How to connect communications in the country – electricity and gas

Recommendation points

• Where to get current
• Specifications
• We connect electricity. Practical steps
• Input options
• Air electrical cable gland
• Underground electrical cable entry
• Making grounding
• Counter
• Gasification

Already at the construction stage, all summer residents are faced with an acute need for electricity. Most of the tools that builders use require an electrical connection. In general, we will consider in detail all the stages of electrification and gasification of your summer house..

Where to get current

Building a summer house is a troublesome but exciting business. Sometimes so exciting that you can forget about very important things, leave them for later.

You dream of building a house. For a long time you are looking for a suitable plot of land that suits you in terms of its convenience, natural beauty, favorable environmental conditions, reasonable prices, and more. And so, you find it.

Then you build a house, you are happy that, finally, the construction is completed. And suddenly, when everything is already wonderful, it turns out that it is impossible to make a technological connection of electricity to a residential building on this land plot. This will probably be one of the most unpleasant surprises in your life..

Before purchasing a land plot for the construction of a summer cottage, find out if it will be possible later to connect it to the facilities of a grid company.

This information can be obtained from organizations such as the regional grid company itself, local Energosbyt, Energonadzor, local Administration, and their analogues, in each given locality..

And don’t look that the neighbors who live across the street have everything connected. This is not an indicator. Most likely, they are old-timers and they were connected at a time when there were still free capacities, but now they are gone..

It’s clear about electricity. And about gas is even clearer. If there is no high pressure main gas pipeline nearby, then there is nowhere to take gas.

Well, if you are lucky and the connection is possible, then how to do it? Where to begin?

First of all, you need to obtain technical conditions for connection.

Specifications

To begin with, you should contact the topographers. Which ones, they will advise in the local Power Grids. They, in turn, are easy to find by asking the local Administration.

Topographers, at your request, will make a topographic survey of the site. Moreover, it must be performed specifically for presentation in the Power Grid. Tell the surveyors about this, because their resulting document should take into account all the requirements of these electricity suppliers.

Also, limit topographers to your site only. Otherwise, they, on their own initiative, can issue an extensive plan of the area within a radius of several hundred meters around your site, which will cost you much more..

Having received a topographic survey, you go to the local power grid, having the following documents with you:

1. Topographic survey, which was mentioned above.
2. A situational plan, which is a geographic map of your area. It is easy to find and print on the Internet. The scale of the map should be 2: 2000. On this map, all new buildings should be drawn with your hand – power supply objects (residential building, auxiliary buildings) In addition, from the presented map it should be clear the location of your site, relative to the nearest settlement and power line.
3. Calculation of the power consumption of electrical appliances that you plan to install in the house and outbuildings. When calculating, take into account not only those devices that you are going to install right away (light bulbs, refrigerator, electric stove, electric kettle, etc.), but also those that you plan to add in the future. For example, as a rule, some time after entering a new country house, the owners of the dacha decide to drill a well for water, equip it with a pumping station and a boiler (water heater). These are very energy consuming devices, therefore, specify them immediately as an option. Otherwise, you will be allocated capacities, which later may not be enough.

You can roughly calculate the required power by summing the power consumption of the devices, based on the fact that they can work simultaneously.

Keep in mind that for summer residents, the requested power should not exceed 15 kW. However, this is quite enough to fully provide a large house with all the amenities with electricity..

In addition, the set of documents must include documents of title to the site and the house, their copies, your passport and a copy of it, a certificate of your tax registration (if any).

It is also necessary to submit a petition to the local Administration to provide you with the requested capacity. This application itself can be obtained from this very local Administration, on the basis of your application for the issuance of an application.

This is a bureaucratic squiggle.

Perhaps, taking into account the specifics of your region, and the requirements of the Power Grid serving it, you may be required to provide any additional documents, a list of which is usually posted on the stand in the Power Grid office..

Arriving with the collected package of documents at the Electric Networks office, you can, right there, on the spot, write an application for obtaining Technical Conditions, according to the sample that will hang there at the stand.

Consideration of applications and preparation of technical conditions takes from 14 to 90 days, depending on the complexity of the work and the degree of workload of employees.

After this period, you will receive, in addition to the Technical conditions for connecting your site to these Power Grids, a Technological Connection Agreement, where you and the Power Grids are the parties.

However, you can get a well-founded refusal. But it will not be categorical and final. This will be an information letter, in which Electric Networks will describe the existing technical obstacles, without the elimination of which, it is currently impossible to fulfill your application for connection, as well as the approximate time frame for taking measures to satisfy your application. With this information letter, the Electric Networks confirm your right to connect, and the fundamental technical ability to implement it, but inform that for this they will have to take some additional measures.

Don’t put this answer far on the table. You will need it in order to regularly call or visit the office of Electric Networks, and “bomb” them with questions such as “when?”, “How soon?”, “How much can you !?”, “how long !?”.

You yourself understand, “water does not flow under a lying stone”.

Before issuing the Technical Specifications, a representative of the local Power Grids must come to your site to inspect the place, and determine the number of required poles (if you decide to use a traditional air electrical cable gland).

In theory, this employee himself should tell you how many posts are required. However, he often asks the client. The client, that is, you, of course, are mistaken and order a couple of posts less. And then, when the connection takes place, and it turns out that there are not enough pillars, the same person “helps” you. He “heroically” extracts the missing pillars in a “rush,” of course, for an additional reward.

We connect electricity. Practical steps

After receiving the Technical Conditions and the Technological Connection Agreement, you can start practical steps to connect.

However, before that, you have paperwork again. The fact is that the documents received indicate that you must make a project for the power supply of the house.

To make a project means to order it in a special, licensed design organization.

This project must be approved by the regional Power Supply Department and the Chief Engineer of Energosbyt of your region by the same design organization that made the project. This should be included in the terms of the contract with the designers, so that later there will be no misunderstandings.

With this document and visas on it, you return to the Power Grid, where your site is entered into its register, and the approximate time of arrival of specialists for technical connection is discussed. (Installing poles and wiring overhead electrical cable).

By the time the team arrives, you must install an electric meter in a place accessible for inspection, and also make grounding.

Keep in mind that the electrical networks carry out all work free of charge only up to the meter. All wiring around the house is carried out at your expense.

Having completed the electrical wiring around the house, you should receive an Electrical Measurement Technical Report. To do this, Power Grids send employees who measure the parameters of the internal network.

When the measurement results are ready, and are reflected in a document called “technical report on electrical measurements”, this document must be taken to the local Rostechnadzor office.

An application is submitted to Rostekhnadzor for the release of the Certificate of Admission and, in addition to the technical report on electrical measurements, an approved power supply project, documents of title to the land, house and technical conditions are attached to the application.

The admission certificate is issued within a month from the date of submission. After that, you can start entering the cable from the power line into the house, to the meter.

This is just an input, not a connection yet.

Input options

There are only two options for entering electricity into the house.

Air electrical cable gland

The most commonly used electrical air cable gland. It is the easiest to install and maintain. Com, and the cheapest.

If the connection source is at a distance of up to 10 meters from the house, the branch is made with an aluminum wire with a cross section of at least 16 sq. mm., if copper, then with a cross section of at least 4 sq. mm.

The distance between the posts is determined based on the terrain, should not exceed 25 m.

Underground electrical cable entry

Another option is underground electrical cable entry. It is much more expensive both in terms of materials and the cost of work. On the other hand, there will be no wires hanging over your head that can spoil the impression of the beauty of landscape design.

First, the cable goes down from the post from which the input is made. At the level of 2 meters from the ground, the cable is enclosed in a protective pipe, through which it goes underground, where it enters the system of hidden communications, made, for example, from pipes leading to the house.

The depth of the cable laying when crossing streets, regardless of voltage, is 1 m. It is allowed to reduce the laying depth to 0.5 m in short sections with a length of 5 m. When entering the cable into buildings, as well as at the points of intersection with other underground structures, when provided that the cable is protected from mechanical damage.

Laying cables under the foundations of buildings and structures is prohibited. When laying the cable in the planting area, the distance from it to the tree trunks must be at least 2 m.

Making grounding

Grounding is a structure consisting of massive metal parts fastened together. Horizontal parts fit into a trench to a depth of half a meter. According to the rules, vertical parts are welded to them, which should go into the depth of the earth below the groundwater level.

A metal strip is welded to one of the horizontal grounding elements, which fits to the wall of the house, and to it, in turn, a grounding cable is attached, leading to the internal wiring network.

Naturally, we will not describe in detail the technical requirements for the grounding device in this article. This is not a legal issue. However, you must remember that everything must be done according to the rules approved by the technical supervision authorities, otherwise your work will simply not be accepted.

In addition to properly made grounding, you need to install an electricity meter.

Counter

First of all, you need to buy a meter.

This is not difficult to do at any electrical store. We advise you to purchase domestic meters, because imported ones may not have a “correct” certificate of conformity, and they simply will not be “accepted” by a representative of the Electric Network.

The counter must first be programmed. This is done by the inspector of Zhilenergoservis (in different regions, this structure may have a different name). However, to program the meter, you need to connect it to the mains. And you have no current yet. You can, of course, draw an extension cord from a neighbor, but the neighbor may not be there when the inspector arrives. Therefore, it is better not to call the inspector at home, but to put the meter in a box and take it to Zhilenergoservis yourself..

After the counter is programmed, it must be sealed. This is done by the organization that is engaged in energy supervision in your region..

After sealing, the meter can be installed in place, and the internal electrical network of the house can be connected to it, the inspector who sealed it issues an appropriate acceptance document and records the meter data. (As a rule, there are not zeros there, because the manufacturers check the meters before the sale and there it runs a little).

After sealing the meter, the entire electrical network, including appliances and household appliances connected to sockets, as well as lamps, grounding devices, etc., is checked by an employee of the Regional Electricity Networks Office (or its equivalent in your region). Based on the check, an “Act of inspection and access to operation” is issued.

But this document is not the last one either. You also need to get a certificate of absence of debt from the accounting department of the local Electricity network. It is issued upon presentation of the “Certificate of inspection and access to operation”. (The latter is not clear at all, because this debt had nowhere to form. After all, your house is not connected yet).

After that, Energosbyt (or its analogue in your region), signs a power supply agreement with you.

After that, you can already send an electrician to the pole. True, not any, but a licensed representative of Electric Networks.

And finally, the electrician climbed onto the pole, and connected your lead-in cable to the general power lines. It took him no more than fifteen minutes..

How much did you spend on receiving papers?

Now you can use and pay by meter.

Gasification

Now let’s talk about the gasification of a country lady (dacha). At the same time, it should be emphasized that, speaking of gasification, we mean exclusively laying a gas pipe to your section from the main pipeline. Autonomous gasification issues (cylinders, etc.) are not of a legal nature and are not considered in this article.

Gasification is also not an easy task.

First of all, as mentioned above, if there is no high pressure gas main at a reasonable distance from your summer house, then all efforts will be in vain.

Therefore, let’s talk about a favorable situation when you built your new house in a place where there are already gasified summer cottages, which means that you can become one of those lucky ones who have a warm and cozy house all year round, without the hassle of firewood, coal, diesel fuel and other less convenient energy sources.

How is the registration of permission to connect to this magic pipe, which will turn your summer cottage into a modern home equipped with all city amenities?

To connect to a centralized gas main, you need to go through several stages.

First of all, you will need to get an approval for the work and technical conditions in your local branch of “Oblgaz”. The procedure is everywhere, almost identical. Therefore, we will consider it using the example of the Moscow Region State Unitary Enterprise “Mosoblgaz”.

So, in order to obtain technical specifications, the following documents should be submitted to the State Unitary Enterprise “Mosoblgaz”:

1. Application on the form that will be given to you at the Mosoblgaz office.
2. Copy of your passport.
3. Title documents for a land plot and a house:
   1. For buildings that have already been put into operation, you must provide ANY of the documents listed below.
      • certificate of registration of ownership of the house;
      • a contract of sale, donation, exchange or a certificate of the right to inherit this property, which was registered by the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography;
      • lease agreement, with an attachment in which the owner agrees to the gasification of his residential building.
      • The act of acceptance of your house into operation..
      • technical passport of the building (this document does not have a statute of limitations), issued by an organization that had the authority to implement technical inventory (BTI or its analogues), as a document confirming the fact of the creation of this residential building.
      • permission to commission this property.
   2. For real estate objects that are under construction or design, you must provide ANY of these documents:
      • certificate of registration of rights to a land plot with a cadastral plan of the land plot attached to it.
      • certificate of registration of property rights or perpetual use.
      • contract of sale, donation, exchange or certificate of inheritance.
      • lease agreement, with the owner’s consent attached to it for gasification of a house under construction.
      • Resolution of the Head of Administration on the placement of a construction site in this place on a preliminary basis, or Resolution of the Administration with a design permit, taking into account the requirements of the standard design and construction timeframes approved by the Government of the Moscow Region.
      • Permit for construction, signed by the Head of the Administration of this municipality.
4. Situational plan for the location of a gasified structure (A4 format).
5. Permission issued by the Fuel and Energy Committee of the Moscow Region for the use of natural gas as fuel.

On the fifth point, a reservation should be made that this document is not required in cases when it comes to installing equipment with a capacity of up to 0.5 Gcal / hour and a maximum fuel consumption of up to 0.1 thousand tons per year, per individual , and in a number of other cases provided for in the Orders of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and OJSC “GAZPROM”. However, you will be told in detail about such exceptions in your local department of “Oblgaz”.

After receiving the Technical Specifications, you must order from a design organization that has the appropriate license, a project for connecting gas to your house and receive an Order for land work.

The design organization will carry out the so-called “design and survey work” on your site and issue a project.

We draw your attention to the fact that the design organization is obliged not only to prepare a project for connecting gas to your house, but also to agree on this project in all interested authorities.

After you have received all these documents, it is time to engage a construction company to work on a contractual basis, which will dig a trench from the main gas pipeline to your house, lay the pipe in the trench, and connect it to the input to your house..

We remind you that you must conclude a contract with your contractor and agree on a work estimate. Everything should be strictly official. No “spontaneous brigades”.

And further. Don’t forget to bargain. Even in the presence of approved tariffs, the contractor can and should always be “moved” at the price. After all, all work, from design to pipe laying, is done at your expense..

Immediately before the “tie-in” into the main gas pipeline, you must submit all the documentation you have to the gas trust at the location of your summer cottage. Only after that you will be given permission to insert into the main gas pipeline, and to start gas supply to the house.

When connecting a house to a gas pipeline, it is recommended to immediately install gas meters.

We do not give in this article even the average prices for design work, laying communications and connecting an electric cable or gas pipe to the house. They vary greatly in different regions, so we do not want to mislead anyone. You need to find out yourself on the spot.

Let’s just say that connecting electricity and gas is very expensive..

However, it’s worth it.