When reviewing the average and typical costs, stakeholders should consider the following key variables which in general most significantly affect connection costs:  

Length of the service and surface type 

• This is the distance from the Electric Vehicle Charge Point to the existing NGED cable where the point of connection is being provided. Surface types vary in cost across pavement, grass verge, road, carriageway etc. Cable length and surface type is one of the most significant determinants of the cost of connection. The Statement of Methodology and Charges provides a cost per metre for installation of the cable on different surfaces and overhead lines, which are more typical in rural contexts.  
• Where dig works for the connection take place in a road or carriageway, there will likely be additional costs for road closure and traffic management. These costs are included in the fixed costs described per surface type in Section 7C of the Statement of Methodology and Charges. 

Type and size of existing cable  

• Type and size of existing cable in the ground  

Local Authority Permit Charge 

• Permits for road closures are administered by Local Authority and the costs for these are determined by them. These costs can either be included or excluded from the scope of the quote at the applicant’s request.  

Excavation and Reinstatement of Cable Trench, and Lay of Cable Duct 

• This component often makes up the majority of connection costs in these segments. This is dependent on the fees charged to us by local contractors which vary across and within licence areas. The customer can ask to complete their own excavation and duct works at point of application, which will significantly reduce the costs paid to NGED. 

Design Fees 

• Design fees can be significantly reduced by grouping connections under a single application and only paying one design fee. Applications which include more than ~5 connections are subject to a 4% margin for non-contestable elements of the work, but this is in general smaller than paying a design fee per connection. More details on when the 4% is chargeable and design fees is included in the Statement of Methodology and Charges.  

Reconfiguration  

• Reconfiguration is carried out when load from existing customers has to be transferred to a different part of the network to maintain existing connections alongside the requested connection.  
• Reconfiguration is chargeable to the connecting customer, unlike any Reinforcement triggered by a new LV connection, which is not charged directly to the connecting customer.  

In the sample data, seven out of 50 applications required reconfiguration. Of these seven, five were phase 8 applications and their average cost per connection was £7416, which is 60% higher than the overall average cost of phase 8 connections at £4662.  

An example of network reconfiguration is given in the Connection Charging Statements, at example 20.  

Licence area and locality within this  

The costs of local contractors and services varies. This is why the Connection Charging Statements are produced by licence area, and ranges are provided within these for the same service. Costs in the South West tend to be higher than other licence areas.  

These three averages are based on historic data for connections that were delivered in two different areas. Firstly in Coventry City under the On street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS), and secondly from South Wales. The Coventry City data set includes 408 connections within 50 applications, connecting almost 1700 7kW charge points. These connections were a mixture of single phase and three phase, and grouped with 2 – 16 connections under each application according to localised geographical zones. All charge points were deployed in the context of terraced housing in an urban setting. The data set from South Wales includes 101 connections under 101 applications, in a mixture of urban, suburban and rural contexts, and a range of chargers from 7-50kW.

The notable difference between the South Wales and Coventry City costs, is largely due to longer service cables (i.e. distance from charge point to existing network) required in the more rural contexts of Wales. The lack of batching of the more geographically dispersed sites in South Wales is also a factor. 

Check out the data here. 

Notes on this data and average costs

1. Costs were based on quotes provided for specific locations, and are relevant to that area, the contractors used, the network topography and local network circumstances.  
2. Quotes were provided over a range of years from 2020-2023. Costs have been adjusted using the Consumer Price Index. However costs in the energy sector and associated services have risen above CPI in recent years. 
3. The data does not include connections that were ruled out early in the process before formal quotation, or individual connections removed from a larger project/application by amendment post quotation. These connections may have been abandoned for a variety of reasons, including high cost for the applicant. As such, there is a degree of survivorship bias in our analysis of the historic data.

1. Coventry City: Urban, batched connections inclusive of excavation - average cost £4,662 exclusive of VAT.  

This was taken from phase 8 of the Coventry City On-street Residential Charge Point Scheme (ORCS programme. This data set included 26 applications, 186 connections and connected 849 charge points.  

These quotes included the following items:  

a) Assessment and design fees 

b) Single or three phase underground service with a maximum kW / connection of 69kVA  

a. Joint Supply and Installation including dig  

b. Joint Hole 

c. Cut-Out Supply and Installation  

d. Other proportionally low-cost miscellaneous items e.g. alkathene tube, plastic marker tape, etc. 

c) Installation of the cable in the foot path including excavation of joint and cable hole, and lay of ducting and cable.   

The following costs were excluded:  

d) The road closure permits were obtained by the Local Authority.  

2. Coventry City: Urban, batched connections exclusive of excavation – average cost £1,506 exclusive of VAT.  

This was taken from phases 3-7 of the Coventry ORCs project and included 24 applications, 222 connections and 828 Charge Points.  

These quotes included the following items:  

a) Assessment and design fees 

b) Single or three phase underground service with a maximum kW / connection of 69kVA  

a. Joint Supply and Installation (but not the dig of the hole)  

b. Cut-Out Supply and Installation  

c. Other proportionally low-cost miscellaneous items e.g. alkathene tube, plastic marker tape, etc. 

The following costs were excluded:  

• The road closure permits were obtained by the Local Authority.  

• Excavation of the joint hole and cable channel, and lay of the ducting for the cable.  

3. South Wales: Mixture of Urban and rural contexts, inclusive of the excavation, single connection per application (not bathced) - average cost £8,845

These applications were spread over a wide area and were not batched. The tendency in this data set to require longer service cables drive higher costs compared to Coventry. 

These quotes included the following items:

a) Assessment and design fees

b) Single or three phase underground service with a maximum kW/connection of 69kVA

a. Joint Supply and Installation including dig
b. Joint Hole
c. Cut-Out Supply and Installation
d. Other proportionally low-cost miscellaneous items e.g. alkathene tube, plastic marker tape etc. 

c) Installation of the cable in the footpath including excavation of joint and cable hole, and lay of ducting and cable. 

This example cost is based on existing published information on connection costs set out in our Connection Charging Statements and Methodology for each of our 4 licence areas: East Midlands, West Midlands, South West and South Wales.  

Section 7C explains the Assessment and Design fees 

Section 7F describes the cost of a typical single/three phase underground service based on ground type, as well as a cost per metre for the cable installation (a usual service is between 2 and 8 metres).  

We have provided further break down of a 'typical' cost of connection, so stakeholders could build other potential costs estimates based on further exploration of the connection charging statements.  

This example offers more accuracy against the average costs in that they are based on up-to-date costs for 2024 however stakeholders are to note: 

• They do not include any reconfiguration costs. These are not considered typical and are specific to the local network configuration.  

• Total costs are based on single connection per application. Therefore, design fees have potential to reduce where connections are grouped. However, they do not include 4% margin applicable to non-contestable works for applications with higher total kVA.  

• They represent estimated costs in October 2024. These costs are updated annually.  

Three Phase Connection up to 69kVA in typical footpath (pavement), in East Midlands: