New dwelling temporary supply

[JonAW]

Hi Guys,

I am 16th Edition time served electrician but as yet have not upgraded due to not really requiring it for my current job as a control panel designer. What I would like to know is have the regulations changed for the electricity supplier to connect up to a temporary builders supply?

What I have at the minute is a 100A mains switch with 35mm tails left on the line side for the metering company(Power NI). On the load side I am feeding into a consumer unit which has a 100A rated 30mA RCD and a 20A type B mcb which feeds a 13A twin socket outlet. The system is TT so I have a 16mm Earth running to a spike in water-logged farm ground which is well within tolerance. These items are mounted inside a metering cubicle which is already in its permanent position on the house. I used an identical setup 100yds down the road on my own house just 2 years ago with no hassles so why won't the metering company connect up? They have asked for a combination socket to be fitted but in my view this is pointless as it will make the RCD more sensitive and prone to tripping. ie 2 rcd's in series. What are the opinions here? I'm going to fit it anyway as they require it.

 

[needasparks]

I will prob be shot down for this but the way i see it at present it is not a dwelling and only a building site until it is signed off by building control so the notifiable part is the actual work to the property for this purpose.
metering may still need a cert from you to energise the site board to cover themselves but i have not had to issue one yet.

just re-read, is the cu a metalclad design ?

 

[Mushy Pea]

Is earth spike at least 9 metres away from any electrical cable/equipment? is cu all insulated?

 

[JonAW]

Yeah, the spike is 16m from CU and all materials are pvc. No metal touch points anywhere.

 

[JonAW]

I will prob be shot down for this but the way i see it at present it is not a dwelling and only a building site until it is signed off by building control so the notifiable part is the actual work to the property for this purpose.
metering may still need a cert from you to energise the site board to cover themselves but i have not had to issue one yet.

just re-read, is the cu a metalclad design ?

You are 100% correct. I had to fill in a connection card for a temporary supply. I just basically had to give load particulars etc but the metering company always connect up using a 100A fuse so that they have limited work to do to reconnect. In this instance there will be no extra call out required as I have included a Mains switch to isolate the Power supply therefore the building can be connected permantly without notification. I do not know wht Powre Ni would think of this though.

 

[JonAW]

Anyone any thoughts on this?

 

[needasparks]

Don't see any problem with it, for once they seem to have helped out for once. Or are you worried about the changeover connection when the electrical works to the property are finished ?

 

[JonAW]

The problem I have is that with the setup I've described, the NI Power will not connect a temporary supply. They state that they want a combination socket, even though I have a 30mA RCD in place.

 

[supasparxs]

If you have a secure enclosure with a CU, with an RCD they don't have a reason to connect it.
if the board not in a proper structure maybe aren't happy about it.