Electric vehicles

This section explains the process for installing residential and commercial chargers.

If you are considering installing an electric vehicle charger at home you have to consider these key points:

Electrical wiring - your home wiring will need to be checked by an approved electrical contractor to make sure that it is suitable to support the extra power required to charge an electric vehicle. Some older properties may not have sufficient wiring to support an EV charging point.

Housing type  - this will have an impact on how to you can park, and therefore what options you have to charge your EV. Living in a semi or detached house with parking adjacent or near your home is ideal for a charging point. If you live in a terraced house, or high rise building/flat it is unlikely you will be able to connect your charging point to the wiring in your home (under your electricity meter). In these scenarios, you may need to apply for an electricity connection to be able to charge your EV from your parking space (away from your home).

Off-road parking - your charge point will need a power source, therefore parking close to your home or a building with power (i.e. garage) is ideal. If you don’t have parking next to your home or a garage, then we recommend you speak to an approved electrical contractor. EV charging is still possible where you have an allocated car space in a car park, though it is not guaranteed; as securing a power source for your charging point can be complicated. In some cases this may require that you apply for a new connection to the SSEN network.

Renting your home - as a tenant it’s important to understand your rights when it comes to installing a charging point. It is widely recommended that you have the home owner’s permission to install a charging point. If you have this, please note that you will still need to pay for the charging point yourself (unless agreed otherwise with the homeowner). If you are unable to connect your charger to your home wiring (living in terrace or flat) then you will also be liable for the cost of a new connection, to deliver power to your allocated parking space.

What’s the process?

If the charge point is being installed in domestic properties you will need to:

1. Contact an accredited electric vehicle charging point installer to confirm if your home electricity supply is able to support a charging point. If they confirm that the equipment that joins your home to the electricity network (your ‘cut out’) can support the connection, then you can arrange to have the charging point installed. If you need an upgrade, your installer can contact SSEN for a quote.
2. Your appointed electric vehicle charging point installer installs your chosen charge point
3. Your installer should notify SSEN that you have installed an EV charge point by completing the ENA form and sending to connections@ssen.co.uk

Commercial and public charging

This section explains the step by step process for installing commercial or public chargers.

1. Decide number, size and type of charge points, decide where you want to connect them on your site. If you don’t already have a supply where you are looking to connect your charge points, you will need to apply for a new demand connection. If you already have a supply where you want to connect your charge points, you may need to apply for an increase in load.

You should also note that if your site is on an industrial or business park where you share the electrical load with other companies, you may have legal agreements in place based on how much electricity your office uses. If this is the case you will need to check these documents to see if they will impact on your plans. For more advice we would recommend you contact an electrical contractor and if relevant, a legal representative.  Also you may also need to consider whether the land owner will need to be contacted to provide permission for the charging points to be connected. The electricity cables that we install to power your charging points may cross land owned by different landowners. We need legal agreements (i.e. wayleaves or easements) with landowners to allow us to maintain those cables after they have been installed

1. Register and apply using the ENA form creating tomorrow’s networks – Energy Networks Association (ENA)  and send to connections@ssen.co.uk
2. Once SSEN complete the network studies and provide a connection offer, you can accept the offer and pay for the connection. You can choose who you wish to undertake the works. Find out more on the SSEN Website.
3. Appoint an approved electrical contractor to install the charge point(s)
4. Appoint an electricity supplier who will bill for the energy used by the charge point. Your supplier will appoint a meter operator to install a meter for the charge point.
5. SSEN will deliver your connection and energise the charge point. If your request was for an increase in load, SSEN will also provide a new connection agreement based on your new load

Another source of information is the GOV.UK Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme: Installer Guidance which can be found at Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme: installer guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)