How long a new connection really takes

Utility connections can hold up the date new homes or commercial units are ready to occupy. A connection has more steps than many programmes allow for, and some of them can’t start until another has finished.

This guide walks through the stages, explains which ones take longest, and shows what to start earlier than you think.

The short version

• A connection runs through roughly the same stages in water, electricity and gas: apply, get the design, get quotes, decide, sort out land and permits, build, connect, then meters.
• In our experience, much of the time goes on the steps around the build: design approval, land rights and booking the road works.
• Several stages can only start once an earlier one is finished, so a delay early on pushes back everything after it.
• Start at the planning stage, not when the groundworks begin.

The stages

1. Early enquiry. Before you have planning permission, you can ask the network operator for a rough idea of cost and whether the local network can supply your site. This flags expensive surprises, such as a long route to a suitable point of connection, while you can still change the layout.

2. Application. You send the network operator your site layout, plot schedule, phasing and, for electricity, how the homes will be heated. Its timescales only start once it accepts your application as complete, so missing information costs time before anything has happened.

3. Design and approval. Your application produces a design for the new network on your site, and the network operator checks it meets its standards. If the design comes back with comments, it goes round again. The approved design is what everyone prices against.

4. Quotes. The network operator sends its offer, and partners quote for the work they can do, all against the same design. Larger or more complex sites take longer to quote.

5. Decision. You compare quotes, get internal approval, and accept. In our experience, partner quotes are often valid for only about a month, so this stage has a hard deadline. See our guide on why quotes have a shelf life.

6. Land and legal. If your site needs a substation, the network operator will want the land for it, either freehold or on a long lease, plus rights for access and for any cables that cross private land. That’s a property transaction, completed by your solicitor and the network operator’s, usually on the operator’s standard terms. If the land is mortgaged, your lender may need to consent too. Water is simpler: water mains laid by your partner need an adoption agreement with the water company, but it’s based on a standard model agreement, so there’s little to negotiate. Just sign it in good time.

7. Road works permits. Work in the road needs the highway authority’s permission, through a permit where the authority runs a permit scheme. The organisation carrying out the works applies, so this can only start once your partner is appointed. In England, major works usually need at least three months’ notice.

8. Build. Your partner lays the new network, usually alongside your groundworks. It needs the roads and footways at the right stage and the plot positions fixed, so it depends on your own programme as much as theirs.

9. Testing and connection. New water mains must pass pressure and water quality tests before they can join the live network. Electricity and gas networks are inspected before they’re switched on. The final connection is then booked with the network operator, or made by your partner if it’s accredited to do it.

10. Meters and supply. Each plot needs a meter. For electricity and gas, the homeowner’s energy supplier arranges it against the plot’s supply number. For water, the meter goes in a box at the plot boundary, fitted by your partner or the water company depending on the company. Leave time for this before your first completions.

Where the time goes

Design approval. Each round of comments adds time, and a resubmitted design can restart the network operator’s timescale. A design that follows the network operator’s standards first time avoids that.

Land rights. The substation transfer or lease depends on solicitors, the landowner and sometimes your lender. Start it as soon as the substation position is agreed, not when the design is approved.

Road works. Major works usually need three months’ notice, and the highway authority can refuse your dates or ask you to fit around other works.

Waiting for each other. Your partner can’t build until the roads are ready; the road works can’t start without a permit; the permit can’t be applied for until your partner is appointed. Each of these hand-offs is a point where a few weeks can disappear.

Start earlier than you think

Agree the substation position early. If your site needs one, its position affects the design, the land transfer and your planning layout.

Settle the heating strategy before you apply. It decides how much electricity your site needs, which is the basis of your application.

Ask for temporary supplies early. Your site compound needs water and power long before the homes do. These are temporary supplies, each with its own application to the network operator, and they’re metered. Ask for them early so they don’t wait behind the permanent connections. We can arrange them for you.

Plan for phases. On a phased site, ask for the connection to follow your build order, so the first homes aren’t waiting for the whole network.

Work back from your first completion. Take the date the first homes need to be occupied, allow for meters, connection, testing, the build, permits, land and design, and see when you need to apply. It’s usually earlier than the programme says.

What to check first

• Whether your site needs a substation, and where it can go.
• Who will handle the land and legal work, and when it can start.
• Whether your road works will count as major works.
• How the connection programme fits your groundworks and road build.
• The date your first homes need water and power.