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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.
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  • 0
    Well, I think the era of DNOs maintaining a 1950s network on a fire brigade basis (literally some times - link box fires and so on) will draw to a sharp close, especially if the expected drive to push folk off natural gas happens as well.

    As it stands, none of the infrastructure is adequate for that sort of increase in demand. So, no, it won't happen quickly - look at how long it has taken to replace fused neutral cut-outs from the old DC days, (almost a century on, and a few are still in service) or to give  give everyone a smart meter - which are chicken feed compared to the upgrades that would be needed, so right now it is all so much hot air and aspirations.

    The fastest fix might be to go up a bit in voltage, and put in 33kV where 11Kv would normally go (as already in Scotland on long lines and London on heavy loaded ones) and 690V instead of 400V.   A lot of cable could then be retained but certainly not all of it.

    M.
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  • 0
    Well, I think the era of DNOs maintaining a 1950s network on a fire brigade basis (literally some times - link box fires and so on) will draw to a sharp close, especially if the expected drive to push folk off natural gas happens as well.

    As it stands, none of the infrastructure is adequate for that sort of increase in demand. So, no, it won't happen quickly - look at how long it has taken to replace fused neutral cut-outs from the old DC days, (almost a century on, and a few are still in service) or to give  give everyone a smart meter - which are chicken feed compared to the upgrades that would be needed, so right now it is all so much hot air and aspirations.

    The fastest fix might be to go up a bit in voltage, and put in 33kV where 11Kv would normally go (as already in Scotland on long lines and London on heavy loaded ones) and 690V instead of 400V.   A lot of cable could then be retained but certainly not all of it.

    M.
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