OT - Overhead electricity supply to houses on estates

[John]

Near to me are several areas of 1930's houses where the electricity supply is overhead - The cables run along the eaves of the houses with connections dropping to the meters. Several houses have had rear extensions and it appears that the cables continue along their previous route - through the roof space of the extensions.

It got me wondering if there are many instances of people using this distribution method to obtain free electricity. Obviously they would need to pay for some otherwise it would arouse suspicion.

One house I used to drive past had 2 x 500 watt spotlights shining onto his white van all night - a good case for a bit of free juice!

Anyone work for an Electricity Supplier who has experience?

[Colin Wilson]

The builders should be pulled by the HSE - the job required a service alteration, but instead they've avoided cost and left the site in a potentially dangerous condition.

How does the REC replace the now-obsolete cable, for instance...

[ARWadworth]

Why would it arouse suspicion?

I have seen more houses with tampered meters than hot wired incoming supplies.

The best I saw was a camping van attached to a street light in the middle of Sheffield.

Have you seen a CDM-T light. 70 watt and just as bright as a 500W halogen.

Who do you want to grass on?

Adam

[John]

No intention to grass - the light was a typical Quartz Halogen - which cracked the window. The wiring is at the back of the houses and could so easily be tampered with. My question was a general one - as to whether anyone knows of cases of tampering - I am also intrigued as to how it is allowed to build an extension and then run the (supply authority's) cables through the roof space. (Way-leave and all that)

[The Wanderer]

I never came across any cases of where people had made illegal connections to the lead-in cables. That's not to say they might not have existed but I never saw any.

Used to happen a lot a few years ago. Jobbing builder putting up an extension and telling the customer it would be alright to leave the cables in situ. Hopefully building control should pick it up these days.

Also used to happen quite frequently back in the 1930s and 40's with widespread rural electrification. Old cottage with no gables and a central chimney, the o/h cables would go to a chimney bracket then down through the roof space to a meter position right in the middle of the house.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Metal halide is very similar to fluorescent in efficiency, i.e. of the order of 4 times more efficient than filament, so a 70 watt halide lamp is equivalent to about 280W filament lamp. The 150W halide lamp is nearer a 500W halogen.

Halogen lamps vary significantly depending if they were made for long life or high light output, and halide lamps vary on conventional or electronic control gear. (If you are going for the more expensive ceramic type halide lamp which is what the CDM lamps are, you should really go with electronic control gear or you will lose some of the benefits such as longer life.)

[nightjar]

We had one where someone had knocked a small hole through the party wall, driven a couple of nails into next-door's meter tails and connected his fuse box to those.

Colin Bignell