DNO, EV installer, house fuse many cables and not a clue

[PotteringPolly]

This my mysterious meter cupboard. We have a new EV and would really like a home charger. We had a couple of companies round to quote and the first said we have 3 phase but only using 1. British Gas installed the new smart meter last week and said we have 40amp house fuse but definitely not 3 phase. Our chosen supplier has just heard back from the DNO that we have a looped supply but should have a 60amp house fuse. How on earth can there be 3 different opinions on the same setup? Presume the DNO are the most reliable? Any insights appreciated.

 

[westward10]

That is a very old supply cable probably 60+ years years.
From here there is no way of telling if you have a three phase supply (you are only connected to one) or what the original setup/supply type was all those years ago.
I would be asking the DNO where you are looped from. If it is a looped supply it needs changing for an EV charger which is of a benefit to you as I certainly would not want that supply cable in my property.

 

[brianmoooore]

If it is a 3 phase feed, it surely wouldn't matter if it was looped from two other properties, as long as those other two were also single phase connections off of the other two phases.
As Westward says though, it's time that was gone.

 

[Simon47]

This my mysterious meter cupboard. We have a new EV and would really like a home charger. We had a couple of companies round to quote and the first said we have 3 phase but only using 1. British Gas installed the new smart meter last week and said we have 40amp house fuse but definitely not 3 phase. Our chosen supplier has just heard back from the DNO that we have a looped supply but should have a 60amp house fuse. How on earth can there be 3 different opinions on the same setup? Presume the DNO are the most reliable? Any insights appreciated.

Think of it like the blind men describing an elephant.

• No 1 is probably correct - it looks like a 3 phase supply with only one phase used. The other two phases are the unused fuse carriers either side of the one with a brown cable in it. There's no guarantee that there are actually supplies still attached at the other end of the supply cable - works elsewhere could well have disconnected them.
• BG will be looking at their records, and to them it's just a single phase supply - they neither know now care about the unused phases that may be present.
• The DNO will see the bigger picture - you don't have another supply looped from your house, but they will be able to see that your supply comes via someone else's supply.

Hence, 3 different answers, all of them correct.

 

[Brother Blue]

The meter fitter will almost certainly be correct about the size of the fuse, they are the only person to have actually looked at it to be able to see what it is.