MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: me217 on September 21, 2016, 09:29:51 PM
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hey all. just wondering if anyone has any idea on cost to get power installed on a new block of land. at a guess the closest power pole is about 500-600 m from where the house would go,
also who would you call to get a proper quote?
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If its anything like victoria, you only have one choice which is the distributor. Find out who it is, and speak to them about your site and requirements.
Essentially, they can charge whatever they like, and you don't have much of an option but to accept their costs.
Getting a quote alone can take 12 weeks.
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If the power supply is outside your boundary then I think you need to contact Energex. Whether you do that through a licensed contractor or direct, I'm not sure.
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have you considered going solar an for the 240 stuff you can't live without inverter or generator
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have you considered going solar an for the 240 stuff you can't live without inverter or generator
I have considered and stand alone solar setup with batteries. I just wanted to compare the two options
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On our farm, in 2004, the powerline and poles could only be done by Ergon. About the same distance as yours up the dirt road to reach the boundary of our property. Poles and single phase only. $18,000. Less a government rebate for some reason, can't remember now, maybe primary producer, of $6,000. Talked a neighbour into sharing the cost as his place had no power either and he wanted to build also. So long story but cost us $6,000 in the end. At $18K, was a lot cheaper than solar. This comparision would have changed since then.
Connecting to our property from the Ergon pole and transformer, was an additional expense. This installation was done by a local sparkie and included installing a property pole and meters on our place.
KB
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Call your local favorite electrical contractor, he will have to do the paper work, (which is now online work) to apply for the connection and metering etc once he has put in all the infrastructure.
If I was you go 3 phase at the start, the cable and the main switch is a little more expensive but it's worth it in the end if you wanna do stuff in your shed. Also second hand 3 phase stuff like welders and compressors etc are dirt cheap as not everyone can use them.
Energex will pay for the cable from their pole to your first property pole then the rest is on your bill, including all your property poles. Of course you can go underground.................
Of course if there is no energex/ergon pole near your block they may want to charge you to get it there first.
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I haven't bought the block yet. Just doing my homework before hand. It's only a small 158 acres block. Should give me some peace and quiet. I can clear any trees needed for the power lines. This is why I'm chasing a rough price at the moment. If I owned the block is just go in and get a quote straight away.
18 grand sounds about what I was expecting. 3 phase would be nice but not really needed at the moment. And I'm trying to keep costs down just so I can afford the place.
House probably won't be built straight away. Will probably build a shed and make it liveable for a year or two then look at building a house. And a couple shipping containers for "shed" space.
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If its anything like victoria, you only have one choice which is the distributor. Find out who it is, and speak to them about your site and requirements.
Essentially, they can charge whatever they like, and you don't have much of an option but to accept their costs.
Getting a quote alone can take 12 weeks.
Not true. You can get any accredited provider to do the work.
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If you already have HV out the front, you will probably be given 4 poles for that distance. It also depends on what size tx you want as well as how many phases. Also if you wanted three phase & there's only single out front, you would have to pay for the centre phase to be ran from where it currently ends & that that would also mean upgrading the current pole you would be teeing off from. I'd ask for a quote on both & if the difference is rediculous then, if you don't have or plan to have three phase equipment, I'd go single. It's still a good reliable power supply.
I don't know much about the pricing of things, but I'd reckon about 20k for Ergon.
Listo
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Central QLD Permanent catchup block . We can Power your block . All you need to do is supply firewood & :cheers: :cup:
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Had a cousin look into this after the 2011 floods and I thought I recalled it was closer to the $30k and I think his distance was much the same. In the end he went with fully self contained solar. As others have said check with Ergon / Energex (whichever it is) or a leccie and they should be able to give you a ball park figure.
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Short answer - alot.
I can tell you how it works in NSW. Every state and network have varying rules, but all in all the process is very similar.
Any work carried out on the network is carried out by approved service providers (ASP) level 1, ASPs have permission to work on network assets. You cannot just ring up your local sparkie, they cant do it and most likely wouldn't know how - working on the network is a specialised area of electrical work.
There is alot of variance in what it could cost. What lines are passing your house, is the area already at full capacity, do you need a transformer. Basically its user pays, if the network needs upgrading in order to carry the extra load of your property then they will bill you for the upgrades.
Are you only interested in bringing the power to the boundry? are you going to want it to come in the property? if so, how far? will you want it underground or overhead?
Any changes to the network require that an ASP level3 (electrical engineer/designer) make a design for the work. Usually an ASP level 1 will carry out the work, there is alot of network involvement that you wont see (and alot of fees for their involvement.) then for a hookup to the residence you will require an ASP level 2 to do the work.
I have friends that went the solar route, they are in a rural area and had a choice of connecting to the network or getting a full solar and battery setup. The cost for both was approximately the same, but with the rebate solar came in less.
Solar is not the easy solution, they really have to watch their load and what appliances they run at the same time, keep an eye on the batteries, which need to be monitored and cared for. Its not uncommon, especially in winter for the gene to be running at night time. At times they regret not just hooking upto the grid but generally they are happy they went solar, but its far from set and forget. The system is about 4 years old and due to some bad decisions and not servicing the batteries like they should, a few weeks ago they had to replace a battery block (2 batteries) and are waiting to see if they have another block that will need replacing - im sure that if they needed to replace both it was going to be about 3K, but dont quote me on that.
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A work mate just went solar. She's on 100 acres and building her home 400 metres from the boundary/existing power. Quote was $100k, $20k for the transformer and $80k for the lines etc. Hence why she went solar for $30k.
This is for country Victoria.
Tim
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A work mate just went solar. She's on 100 acres and building her home 400 metres from the boundary/existing power. Quote was $100k, $20k for the transformer and $80k for the lines etc. Hence why she went solar for $30k.
This is for country Victoria.
Tim
Privatisation, it's the best for everyone they tell us ???
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Central QLD Permanent catchup block . We can Power your block . All you need to do is supply firewood & :cheers: :cup:
If myswag crowd funded the power I'd. Clear 10 acres and put up a myswag sign. Free camp grounds for all myswag members
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Quote was $100k, $20k for the transformer and $80k for the lines etc
Fark! Wonder how many people don't look into this.. that could break or break you!
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Privatisation, it's the best for everyone they tell us ???
Vic has the lowest network costs and the lowest retail energy prices in the country...add to it the highest reliability of the networks.
also, the $100k cost needs to be covered somehow. Who should pay if not the end user?
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I work in the industry and can't work out how the price can be that high... Unless of course the company is using gold plated poles?
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Fark! Wonder how many people don't look into this.. that could break or break you!
I'm a level 2 in Shitney and I did a house for a builder and the owner was supposed to be organising his own connection.
No problems for me, I just do the house and they connect.
Long story short, he had to pay to upgrade the street capacity as it wasn't enough.
$84,000 later................. And that was just to the street pole, he then had to pay us to do the connections and undergrounds etc, as he got rid of his "mate" who didn't advise him correctly.
And this isn't country, its suburbia. Acreage, but still in suburbia.
A bill they weren't expecting!!!
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What about if it has to be run underground?
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I work for the supply industry in NSW and I was in the design section about 7 years ago. It was about $20k for a transformer on a new pole in the existing line let alone adding a 500m Hv extension. I think $100k would be close to the mark.
Sorry.
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Okay, asked my husband - this is what he does.
He's first question was 'whats on the pole?' Depending on whats on the pole really dictates everything.
Anyway his really rough estimate is 50k plus and said without knowing whats on the pole that can be way out.
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It'll be interesting to see our bill. We've been advised that our existing line, overhead, across road to house, will have to be underground to the new house....
Apparently you can get a quote but you have to pay for this...and it isn't accurate. ???
Tim
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A while back we had to pay $1800 for an assessment - not a quote - a bit like a pre-quote inspection. We had to fill out a detailed form stated what was there and what was nearby. The assessment came back - all it told us was what we had told them. A very irate husband was finally able to get the $1800 refunded.
From memory, Ergon would put in the first pole, after that it was about $24k per pole.
Just had a lady from work put in solar as the up front cost was similar - ongoing costs obviously a lot less. She is now having terrible trouble with banks as the house they moved to the block and need to finish/remodel is not connected to mains. Loans were preapproved and have now been cancelled. Something to check first. She is very stressed about the whole thing.
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A while back we had to pay $1800 for an assessment - not a quote - a bit like a pre-quote inspection. We had to fill out a detailed form stated what was there and what was nearby. The assessment came back - all it told us was what we had told them. A very irate husband was finally able to get the $1800 refunded.
From memory, Ergon would put in the first pole, after that it was about $24k per pole.
Just had a lady from work put in solar as the up front cost was similar - ongoing costs obviously a lot less. She is now having terrible trouble with banks as the house they moved to the block and need to finish/remodel is not connected to mains. Loans were preapproved and have now been cancelled. Something to check first. She is very stressed about the whole thing.
really? why would the bank loan be affected by whether the power comes from the sun or an overpriced company
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Don't know but it is causing grief for her that's for sure.
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my take on this is, the bank considers that if the loan goes pear shaped it is left with a property powered by solar. The subsequent mortgagee sale may then not appeal to the full spectrum of potential buyers.
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What about just getting power on to the block first if you're not planning on building ASAP?
When I built my place in SEQ about 8 years ago I had to supply the pole on my side of the boundary and Energex connected to it for free.
I put the power on about a year before I built and went with 3 phase because it didn't cost any more to get it brought into the property compared to single phase.
To start off with I just put a board on the pole with a safety switch, 1 breaker per phase and a hand full of GPOs in it.
Then I had power for when we camped on the block before we started building. We had power for construction and saved on the cost of supplying a temp board for the builders.
When the house was done I went underground with the mains from the pole to the house. Still got a GPO in the board on the pole just in case I need power for doing any work on the boundary line.
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What about just getting power on to the block first if you're not planning on building ASAP?
When I built my place in SEQ about 8 years ago I had to supply the pole on my side of the boundary and Energex connected to it for free.
I put the power on about a year before I built and went with 3 phase because it didn't cost any more to get it brought into the property compared to single phase.
To start off with I just put a board on the pole with a safety switch, 1 breaker per phase and a hand full of GPOs in it.
Then I had power for when we camped on the block before we started building. We had power for construction and saved on the cost of supplying a temp board for the builders.
When the house was done I went underground with the mains from the pole to the house. Still got a GPO in the board on the pole just in case I need power for doing any work on the boundary line.
the only problem i see with that is the pole is only about 20 m from the boundary. and the house will go about 600m past that, also we will be living on the property before the house is built.
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No worries. I got that you had a big run to the house pad.
I was more getting at the cheapest way of brining 3 phase onto the property and futureproofing your place.
Obviously there will be a big cost for the run up to your house pad and I missed the bit about living on the block before building the house.
My run from the pole to the house was much shorter then what you're looking at and for the cost of a backhoe on site for a couple of days, it was relatively cheap for me to go underground. Even if there was a few sections of sandstone to scratch through on the way. ;)
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No worries. I got that you had a big run to the house pad.
I was more getting at the cheapest way of brining 3 phase onto the property and futureproofing your place.
Obviously there will be a big cost for the run up to your house pad and I missed the bit about living on the block before building the house.
My run from the pole to the house was much shorter then what you're looking at and for the cost of a backhoe on site for a couple of days, it was relatively cheap for me to go underground. Even if there was a few sections of sandstone to scratch through on the way. ;)
how deep did you have to go? also who did the work. can i dig the trench and just have them run the wire?
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Must be minimum 700mm deep, all cables in conduit (I ran phone and power in the same trench). Sparky must lay the cables and must be there when backfilling to lay the plastic danger tape over at the 700mm level.
We dug about 800mm deep, put the cables/conduits on the bottom, then back filled 100mm and put the danger tape on that. Not that I plan I digging in that area, but at least I know there's a little safety factor between the warning and the shock.
If you can get an operator on site for a good price (my backhoe was $75 an hour for man and machine) your big expense is the sparky to pull the cables in the conduit.
I don't know if there are specific regs for the length of run you can do underground, but my understanding is as long as it's shown accurately on your plans your sweet.
Energex only care about their wires from their poles to your first pole. That's why I did the board on the pole first and get their BS out of the way.
The board on the pole is the same as if it was the board in your house, you just need a qualified sparky, no need to deal with the power supplier.
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Sorry, I just realized I didn't mention the meter is in the board on the pole at the boundary line.
That's why it's the same as the board on your house.
All cables and connections downstream from my first pole are the same as if I was wiring inside my house.
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Sorry, I just realized I didn't mention the meter is in the board on the pole at the boundary line.
That's why it's the same as the board on your house.
All cables and connections downstream from my first pole are the same as if I was wiring inside my house.
ok thanks for that. my uncle has an excavator and i got a mate who has a bobcat. and a cousin who is a sparky. so that may be an option.
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.... and underground conduit must be orange... but no one minds if (for example) the 4mtr joins are not throughly sealed -- and the voltage in them is laying in water for years on end.... ???
Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk
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Apparently you can get a quote but you have to pay for this...and it isn't accurate. ??
:cup: :cup: how awesome is that WTF?
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After reading this thread again, I'd highly suggest going solar.
The technology now is great and getting more affordable, to the point of almost being cost effective.
Just keep well away from Tesla.....
I won't go there, but just stay well clear.......
Sonnenshcien are awesome and an all in one pack that's good is LG's Chem battery's
Wouldn't hurt to do the maths.
Also just a comment on some previous posts in regards to the bank finance etc.
I agree totally at the moment, but the tide is rapidly turning and battery technology and solar is now become an attractive feature on properties.
I sold my house a year ago and the agent listed the solar as a feature. They said people are looking for it in a home now. Its even more attractive now.
Brian
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You won't be running 240v or 415v to your property if it's 600 meters away. Maybe best you ring your energy supplier and talk to them.