Upgrading power line from street to house

[Ashwood]

Does anyone (in Melbourne eastern suburbs) have any experience with having to upgrade the electrical cable from the street to the house? I've been told that my current capacity is already maxed out, and to install new airconditioners I have to get the power infrastructure provider to upgrade the connection from the street to my switchboard.

Would appreciate feedback on cost & process.

[Geoff Dean]

My guess would be the best people to talk to on providing cost & process would be the power infrastructure provider.

Anyone else is only going to have a H A guess as you have provided no details as to distance from street to your switchboard, type of switchboard, size of upgrade etc.

[DJ’s Timber]

I have done it twice, first time was a fair few years ago, have just had current place done. Still waiting on the bill for this one.

You will need to get on to a sparky and he will organise the whole job. Pricing for the mains cable is dependent on what type on connection you have. If overhead it will be cheaper compared to underground as you'll have to pay for the trench.

Getting the connection and new mains box isn't that much, in my case I only had to pay for what they call a truck booking which I think was $150. The main cost will be for the sparky and upgrade of your circuit panel. Could also be up for a whole new meter box as well if it's an older style one, especially if it's got a wooden panel.

[nev25]

You will need to contact an electrical contractor in your area

He will then submit the paperwork to your supply authority who will eventually agree on a day to complete the job.

There are a lot of rules and regulations on how where the mains cable can be run your sparky should know all the regs.

The 2 main ones are the point of attachment (where the cable attach's to your House) has to be at a height of no less that 3 metres from any standing surface.

And the one that get most interesting
The mains CANNOT cross the neighboring property.
If it does it has to go underground or another pole has to be put (at your expense)
Assuming you have overhead mains.

The supply authority will only connect the main from the street to the house then connect into the meter.
The electrician has to do the rest.
IE Run the cable between the point of attachment and meter, meter to switchboard. etc

In most instances an electrical inspector would need to inspect the installation so another person would need to be co-ordinated on the day.

Also in most (If not all) cases the switchboard would also need to be upgraded


(I'm wondering who told you? you have to upgrade? I assume a sparky who should have told you the procedure)

[Grunt]

Have you considered spending the money on insulating your house, installing ceiling fans, window coverings etc. instead of an air conditioner?

It'll save you money in the long run and you'll do your bit for the environment.

[Ashwood]

Thanks for all the feedback.

A sparky told me that, but I didn't ask for too many details cos I was not going to do the works yet.

I have already gone bonkers insulating the place - batts in ceilings & walls, double glazing on the western face... but in mid summer & mid winter, I'll still need the heating & cooling (using reverse cycle). At least eventually when budget permits

[arose62]

We're in NSW, but recently had the same situation.

Wife bought a crappy little a/c that vented out the window, and cooled about a postage-stamp sized area. I managed to return it for credit towards a split system, but the installer said we'd need to upgrade the wire from street to house, as it was only 1.5mm square (sparkies jump in here to correct), and the current standard is 4mm square.

He also pointed out that the wire crossed the corner of the neighbour's property, so we took the approach that it shouldn't cross their land, so the power co came out and ran new, thick wiring to the house. No charge to us.

I spent 2 days crawling under the house, pulling wire from the switchboard to the a/c units new home, then the sparkie said the wire between the wire from the street, and the switchboard, also needed to be upgraded, and maybe the switchboard as well.

So, we have this wonderful airconditioner-shaped piece of modern art hanging on our wall...

[GraemeCook]

Ashwood

Before you do any upgrading have a few beers with your sparky mate and consider all the electrical stuff that you could possibly install in the future - big dream stuff, here - and then upgrade in much reserve capacity. And electricity costs per unit depend on the 'official" use. There is some leeway to minimise recurring costs and you do not want to have to upgrade twice.

Could you use three-phase power in your shed? will airconditioner require single or three phase? is a heating or off-peak line useful? etc. You really need to talk to someone who knows both you, your house and your local electricity regulations and practices.

Cheers

Graeme

[HappyHammer]

In NSW the sparky needs to be certified to perform any work between the point of attachment and the pole. Not all sparkies are qualified. Call your electricity distributor and they will give you the names of certified sparkies in your area. This way you avoid a charge from the sparky and the distributor, it will all get done by one person.

It's also worth asking your distributor how much they would charge for the work or disconnection / reconnection as this will help qualify any quotes you get from the sparky.

We did a disconnection / reconnection and the distributor quoted $120, the sparky quoted $150, I mentioned this to him and he matched the quote from the distributor and I bought a case of beer with the change.

HH.

[peter_sm]

I had ours upgraded a year ago. The electrician organised everything. The truck booking fee was $120. The regulation here in Ringwood was that the overhead power could not cross the neighbouring property more than 2 metres back from the front property line.

[Eastie]

Mine was rubbed through by a ree and tripped the main service fuses about 4 years ago. The only cost was one callout fee of about $150 (3 trucks showed, incl. a platform). They replaced the line (and service fuses) with a heavier duty one. I asked on the quiet what they'd charge to go underground and they recon it would have been $2000 to get it to the nearest point of the house then it would need to be finished to the board by a sparky.

[Smurf]

The 1.5mm bit would hopefully be wrong. You should have 1mm in the house for the lights and 2.5mm for the power. Your oven could be 4 or 6mm cable. Hot water normally 2.5 or 4mm depending on element size.

You'd have cooked the mains long ago if it was 1.5mm. Depending on the age of the house etc and whether overhead or underground it would be 6, 10 or 16mm most likely.

But do you need it? A licensed electrician should be able to work out your house's "maximum demand" which is what determines the required mains cable size.

If you were going to change the hot water or cooking to gas (or heat pump hot water which uses little power) then it might be cheaper to do it first and save the cost of the upgraded cable.

But if you're going to add more things in the future then you should factor those in now and get a big enough cable, switchboard etc. It's not the parts that are expensive but the labour so going to the next size up won't usually add much more to the cost unless you're going over 100 amp capacity (in which case some supply authorities will insisit on 3 phase).

Way to go about it is get a licensed electrician have a look at it and handle the whole job. This varies between states, but some electricians are also licensed to work on the supply authority's equipment so they could do the entire job.

Some supply authorities (again it varies) might offer to quote on doing the whole job themselves too. Others will only touch their side of the meter and not your switchboard.

Some supply authorities will also guarantee the work (including that you have no hassles getting it done, mess is cleaned up, that the work done is adequate for what you asked it be able to run etc) if you use one of thier "preferred" contractors. That is effectively free insurance so worthwhile checking out unless you know a sparky.

If it's underground then you could save some $ by digging the trench yourself, at least the part that is on your land (not out on the street). Check with the sparky but it will generally need to be either 500mm or 600mm depth.

[Pulse]

This website describes the NSW system.

I had a supply cable redirected away from a deck. It cost $495 to move from an electricity supply pole to a midspan connection. They were the only guys in town with a LV isolated cherry picker besides country energy who weren't really interested.

They were Level one providers. I think level two could have down it too but more stuffing around since extension ladders have nothing to lean against midspan....

Pulse

[Ashwood]

Hi Smurf,
I upgraded my fusebox to ELCB sometime back when I bought the place, and the sparky told me the main line coming in is hitting capacity ie. max demand as you pointed out. But useful info from all you guys, so thanks again.
Ashwood