Re rerouting mains and dno responsibility

[simpson93]

Good afternoon all,

I have a client that is having works done on there front drive and the landscaper has stumbled across the mains supply cable 20cm or so in the ground.

Unfortunately the cable is too high up to be able to high up and needs to be moved down, I had advised my client to talk directly to there dno.

The dno has return with a quotation of over £3000 to run a new cable in at the same time leaving all the work on the clients sholders such as running a duct in moving the consumer unit etc Which seems a tad expensive to me.

And so my question is does the dno have any responsibilities to keep these cables below a certain height ?

 

[Pete999]

Good afternoon all,

I have a client that is having works done on there front drive and the landscaper has stumbled across the mains supply cable 20cm or so in the ground.

Unfortunately the cable is too high up to be able to high up and needs to be moved down, I had advised my client to talk directly to there dno.

The dno has return with a quotation of over £3000 to run a new cable in at the same time leaving all the work on the clients sholders such as running a duct in moving the consumer unit etc Which seems a tad expensive to me.

And so my question is does the dno have any responsibilities to keep these cables below a certain height ?

If you are saying the mains cable isn't buried deep enough, you could try and argue that with the DNO, good luck with that.

 

[westward10]

This is an old subject as you have no way of knowing the cables original installation depth. At one stage it may well have been interned deeper but other factors have changed this.

 

[Octopus]

unfortunately if the client wants this done, they will have to pay, and wait their turn .....

It's that simple.

 

[Taylortwocities]

There are recommended guide depths for electrical cables on the consumer's side of the incoming supply. The DNOs have their own rules which may just be limited to the cables being marked on the utilities layout plan. Many domestic supply cables are mighty shallow and, as above, you want it moved, you gotta pay.

 

[westward10]

From ESQ&CR 2002.

14-(1). Every underground cable shall be kept at such depth or otherwise protected so as to avoid, so far as reasonably practicable, any damage or danger by reason of such uses of the land which can be reasonably expected.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

With western power (our regional dno) they are often happy for you to dig a trench to there spec, and then come out to make the connections, this often reduces the price considerably, sometimes they will permit you to install the correct cable, backfill with just the ends available for them to do what they need to do. they specify a depth of 450mm or 45cm for the depth of the cables.
Likewise you also do not have to use the dno themselves you can actually use one of the approved private contractors for mains work. like they do on new build developments, often much cheaper than the dno.
Worth approaching them to find out what they will accept as that price seems quite high.

 

[Leesparkykent]

With western power (our regional dno) they are often happy for you to dig a trench to there spec, and then come out to make the connections, this often reduces the price considerably, sometimes they will permit you to install the correct cable, backfill with just the ends available for them to do what they need to do. they specify a depth of 450mm or 45cm for the depth of the cables.
Likewise you also do not have to use the dno themselves you can actually use one of the approved private contractors for mains work. like they do on new build developments, often much cheaper than the dno.
Worth approaching them to find out what they will accept as that price seems quite high.

I thought IDNO's still can't make the final connection so the DNO still have to get involved? We done a site last year where build it south east done all the cabling, joints, heads etc then UKPN made the final connection.

 

[buzzlightyear]

may be the worms moved it higher because it was in the way .
What do you think !

 

[simpson93]

With western power (our regional dno) they are often happy for you to dig a trench to there spec, and then come out to make the connections, this often reduces the price considerably, sometimes they will permit you to install the correct cable, backfill with just the ends available for them to do what they need to do. they specify a depth of 450mm or 45cm for the depth of the cables.
Likewise you also do not have to use the dno themselves you can actually use one of the approved private contractors for mains work. like they do on new build developments, often much cheaper than the dno.
Worth approaching them to find out what they will accept as that price seems quite high.

They haven’t even given the option to do the work themselves, £3000 is just for the connection to a service head.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I thought IDNO's still can't make the final connection so the DNO still have to get involved? We done a site last year where build it south east done all the cabling, joints, heads etc then UKPN made the final connection.

It is possible that is the case @Leesparkykent as I am not 100% on the exact procedure, I do know they will reduce the price if you do the digging/trenches etc.. it might also be different for other dno's.. either way the dno's are charging way too much.

 

[Spiderrico]

I do new services for the big scottish dno, if you want it done you will have to pay up basically. They won't touch it for free unless fault conditions.

 

[davesparks]

either way the dno's are charging way too much.

Are they? Do you have a breakdown of the costs involved?

 

[Deleted member 105166]

In my experience, the DNO process is so over-complicated and involves multiple teams and visits, which is probably why the cost is so high. Last year, we had a DNO quote for just shy of £2k to dig a 1.8m trench and install a new 100A SP head. IIRC this included six separate visits by different teams for site survey, risk assessment, plant delivery, trench digging, joining & install and finally backfilling. Instead we got the builder to dig the trench and backfill and the DNO quote for one visit just to do the joint & install was around £400.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Did a School a couple of years back.
Builder dug the trench and laid the duct.
We pulled in the cable right up to the head.
UKPN dug up the street to make the connection and someone from Schneider came to connect to the head.