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2 electricity supplies to one building

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hello, I am a not an engineer but need some advice on uk wiring regulations please. 

A national utility company is fitting a 32A charger in my garage for an electric vehicle. 

The garage is detached from my house but there is an existing circuit from the house consumer unit to the garage for lighting and a power socket. The cable runs along a garden wall. 

The new charger will have its own cable run from the same consumer unit in the house down to the garage. 

My problem is that the engineer who came to do the installation refused to do it as he said the garage is a building in its own right and regulations do not allow 2 supplies to one building.

My question is: Do 2 wiring circuits from the same consumer unit constitute 2 supplies If the consumer unit is located in an adjacent building? 

I would have thought that this was still a single supply and to have 2 supplies you need 2 separate meters with 2 consumer units which is not the case here but then, as I said, I’m no engineer. 

Edit.....The engineer stated that the regulation related to avoiding the risk of a voltage between 2 different earths. To me this again only makes sense if you were talking about 2 totally different supplies from different meters and therefore possibly different sub stations etc.
Parents
  • I think it is reasonable because "two supplies" has a rather specific technical meaning. If the problem is simple, like the other supply cable is PME then he should report this and convert the whole garage to TT.  It is after all a separate building! It could be that the communication is poor, but lack of competence is no excuse for that. Adding a charge point, with all the known and acknowledged potential difficulties, is not a job for a probably very inexperienced and probably underqualified person. Even fitting an Earth rod is potentially quite difficult, bonding could be, and we are outdoors so safety is particularly important. I wonder what capacity the supply to the property is? Obviously, a 7.2 kW charger could be another unknown problem too.
Reply
  • I think it is reasonable because "two supplies" has a rather specific technical meaning. If the problem is simple, like the other supply cable is PME then he should report this and convert the whole garage to TT.  It is after all a separate building! It could be that the communication is poor, but lack of competence is no excuse for that. Adding a charge point, with all the known and acknowledged potential difficulties, is not a job for a probably very inexperienced and probably underqualified person. Even fitting an Earth rod is potentially quite difficult, bonding could be, and we are outdoors so safety is particularly important. I wonder what capacity the supply to the property is? Obviously, a 7.2 kW charger could be another unknown problem too.
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