Electric mains power to a dwelling- questions?

[eyecatcher]

I have a very typical mains power set up at my place. 30amp meter; about 40m twin line cable into the house terminating at an 8 way consumer unit. My usage is minimal maybe 20 outside lights, a ceiling fan and a shower unit, fridge and tv.

So I am going to add on a further 90m2 over 2 floors, basic set up two dozen sockets, another shower, water pump, basic internal LED lighting and another dozen outside lights, some ceiling fans and maybe one air conditioner.

The two houses will be almost independent of each other.

My queries:

1. Would I need to upgrade the standard meter to a 45A rating; did any of you guys need to upgrade yours? (how much juice does 30 A give you)
2. Is it possible/advisable to reconfigure the tail endings going into my 8-way and instead provide a bigger consumer unit in the new house for everywhere.?
3. OR better to leave the existing on its own set up and just create a new 8 way independently.
4. Would the electric company recommend new mains or is the sparky likley to just "cut and twist and tie" from what we have already?.

cheers guys!

[wayned]

I have two houses connected to one meter, both with their own CU. I have one pole set on my property and Spliced/connected the overhead lines at the pole so that I have two incoming lines from the meter, one to each house.

I think that the largest meter that you can get is a 30/100 which, I think is the one that you have. If you need more "UMPH" you'll have to go to three phase. I have a 15/45 for the two houses two houses and a welding outlet on it's ow breaker and only use around 700KWH/month, but no aircon, swimming pool, etc.

Edited December 10, 2014 by wayned

[Crossy]

1. Would I need to upgrade the standard meter to a 45A rating; did any of you guys need to upgrade yours? (how much juice does 30 A give you)
2. Is it possible/advisable to reconfigure the tail endings going into my 8-way and instead provide a bigger consumer unit in the new house for everywhere.?
3. OR better to leave the existing on its own set up and just create a new 8 way independently.
4. Would the electric company recommend new mains or is the sparky likley to just "cut and twist and tie" from what we have already?.

1. The standard meters are 5/15, 15/45 and 30/100 - which do you have?
2. If the two places are going to be independent dwellings I would tee off the incoming supply and have a new CU for the new part.
3. Having independent supplies will allow you to meter the new part if you wish to rent it out.
4. Upgrading the meter may require larger incoming cables to your house, MEA/PEA won't fit the new meter until the cables have been installed.

A 15/45 meter should be more than adequate for your proposed extension, we have a much larger place on a 15/45, never a problem.

[IMHO]

1. A 30/100 meter allows you to run 22,000 watts of continuous load.

2. I have a similar setup - in mine we paralleled the mains at the first CU, like this:

Mains --> CU #1

Mains --> 63A safety cut ---> 60M subterranean 35mm2 --> 2nd CU

3. Better for the new house to have it's own CU, otherwise you're going to have very long/messy circuits.

4. I don't know your load, but a single 30/100 supply is enough for us (6 bed, 5 bath, 9 AC's in total across two buildings).

[eyecatcher]

Thanks for the advice chaps. Sorry for the delay; I blame visa runs!

I checked the meter; its a 15/45 single phase. rather surprisingly there are two other meters on the pole that are both 5/15 yet the houses appear much bigger than mine at present. I suspect the 15/45 meter is now standard for everyone.

so we are ok to go with the same meter.

@crossy; I did wonder if your idea was feasible and hoped it was; i.e to Tee off or use a splitter device to bring an extra couple cables in to the new property and onto its own C.U.

@Wayned Are you also suggesting to add a mains pole switch as the mains cables get over the site boundary as a safety precaution or some other reason. I assume therefore it must be within easy reach of course. I think this is the way to go for me. When you say 2 incoming lines; do you mean the 2 coming in and 2 going out (live and neutral?)

@IMHO Your method seems to be the easiest, and i would say(as a Brit) you fitted the extra C.U. in sequence (not in parallel) in effect you have added your extra power similar to adding a fused spur off a ring main. I just wonder then, if you get a major problem at C.U #1 do you lose everything supplied by C.U#2