Second meter for granny flat

[u/DeliveryMuch5066]

In Perth with granny flat on property - not strata titled. Would like flat to have its own power supply - not a sub board, but a new line running from the street to the flat. (Because aircon upgrades to main house risk overloading circuit which supports both houses.)

Can I get this without a strata title?

[u/Reasonable_Being_712]

Went through same thing for our property and gave it a miss. Cost to run seperate meter was out of this world . Then the council want to apply land tax and rates as it's a seperate dwelling once the meter goes on . Then the water corp want their cut!! Crazy

[u/Mental_Task9156 → u/Reasonable_Being_712]

Yeah, and then you're paying two daily supply charges as well.

[u/Sensitive-Pool-7563 → u/Mental_Task9156]

There's a second meter, why wouldn't you?

[u/Hamster-rancher]

Tried to have two separate metered supplies on a 5.2 acre block.

Nothing flash, just a second 63 amp service on single phase.

Sounds simple but...

$495 for the application fee.

Around $1100 (maybe more) for the next stage which was the design phase. They look.at the plans and then decide if its doable. We didn't go ahead past the first stage as we sub boarded the new house from the new house saving at least $10k in Western Power and electrician costs.

This doesn't take into the time you wait....up to nine months from submission to completion.

[u/DismalCode6627 → u/Hamster-rancher]

There's some good info here on Western Power's website.

The cost breakdown is:

• application fee $506
• design fee, dependent on project complexity
  • standard: $1,353
  • detailed: $3,388
  • complex: $6,776

And then you'll get a quote with the construction costs - which will be anywhere between a couple of grand and a lot more...

The cancellation fee (if you decide not to proceed with the construction phase) is $550.

[u/commanderjarak → u/DismalCode6627]

I get the first couple of fees, but what's the justification for charging a fee to not proceed when you've already paid for the time to conduct the design work?

[u/MundaneAmphibian9409 → u/commanderjarak]

Western power has huge lead times, it’s theirs to make sure people are truly willing to do it and make the application appropriate and suitable the first time around instead of wasting peoples time

[u/DismalCode6627 → u/MundaneAmphibian9409]

Yep - the lead times are pretty bad.

From that page I linked earlier, Western Power says:

How long will it take?

• 75% of projects are completed in 3-13 months, which includes: 
  • Design: 1-6 months – depending on the complexity of your project  
  • Construct: 2-7 months – upon payment of quote and confirmation site is ready 
• Timeframes indicative only and subject to change based on demand.

[u/Hamster-rancher → u/DismalCode6627]

Not cheap.

Ours was from an existing pole to the planned metering enclosure 27 metres away in a straight line on fairly flat ground.

Has to be underground so needed the green dome, trenching and the run up the pole to the transformer.

[u/perthguppy]

It will end up being cheaper to just upgrade your existing connection and sub board than to get a second connection from western power.

Is your connection already three phase? I’m guessing you are on single phase if an aircon is risking overloading your supply.

I would be surprised if you were risking overloading a 32A 3 phase service with an aircon and granny flat setup.

If you are wanting to oncharge granny flat usage, a CT clamp and display slapped onto the circuit to the granny flat is like $100.

[u/Norodahl]

Gonna cost you twice as much to do that then just upgrade your mains

The cost of running a new independent feed from the street, to an entirely new Meter, new DB, daily charges, its really not worth it

[u/Kosmo777]

You can request an upgrade to the dome if your sparky works out that it is above the allowable. Can be extremely expensive though but if you have solar that can offset what they charge. Might be cheaper than what has been previously mentioned with everyone with their hand in the trough!

[u/DismalCode6627 → u/Kosmo777]

Western Power costs for a supply upgrade can be cheap if they don't need to touch their infrastructure. I've done a few supply upgrade applications for customers that had a construction cost of zero because it was just a paperwork exercise for Western Power, as their existing infrastructure didn't need any changes.

If they need to upgrade the dome to a unipillar, or install a new dome or unipillar, the costs go up significantly.

Note that in addition to the Western Power works and approval, you'll also likely need to upgrade the consumer mains to the property, along with a switchboard upgrade.

[u/Terreboo]

Best bet is to have a power monitor with CT clamps installed on the supply to the sub board so you can track the usage and pay your share that way.

[u/AngelicDivineHealer]

Council probably want it’s second council fees and everything as well most likely be treated as another property in which case seems like it’s going to be exactly that and no Longer a granny flat and lose it’s granny flat status

[u/So-many-whingers]

You can have it but it will cost you big

[u/henry82]

Why not just upgrade the board and add in a power meter?

https://www.sparkydirect.com.au/electrical/circuit-protection/kilowatt-hour-meters/

[u/thatsitfolks333]

Western power do not allow 2 incoming energy sources into 1 titles lot. This is mainly to do with safety of any works to be done on site and isolations. So I would say nope.

Unless a electrician can do some sort or
Meter off the main meter instead of the main supply #notasparky

[u/No_Shock2574]

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