EV charger
A typical home charger can add around 7kW of demand for several hours at a time.
If neighbouring properties share part of the service cable, the DNO needs to consider the combined load rather than looking only at one house.
Home electricity connections explained
What is a looped electricity supply?
Millions of British homes still share part of their incoming electricity connection with a neighbouring property.
Most homeowners never know it — until they try to install an EV charger, heat pump, larger solar system or other equipment that significantly changes how much electricity the property uses or sends back to the network.
The short answer
Two houses can have separate meters but share one incoming electricity service.
A normal modern domestic connection usually has its own service cable running from the local network to the property's electricity cut-out and meter position.
With a looped service, the network cable may enter one property and then continue onwards to supply the neighbouring property.
In some areas, more than two properties can be connected in a chain.
The important distinction
The properties share part of the physical electricity connection. They do not share the meter, electricity account or electricity bill.
What does it look like?
A simple looped-supply example.
Street network
Local low-voltage electricity cable
→
House A
Own cut-out, own meter and own electricity account
→
House B
Own cut-out, own meter and own electricity account
The problem is not that House B's electricity runs through House A's meter.
The issue is that part of the upstream cable capacity is shared by both properties.
Why did Britain do this?
Looped supplies made sense when household electricity demand was much lower.
Looped services were an established way of supplying groups of houses, particularly terraced and semi-detached properties.
They reduced the amount of individual service cabling needed when many homes were being connected.
In the second half of the twentieth century, a typical home simply did not place today's demands on the local electricity network.
There were no 7kW home EV chargers.
Gas commonly provided most household heating.
Home batteries did not exist.
Roofs were not feeding several kilowatts of solar generation back towards the network.
Domestic electricity demand was considerably simpler.
The connection has not suddenly become defective because technology has changed.
We are simply asking old network arrangements to perform a much bigger job than their designers originally expected.
This is not a niche problem
Government research estimates around 3.9 million looped connections across Great Britain.
3.9m
Estimated looped electricity connections across Great Britain in
government-sponsored research published in 2026.
<1%
Of the estimated looped connections had been unlooped during the
current RIIO-ED2 period by January 2025.
Reactive
Most de-looping still begins when a homeowner tries to install a
low-carbon technology rather than through widespread proactive replacement.
The research also points to a basic information problem: Distribution Network Operators do not have perfect records showing every looped property.
That is one reason the issue is often discovered only when an installer submits an EV, heat-pump or other low-carbon technology application.
Why homeowners suddenly hear about it
The loop may have caused no obvious problem for fifty years — until the house needs much more power.
Heat pump
Moving heating from gas to electricity adds a substantial new electrical load, particularly during colder weather when heating demand across a neighbourhood can rise together.
Solar panels
Solar changes the direction of power flow. Instead of electricity only arriving at the property, surplus generation can travel back towards the local network.
A looped supply does not automatically prohibit every solar installation, but the service arrangement can form part of the connection assessment.
Home batteries
A battery can charge from the grid and later discharge several kilowatts into the home or towards the network.
The DNO therefore cares about the battery system's power capability and control arrangements, not merely its storage capacity in kWh.
EV chargers
Can I install a 7kW EV charger if my supply is looped?
This is one of the most common ways the problem is discovered.
Current DNO guidance requires looped services to be referred for assessment when significant additional electrical demand such as an EV charger is proposed.
The DNO may decide that the shared supply must be replaced with independent services before the charger can operate as proposed.
In some circumstances an approved load-limiting or load-management arrangement may provide another solution.
Do not find out on charger-installation day.
If there is any suspicion that the service is looped, get the DNO position established before the charger is ordered and the installation date is booked.
Solar and looping
Does a looped supply mean I cannot have solar?
Not necessarily.
This needs more care than simply saying:
“Looped supply = no solar.”
That is too simplistic.
A small solar installation, a larger G99 system, solar combined with battery storage and a property adding major new electrical loads are very different network propositions.
What matters is the actual equipment, inverter power, possible import and export flows, service-cable arrangement and the DNO's assessment of the local network.
The survey should identify the problem early.
The right question is not simply “Can this roof take solar?” It is also “Can this property's electrical connection support the system being proposed?”
What about batteries?
A battery can make the electrical picture more complicated.
A battery is sometimes spoken about as if it were simply a large box that stores spare solar energy.
Electrically, it can do much more than that.
It can charge from the electricity network.
It can charge from solar.
It can discharge rapidly into the home.
Depending on configuration, it may be capable of exporting towards the network.
That means the relevant figure is not simply the battery's capacity in kilowatt-hours.
The inverter's power rating and the controls governing import and export also matter.
Spotting the problem
How can I tell whether my house is looped?
Look at the cut-out area
The electricity cut-out is normally close to the meter and contains the DNO's main fuse.
More than one service cable entering or leaving the cut-out can be a strong indication of a looped arrangement.
But one cable does not prove you are independent
A property at the end of a loop may appear to have only one service cable because there is no onward cable to another house.
Underground service arrangements can also be difficult to identify visually.
Ask the DNO
The Distribution Network Operator may have records showing the service arrangement.
Unfortunately, national research has confirmed that these records are not always complete.
A site investigation may be necessary
Where records and photographs do not establish the answer, the DNO may need to inspect or investigate the service before deciding what work is required.
Do not remove covers or interfere with the cut-out.
DNO service equipment contains live electrical connections and sealed components. Identification should be based on safe visual evidence and professional/DNO assessment, not dismantling equipment.
De-looping
What actually happens when a house is de-looped?
In simple terms, the shared service arrangement is replaced so that the affected homes have suitable independent electricity connections.
The exact work depends entirely on how the existing network was laid out.
A survey of the existing service may be required.
A new cable route may be planned from the street main.
The pavement, garden or driveway may need excavation.
Old cut-out equipment may be replaced.
The electricity supply will normally need to be switched off during part of the work.
The excavation should then be reinstated.
SSEN advises that a normal supply interruption for its de-looping work may last half a day or more depending on the excavation and site conditions.
The neighbour question
Why can next door become part of my electrical upgrade?
Because the connection is shared, removing the loop can involve more than one property.
The DNO may need access to the neighbouring meter position or land, may need both households available at the same time and may have to coordinate interruptions to more than one supply.
This is one reason a technically straightforward cable replacement can take longer to organise than the homeowner expects.
It is a network problem, not a neighbour dispute.
Access rights, cable routes and any legal issues surrounding the network are matters for the DNO to manage. Homeowners should not try to redesign or alter shared service equipment themselves.
Cost
Does the homeowner have to pay for de-looping?
Often, no — but do not assume every job is free.
Current DNO guidance shows that ordinary domestic de-looping required to accommodate low-carbon technologies is frequently undertaken without charging the homeowner for the basic network work.
SSEN says it can usually unloop a typical household supply of up to 100A per phase free of charge where the work is required for equipment such as an EV charger or heat pump.
SP Energy Networks also carries out planned de-looping programmes free of charge in selected areas.
Charges can still arise where the customer requests additional work, relocation, non-standard alterations or capacity beyond the normal domestic arrangement.
“De-looping is always free” would be the wrong promise.
The DNO should confirm what network work it will fund and whether any part of the customer's requested project is chargeable before work begins.
Timescales
How long does de-looping take?
There is no single national promise that every domestic de-looping job will be completed within a particular number of weeks.
The UK government's Connections Action Plan has specifically identified the absence of Guaranteed Standards of Performance for unlooping timescales and has cited lengthy de-looping delays as a barrier to low-carbon technology installations.
Real timescales can depend on:
how quickly the loop can be confirmed;
whether network records are accurate;
whether a site survey is needed;
the cable route;
excavation requirements;
road or pavement permits;
neighbour access;
the need to replace other ageing network equipment;
and DNO workload.
The best time to discover a looped supply is during the planning
stage — not when an installer arrives with the new equipment.
A national bottleneck?
Could millions of looped homes slow Britain's move to EVs and electric heating?
Potentially.
Government research published in 2026 described the current rate of de-looping as a possible future bottleneck as adoption of EVs, heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies increases.
The problem is partly physical and partly informational.
Britain needs to upgrade large numbers of old service connections, while DNOs do not yet have perfect visibility of exactly which homes are looped.
That creates a very inefficient process if millions of connections are discovered only when individual householders request an EV charger or heat pump.
The government's Warm Homes Plan now expects DNOs to develop more ambitious, evidence-based proactive unlooping programmes for the next distribution price-control period.
Does every loop need removing?
Not necessarily — smarter control can sometimes avoid major cable work.
There is an important counterpoint.
Physically replacing every looped service immediately would be enormously disruptive and expensive.
Government and DNO guidance recognises that some properties may be able to use load-management technology instead.
For example, a control system might temporarily reduce EV charging when other household demand becomes high.
G100-compliant control systems can also be used in appropriate designs to manage import or export limits.
The goal is capacity — not digging for the sake of digging.
If approved controls can safely allow the household to use the required technology without replacing the service, that may be a sensible solution. Where the underlying service genuinely needs more capacity, de-looping remains the more substantial upgrade.
Before buying equipment
A sensible homeowner sequence.
Inspect
Have the supply, cut-out, fuse rating, meter position and visible service cables checked during the survey.
Identify
If looping is suspected, establish the DNO's view before finalising equipment or installation dates.
Assess demand
Include EV charging, heat pumps, immersion heating, batteries and other significant electrical loads.
Assess generation
Solar and battery inverter ratings should be considered alongside any G98, G99 or export-limitation requirements.
Resolve the connection
Obtain the DNO decision on de-looping, load management or any other required network work.
Then install
Finalise the equipment once the electrical connection can support what the homeowner actually intends to use.
What a proper survey should record
The meter cupboard matters just as much as the roof.
Wide photograph of the meter area
Shows the overall electrical arrangement.
Shows the overall electrical arrangement.
Close photograph of the cut-out and main fuse
Helps establish equipment type and visible service cables.
Helps establish equipment type and visible service cables.
Main-fuse rating
Where safely visible, this helps establish the apparent supply capacity.
Where safely visible, this helps establish the apparent supply capacity.
Incoming cable evidence
More than one service cable can be an important clue to looping.
More than one service cable can be an important clue to looping.
Consumer-unit information
The customer's own electrical installation also needs to be suitable for the proposed equipment.
The customer's own electrical installation also needs to be suitable for the proposed equipment.
Existing and proposed major loads
EV chargers, heat pumps, electric showers and other high-demand appliances all form part of the picture.
EV chargers, heat pumps, electric showers and other high-demand appliances all form part of the picture.
Official guidance checked
This is an active area of UK network reform.
This homeowner guide was reviewed against current material available in August 2026, including:
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero — Unlooping Electricity Network Connections Research, 2026.
- UK Government — Warm Homes Plan.
- UK Government and Ofgem — Electricity Networks Connections Action Plan.
- Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks — Looped Service guidance.
- SP Energy Networks — Planned Service Unlooping guidance.
- Energy Networks Association — low-carbon technology cut-out and looped-service guidance.
Individual connections vary. The Distribution Network Operator's assessment and current engineering requirements take precedence over this general homeowner guide.
Frequently asked questions
Looped electricity supplies answered.
What is a looped electricity supply?
It is an arrangement where two or more neighbouring properties share part of the electricity service cable connecting them to the local distribution network. Each home still has its own meter and electricity account.
Is a looped electricity supply dangerous?
A properly maintained looped service is not automatically dangerous. It was an accepted network design. The problem is that modern equipment can create much greater electrical demand than the shared service was originally expected to supply.
How do I know if my supply is looped?
Two service cables at the cut-out can indicate looping, but visual inspection is not always conclusive. A property at the end of a loop may show only one cable and underground arrangements can be difficult to identify. The DNO may need to check records or investigate.
Can I install an EV charger on a looped supply?
The proposed charger should be referred to the DNO before installation where a looped service is present. The DNO may require de-looping or may approve an appropriate load-management solution.
Can I install solar panels on a looped supply?
A loop does not automatically make every solar installation impossible. The answer depends on the proposed generation, inverter, battery system, import and export behaviour and the network connection. Larger or more complex systems may require additional assessment.
Do batteries matter on a looped supply?
Yes. Batteries can create significant charging and discharging power flows. Their inverter power rating and controls therefore matter even though the battery itself is normally described by an energy capacity in kWh.
What does de-looping mean?
It means replacing the shared service arrangement with suitable independent connections. Work can include a new service cable, excavation, cut-out replacement and a temporary electricity interruption.
Is de-looping free?
Many ordinary domestic de-looping works required for low-carbon technologies are funded by the DNO, but that should not be assumed for every project. Additional alterations or non-standard capacity requirements can be chargeable.
How long does de-looping take?
There is no single guaranteed national timescale. Surveys, excavation, permits, neighbour access, network records and the amount of engineering work required can all affect the schedule.
How common are looped connections?
Government-sponsored research published in 2026 estimated around 3.9 million looped connections across Great Britain. The exact number is uncertain because DNO records do not perfectly identify every loop.
Does my neighbour's electricity pass through my meter?
No. The shared part is the physical network connection. Each property has its own meter and consumption is recorded separately.
Who carries out de-looping?
The local Distribution Network Operator is normally responsible for the service cable and cut-out. Metering, meter tails or the homeowner's own electrical installation may also require the electricity supplier or a qualified electrician.
Related Tom Solar guides
Understand the electrical side of solar.
Before installation
Check the electricity connection before designing around it.
Roof dimensions are only one part of a proper solar or electrification survey.
A house can have an excellent south-facing roof and plenty of space for panels while the electricity connection below it creates the actual project delay.
Finding that out early gives the DNO, homeowner and installer time to resolve the connection before equipment and installation dates depend upon it.