Electricians - need advice

[Bob McG]

I work for a company which has a few industrial units to let. One of the units we recently split into two, taking the heating out of one of them to keep things simple, with the intention of splitting the electrical supply between the units once we find a tennant for the empty part of the building. The empty section needed a bit of work before we could let, so it didn't need to be done straight away.

We are getting close to finding a tennant, but the electrical side hasn't been done yet. Can we just get our usual electrician in to fit another meter and split the bill ourselves after a bit of re-wiring? Or will we have to get the power board out to fit all that separately? In either case, does anyone know roughly how much these would cost?

If it's needed, the units are in Scotland, the meter is currently in the unused part of the building.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[paulears]

Your electrician can do the work getting the supply to the meter, and from the meter to the consumer unit and the distribution - but the meter needs to be supplied, installed and tested by the supplier - if all they have to do is connect the tails, it's not a big expense - for a quote, give them a ring.

 

[Bob McG]

Well I made a call to Scottish Power, the supplier to the unit, and they're going to send someone for a quote, only problem is, I can see them wanting loads to dig up the street, etc. Also called the electrician on the books to arrange them to come look at it properly next week as well, hopefully we can work something out.

Thing is, we got the council out to re-assess the units for proper council tax banding, and from other research I did today, they will definitely need separate supplies for the event that the units are sold off eventually (talking years from now, but need to keep that in mind.)

 

[paulears]

If the feed to the new split unit passes through your unit, then to avoid the digging up bit, you could get the routing and access written into the deeds - in the same way underground services that pass through your property to feed another are. The problem is probably to do with supply capacity. if your supply was capable of the full area of both units, it's probably sufficient - but you need proper advice and the supply company are the best source. Your electrician will also tell you how expensive heavy duty SWA cable is, so it could end up cheaper under some circumstances having the job done properly.

 

[Bob McG]

The man from Scottish Power was out on Friday, but wasn't promising. Told me it would probably cost a couple of grand, with us having to arrange to dig up from the road (where the main line is) to the building. Only 8 feet or so, but a nightmare cost-wise. Electrician should be along sometime later this week, so hopefully we can get something sorted that's a lot more reasonable.

 

[accordfire]

Hi Bob

It's a difficult thing to comment on without seeing the installation. In theory, there's no reason why your electrician cannot help you out, at least most of the way.

The primary issue without DNO involvement, is that you will still only receive one bill from them - the original meter fitted by them will be the one they continue to bill everything from. That essentially means you will become the electricity supplier to your tenant.

Assuming that your electrician can safely isolate to install a new consumer unit and sub system, he can also fit what is termed a "Credit meter" - essentially, the same or similar to the credit meter your supplier fitted. You would then use the reading from this to work out what part of the total bill was the tenant's.

 

[Bob McG]

That's pretty much the plan I think. It's what we were going to do originally, but the owner asked me to check out putting a separate supply in as a matter of course.

Thanks everyone for your help, I'll let you know how it goes.