New connection - where to find existing network?

[worldwidewebs]

We're about to submit an offer for a plot in East Lothian (SPEnergy Networks) but before we do I want to check where we would be able to connect to the network for a new electricity supply. Are there maps available that show this information?

[markc]

Any maps or plans are often useless for anything but roughly finding services especially out in open ground. In a street / residential area it’s pretty easy but out in the sticks you need to be looking for supplies on poles or asking any locals.

[Alan Ambrose]

You can get either a paper services search done or just enquire about electricity only from the dno. Check out the offerings from Cornerstone & Groundsure. You can also probably get a site visit for free from the dno and they should be able to tell you in person.And they’ll bring a cat scanner for underground cables which will be a degree of verification.  A couple of gotchas - firstly the dno’s own maps are sometimes not great - they might be using scanned old drawings from an old file cabinet that nobody’s checked for 30 years. Secondly the existence of a power line doesn’t  necessarily guarantee that the dno has extra capacity for you. Lastly, you’ll want a ball park figure for connection, probably before you buy the plot, unless there is a cable very close.

[worldwidewebs]

2 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

You can get either a paper services search done or just enquire about electricity only from the dno. Check out the offerings from Cornerstone & Groundsure. You can also probably get a site visit for free from the dno and they should be able to tell you in person.And they’ll bring a cat scanner for underground cables which will be a degree of verification.  A couple of gotchas - firstly the dno’s own maps are sometimes not great - they might be using scanned old drawings from an old file cabinet that nobody’s checked for 30 years. Secondly the existence of a power line doesn’t  necessarily guarantee that the dno has extra capacity for you. Lastly, you’ll want a ball park figure for connection, probably before you buy the plot, unless there is a cable very close.

What's a paper services search? Not heard of that!

 

The plot is on a residential street so I am assuming, dangerous I know, that electric, water and mains sewer are all easily available. In fact, I have seen a number of what must be water meter access covers in the pavement so I'm comfortable that the water is there.

 

We're in Cheshire and the plot is in Scotland so I can't pop up for a while. On our last visit I didn't check for electricity as the existing building warrant shows the connection going through the garden and around the back of the house that is selling the plot. I don't really want to do this (and I'm sure they don't) if the supply is obtainable out of the front. However, I think using the service provided by Cornerstone as you suggested is a really good one - I will look into that, thank you