a quote and if they want separate supplies discuss the idea of routing cables under your gardens so it can be done with just one road opening.

 

 

They are still used down here.  Went to a new development about a year or so ago, and they were all looped, with, believe it or not, 40 A fuses...