Sean.
Active Member
It was to @ACarneiro winkie above. Carry ongood luck getting lots of things for free that are not what this thread is about
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Unlooping electricity supply
- Thread starter Zilla91
- Start date
ACarneiro
Active Member
Yep, definitely skim-read it.
Does suggest, however, that Ofgem may me leaning towards free unlooping so maybe if the dispute is brought all the way up to the ombudsman and a complaint to Ofgem they might be able to do something?
Either way, not an enviable position to be in :/
PITA
Model 3 Performance
Well that's exactly what I got.
We had a looped supply with Western Power. They had to remove it before we could install our Solar Array and Ev Charger.
I asked them for a 3 Phase upgrade as they were going to dig the road up anyway, and they agreed.
Not only did they agree, but it was done totally free of cost to me.
Estimated at about £10,000 and took a week of ground work for the cabling.
But you must ask for it.
I had to pay for a 3 Phase distribution board and a box, but that's all.
Octopus gave me a 3 Phase Smart Meter for free... job done.
Sean.
Active Member
I’d say you’re *extremely* fortunate. It’s definitely the exception rather than the rule.
I’ve done single to three-phase upgrades twice now with UKPN. One in a rural property in Suffolk in 2013 and another in inner London in 2019.
Neither were simple, neither were free. Both were underground connections. Both involved a lot of coordination. There was no way they would have done it for nothing.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
The key parts to my story were
1) I was on a looped supply, so they had to dig up the road anyway
2) I had planned Powerwalls battery storage, Solar Array, Heat Pump, all electric house (showers, induction cooking etc), multiple Ev Chargers.
3) The Government was pressuring them to get Ev Chargers into homes... so there was a focus on the topic at the time.
So I said, they'd only end up having to dig it all up again soon anyways, as 3 Phase is where I'm going. So why waste their time and resource.
Luckily they agreed.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
But what I will also say, is it wasn't easy.
Their initial reaction was to decline. I escalated it to their Project Leader.
He came out on site and had a genuine interest in what we wanted to do.
We then fell into a Legal trap with their Contracts Team, which took 3 weeks to resolve.
I had to have the meter box relocated, as a 3 Phase cutout will not fit into a single phase meter box.
The cabling had to be routed about 40 metres around the side of the house (luckily we were a corner plot and could accommodate the planned route)
It directly affected two of my Neighbours who's driveways were blocked periodically for 3 days.
It was a lot of disruption, but we got it done... and I have very good relationships with all my neighbours so they were curious to what I was up to and very patient.
Their initial reaction was to decline. I escalated it to their Project Leader.
He came out on site and had a genuine interest in what we wanted to do.
We then fell into a Legal trap with their Contracts Team, which took 3 weeks to resolve.
I had to have the meter box relocated, as a 3 Phase cutout will not fit into a single phase meter box.
The cabling had to be routed about 40 metres around the side of the house (luckily we were a corner plot and could accommodate the planned route)
It directly affected two of my Neighbours who's driveways were blocked periodically for 3 days.
It was a lot of disruption, but we got it done... and I have very good relationships with all my neighbours so they were curious to what I was up to and very patient.
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Sean.
Active Member
I think you lucked out there, with your 3-phase upgrade. Dare say if was straight up upgrade it would have been chargeable work. I’ve spoken to dozens of farmers, folks doing barn conversions, people doing commercial unit installs, subdivisions etc over the years and genuinely I’ve never come across a DNO doing work for free especially 3-phase upgrades.
The 100A upgrade I did in Suffolk was over £8K with me doing the trenching, laying the ducting and reinstatement on a private road. Otherwise the costs would have been double. This also included a mandatory prorata uplift of the pole mounted transformer to reinforce the supply.
In central London an upgrade from 80A single to 100A multiphase was quoted as £5164 including VAT.
So if you got it all for nought you can count yourself extremely fortunate.
ACarneiro
Active Member
This was a 3Ph upgrade in the context of works for unlooping the supply, don’t forget.
Doing that seems eminently sensible, actually.
Doing that seems eminently sensible, actually.
Sean.
Active Member
Oh I agree it makes a ton of sense. But to actually get them to agree a service upgrade - not like for like - for free is astonishing. At least to me.
ACarneiro
Active Member
PITA
Model 3 Performance
I would first get an agreement for the unlooping and then try to "sell" them the idea of the upgrade as to see what options are given....Nothing ventured nothing lost
100% ... that was my approach.
I had to be very proactive in the negotiations and flexible with solution ideas...
Their default is : No
Jason71
Well-Known Member
I have no doubt you lived up to your forum name.100% ... that was my approach.
I had to be very proactive in the negotiations and flexible with solution ideas...
Their default is : No
PITA
Model 3 Performance
Sean.
Active Member
Had one or two of those two when we did the install. This is the cable trench filling with water from a nick in the mains water alkathene pipe…moments after it UKPN engineers had opened up the joint for the new connection onto the UG mains.
Yep. That was ‘entertaining’ in hindsight.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
Had one or two of those two when we did the install. This is the cable trench filling with water from a nick in the mains water alkathene pipe…moments after it UKPN engineers had opened up the joint for the new connection onto the UG mains.
Yep. That was ‘entertaining’ in hindsight.
Looking back, these are the issues I can remember...
a) Refusal to upgrade to 3 Phase, but we resolved this over a few visits
b) Delays in paperwork processing due to severe backlog
c) Delays in getting work scheduled due to Lockdown restrictions
d) Problem of how to resolve a single phase meter box being too small to house a 3 phase cutout
e) Problem of how to avoid digging up a concrete printed driveway.
f) Problem of how to resolve Contracts Team refusing to allow digging under our perimeter wall.
g) Problem of where to relocate the 3 Phase meter box.
h) Problem of how to avoid bushes & tree roots on new cable trench routing
i) Problem of how to resolve neighbour acceptance to all the disruption, and temporary power loss.
j) Contractors not listening to Project Leader. Creating conflict during ground works and delays. (Not digging deep enough)
k) Contractors making basic errors, causing revisits. (Hiding a 60amp fuse in an 80 amp system... which my Powerwalls hunted, found and killed at 01:15am)
l) Traffic & noise chaos with Vans, Grab-Trucks, flat beds, diggers filling up the street...
m) Delays in repeated paperwork errors, on several occasions.
n) Luckily I had an analogue meter which the DNO could move... apparently they're not allowed to move Smart Meters (only energy supplier can do this)... so I got lucky otherwise more complications & delays (potentially without power to the house). So don't upgrade to Smart Meters until you've finished moving stuff about.
o) Getting raised eyebrows from visiting meter readers who now can't find the meter, except an empty single phase meter box with nothing in it except an isolation switch with direct wiring. I might put a picture of a middle finger in it...
But overall... it got done, and works great.
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Will be facing that problem as the neighbors and myself have printed concrete driveways.
I'm going to get back into Northern Powergrid tomorrow armed with that letter from OFGEM - if they still insist on saying no I'll escalate and raise a complaint and if that yields no result then I'll further escalate up to the ombudsman and OFGEM.
PITA
Model 3 Performance
PITA
Model 3 Performance
OK good luck with that then.
I had some security bollards fitted, which meant some of the concrete driveway had to be dug out.
I use a supply company in Wolverhampton called CretePrint. You can buy colour powder to mix with repair concrete, and then put tint powder in the sealant top coat (gloss, matt, gripper) etc.
I use them for supplies to recoat my own driveway each year. Costs me about £80
Concrete Patterning Supplies Ltd | Creteprint Wolverhampton
Manufacturers and suppliers of Imprinted Concrete (Creteprint) and Resin Bound materials and tools based in Wolverhampton.
www.creteprint.com
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