Energisation by the distribution network operator

How does Energisation by the distribution network operator work, step by step?

1. 1

   Step 1: Apply for the connection at the earliest possible point

   The connection application goes in as soon as the load and the site are known well enough to describe, which is normally long before the design is complete. The application sets out the capacity required, the location, the intended arrangement and the programme. Early application is the single most effective thing anyone on the project can do, because the operator's assessment and any reinforcement it identifies both take time that cannot be recovered later. Applications made after the construction programme is fixed are the origin of most late openings.

2. 2

   Step 2: Assess the offer and accept it

   The operator responds with an offer setting out what it will provide, what it will cost, what work falls on each side and what the indicative timescale is. The client and the designer assess it against the scheme, and where it is unaffordable or too slow the options are reconsidered - a reduced capacity, a phased connection, a different point of connection or a different site arrangement. Acceptance is a commercial decision with a deadline attached, and the position in the operator's programme normally follows acceptance rather than application, so delay in accepting costs the same as delay in applying.

3. 3

   Step 3: Resolve land, access and wayleaves

   The route the operator needs for its cable may cross land the client does not control, and the connection point may need land the client has to provide. Wayleaves, easements, licences and access agreements are pursued as soon as the route is known, because they are legal processes with their own timescales and they sit outside the construction programme entirely. Third party land is a common and badly underestimated source of delay on charging projects.

4. 4

   Step 4: Carry out the network operator's works and any reinforcement

   The operator carries out its own works to the agreed point of connection, which may include reinforcement upstream, new cabling, a new connection point or a substation. This work is the operator's, carried out by its own people or its approved contractors, and the site team's role is to provide access, to keep the working area available and to coordinate around it. Where reinforcement is required, this stage dominates the programme and the site team plans construction around the dates it is given.

5. 5

   Step 5: Complete and present the customer side

   The contractor completes the installation up to the agreed demarcation point, and presents it with the documentation the operator requires. Everything on the customer side has to be finished, safe and secure before energisation - enclosures closed, compounds locked, protection in place, and nobody working on the installation. Presenting an incomplete installation for energisation wastes an operator visit and the next available date may be weeks away, which is why the pre-energisation check is treated seriously.

6. 6

   Step 6: Pass the operator's inspection and witnessing

   The operator inspects the connection and satisfies itself that its requirements are met before it will proceed. What it looks at, and what evidence it requires, is set out in its own procedures and is confirmed with it in advance rather than assumed. Any observation raised is closed out and re-presented. This is work for competent qualified people on both sides, carried out under the operator's regime.

7. 7

   Step 7: Energise and confirm the live supply

   On the agreed date the operator energises the connection. Access to the area is controlled, the site team is briefed, and from that moment the installation is live and is treated as live by everyone on site. Whether an outage of the existing site supply is needed, and how long it lasts, is agreed with the operator and with the site occupier well in advance, because on a trading site that outage may be the most disruptive hour of the whole project.

8. 8

   Step 8: Record the connection and hand the details to the operator of the site

   The connection details, the agreed capacity, the metering arrangement, the demarcation point and the operator's reference information are recorded and passed to whoever will operate the site. That information is what any future alteration, fault or capacity increase will start from, and it is easily lost in the rush to open. The energisation date itself is recorded, because the commissioning and opening sequence all follows from it.