Electric Company require information for commercial unit

[edrobbo8]

Hi all,

My sister runs a rally driving school which has a workshop where they prepare and repair the cars, and as such have 3 ramps which are operated with 3 phase hydraulic motors. They also have a MiG and TiG welder, both single phase less than 16A supplies. They have a 3ph compressor, and various other bits of single phase kit such as grinders etc.

They moved to this new site a couple of years ago, and before they moved the gyppos ransacked the 11kV substation on the site and nicked all the copper from the tranny and all the cables. So now they are still trying to get a new 3ph supply in, and at their old unit which was a new build commercial unit they had a 50kVA, 100A 3ph supply.

I am sure in my head that that is the size of supply they need for the new unit, but the electric company have just sent this through:

[TABLE="width: 565"]
[TR]
[TD]Type of load
[/TD]
[TD]kVA
[/TD]
[TD]Additional information
[/TD]
[TD]kVA
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lighting
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Space Heating

[/TD]
[TD]Restricted
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Unrestricted
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Water Heating

[/TD]
[TD]Restricted
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]Unrestricted
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Air Conditioning
Plant
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Catering Equipment
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]General Power
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Other Equipment
(please specify)
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total Capacity required
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


If any welding equipment is to be installed, please provide details of this apparatus, i.e. the 'Maximum Welding Power', whether 'point-on-wave' switching is employed, the frequency of current fluctuations and whether 3 phase or single phase.

Please provide the following motor information.

Size of largest three phase motor	kVA	Size of largest single phase motor	kVA
Starting Current	amps	Starting current	amps
Type of start e.g direct-on-line, star delta, other(please specify)
Frequency of start e.g. 5 times per hour

Is it worth working out for every item they use or can you just say in Layman's terms that they will need a maximum of 50kVA or similar supply?

The power company will be taking the supply from the other side of the main road where there are converted farm barns which are used for a variety of commercial uses.

I would be grateful for any help from anyone who deals with the power companies and how to explain in easy terms what is required!

Thanks for any help.

 

[Darkwood]

You need to fill out the sheet as requested, they use this information to decide where they can take the power from, what if any effects your equipment will have to other users and then they decide what KVA requirement you need, you can't just say I want xxxKVA, if you fail to provide vital info or give incorrect info this could be very costly to you if there is problems down the line as you could be liable with regards to the info you supplied if its found not to be correct or missing info.

 

[edrobbo8]

Thanks darkwood, will tell Holly she has a bit of calculating to do then!! The silly thing is they have been running off generators for the last 5 years so their kit doesn't use an awful lot of power, but will try and work out the ratings and kVA use!

 

[Darkwood]

As expressed though its the impact your loads have on the supply and especially to other users, high inductive loads like welders, large motors, harmonics etc is really the info they are after to ensure Mrs Smith a few streets down isn't going to have her lights flickering everytime you start a machine up, the Gen set you had isolates you from any network so not something to be concerned about when you were on it.

Also the available network cables in the street will have a certain amount of spare capacity on them as other uses will be alloted a KVA allowance so ensuring your not asking for a lot more than you require can allow them to consider more options, if you have plans for expansions where this would reflect on your power demand then here's a good time to add a note to the form.