One house, two electrical supplies?

[AnswerThePhone]

We're buying a house which has a double garage attached and we're thinking that in the future we might like to renovate the garage to make a small studio and let out.

We're going to have to re-wire the house so wondering if we should set up separate electrical systems. Does anyone know what this entails?

you will have to get a price from your electricity distributor. Also take advice from your electrician on layout.

Write (don't phone) to the address on your electricity bill. It won't be them that does it, but they are responsible for passing your request along to the correct company.

If I try to explain how it works it will be frightfully tedious.

If you have two meters you will have two standing charges. Paying electricity companies to dig holes is costly.

I'd see if you can get planning consent to set up the garage as a separate dwelling first - talk to the planning department to see how enthusiastic they are. As PJ says, having a separate meter installed is ridiculously expensive and there is no point doing it if you then can't subdivide.

OK, thanks. Lala - both our neighbours have their garage set up like this so I don't think it would be an issue. They don't have separate electricity supplies as it's family that is involved however we may be going to work overseas in a couple of years so may want to rent out house and studio separately. I can't think how to do this without having separate bills.

it is possible to run a tenants meter off your own supply and to charge them, but you are not allowed to make a profit by overcharging for the electricity. If you had different tenants in each property it would be tricky getting the billing and re-billing done when you are away.

If either house has a big power user such as an electric shower or a gold smelter, then there is a risk of blowing your house main fuse if you are running two homes and other appliances such as washer and tumble drier and maybe a heater or two, all off the same supply. Houses often have an 80A main fuse but it is usually somewhere between 60A and 100A. Don't believe what it says on the company fuseholder as this is just the maximum that will fit inside. The tails from meter to consumer unit increase in size so 60A, 80A and 100A need different sizes. modern installations usually have 25mm tails which will suit anything up to 100A. Smaller cables will get hot under load. Some small old houses may still have a 30A main fuse, especially in country districts.

Electric showers often use 40A or thereabouts, which is a big chunk of your available supply, and a big electric cooker uses a lot when you are cooking your Christmas dinner and switch it all on from cold.

Thanks PigletJohn, I was hoping you would be able to give me some advice. It doesn't look like it's do-able.

We're planning long term ahead and hoped that we might be able to rent out the house and keep the studio for ourselves. DH will be retired but be able to work in London on projects as they come up and we would be able to live in our cottage in the countryside in Yorkshire.

I can't think of any way to do this with the electricity situation.

ask for a price.