A property has been split into 2 houses can they share a power supply?

Hi ​@JohnWells ,

Loooooooooooooong story short answer: No.

Long answer below.

This is absolutely not recommended and there’s nothing to gain but a LOT to lose. Even if you could do it, I strongly recommend against it. You can’t legally make a profit out of it anyway so if you were planning to use it to make extra money, then I definitely recommend against trying.

There’s also the matter of the capacity limits - the 80/100A you’re assigned by the DNO is not designed or intended to be shared with other properties. It’s meant to be just for your use only.

In all honesty, it’s just not worth attempting it.

Just curious, but why did you want to do this anyway?

The property has recently been made into 2 houses but is still being supplied by one consumer unit 

Gotcha, since you’d have to put meters in anyway to calculate usage of the other property, you may as well do it properly. Here’s an old discussion that’ll probably help you:

It’s MUCH better to completely split the two properties onto their own supplies and let the other half pay an energy supplier directly. Not the cheapest way to do it, but definitely the safest and least painful in the long run.

You’ll need to do some re-wiring and install a consumer unit for the other property as well as get your DNO and OVO (or another supplier) to install their equipment to make this work.

Hey ​@JohnWells, 

I'd like to expand on the excellent advice from ​@Blastoise186.  Splitting the supply to each property simplifies management for both you and your new neighbours. If you were solely responsible for utility payments, as you mentioned, you'd be liable for any debt or usage costs across both properties.  Separate supplies also enhance safety. In an emergency, the supply to one property can be shut off without affecting the other.

Please keep us informed of your progress and whether the article shared was helpful.

Was the property split done by a developer ​@JohnWells or by another method?

If the new properties have their own address and services (water, council services), then it would be best to arrange for the local DNO to make good separate supplies to each property. The old cabling might not be rated to supply enough power for 2 households and therefore to prevent future problems, it would be sensible to update the feed and metering at the same time. 
 

Thanks, that's useful information 

​@BPLightlog makes a very good point. It is very common to loop houses together. The cable goes into the first house and is looped back out to a neighbouring property. You may be fed from a cable only to your property or in the middle of a loop or the end of a loop. For the latter two the supply will be insufficient for two properties so you will need to get your own supply sorted out.

The only one you can tell for sure is if you are in the middle of a loop. There will be a black cable going in and a black cable going out just before the DNO fuse. If you contact the DNO they will tell you if you have your own cable or if you are looped but they will probably insist on each property having it's own cable.

If you are looped your DNO fuse will be 60A that will have to be shared between two properties which is not a lot. Even if you have your own cable the fuse may still only be 80A.

Peter