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Supply to a pair of cottages

Harry Macdonald
My sister owns a cottage, one of two converted in 1987 from a row of 4 farmworkers cottages in Scotland.

The electrical supply comes in near the middle of the row, i.e. at the end of her cottage that is nearest her neighbour. Her neighbour has been complaining of supply problems and Scottish Power have sent an engineer who reportedly has said that the supply comes into my sisters property then is looped by cable under the floor into the neighbours property. This cable is said to be very old (1987?) and need to be replaced by a new cable that would run up her wall into the loft then into the neighbours property down the wall to the meter.

It seems odd that a supply cable could be looped internally between two otherwise independent properties. Can anyone advise what are the rules covering this?

It also seems very odd that a problem with the cable on the supply side could be causing problems in one property but not in the other, or indeed the whole area.
  • 0
    What are the "supply problems"?


    Strictly speaking, the DNO side of things is outwith BS 7671.


    If there is a problem with the supply to the downstream cottage, the DNO is responsible for fixing it.
  • 0
    Looped supplies were very common - I've seen them in everything from 1940s semis to 1980s detached (looped from the detached house next door) - usually identifiable by two cables into the cut-out. I think DNOs don't like to do it that way any more, although I think they still do "under eaves" wiring where the supply to neighbours can run across your building, but the connection is tee'd off outside rather than at your cutout.


    1987 is comparatively young for a supply cable, if that's when it was installed (although I guess there's a possibility it could be older - i.e. what was left when the removed the supplies to the original 4 properties).


    Supply problems usually involve excessive voltage drop (e.g. lights in one property flickering/dimming when large appliances switched on in the other) - or possibly just a grumbling fault (e.g. loose connection) on the looped cable, so the symptoms only affect the downstream neighbour, but access is needed next door to replace it.


      - Andy.
  • 0
    I've seen looped PME supply cables on many new build properties. I supose, dependant on the location of other properties in the surrounding area, I would have thought the cabling came from a local pole transformer and was either overhead PME or TTed at each property.

    However running the cable up into the loft seems a bit dramatic and inaccessible to the supply company when it would be quicker to run it along the outside just below the eves.


    Legh
  • 0
    Scottish requirements may be different to England but here in Norfolk, about two years ago, the D.N.O. ran the outside main overheads through my friend's loft to his upstairs consumer unit. I do not really know how it was done because the loft hatch is very small and I could not climb through it. This work was undertaken during the village changeover from bare overheads to twisted insulated overheads.


    Z.

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