Mains cable going into property

medmmm

Was doing some work inside my front gate replacing posts and hit mains electric cable 
electricity company are not billing me for the works carried out , am I responsible for this ???

Farway

medmmm said:

Was doing some work inside my front gate replacing posts and hit mains electric cable 
electricity company are not billing me for the works carried out , am I responsible for this ???

Depends if you were using a spade or a JCB I guess

Mains cables should be way deeper than spade depth, and covered by shielding of some sort to warn anyone digging as you did

maybe lack of this is why they are not charging you?

macman

So you avoided being 'charged' twice then?

medmmm

Just read my original post they are charging me bill is £2,179.76 

medmmm

We were using a kango hammer but the cable runs along outside my neighbours property then into mine 

Hasbeen

medmmm said:

Just read my original post they are charging me bill is £2,179.76 

Perhaps ammend your original post, take out not?

Check your property insurance, usually covered there.

Gerry1

Hasbeen said:

medmmm said:

Just read my original post they are charging me bill is £2,179.76 

Perhaps amend your original post, take out not?

Not > now?

Soot2006

We hit the main cable that was under a fenceline and much too low in ground. They charged us around £3k as well. We did pay it but then were advised that because of the location we could have got away with not paying.  Got a solicitor to write a letter to power networks and they refunded it minus a small admin fee. Legally, I have no idea who was reposnsible but they obviously couldn't be bothered to fight over it so it was worth the £150 of the solicitor ...

Not sure if this helps the OP very much; but highlights it's not always black/white

Mister_G

How deep was the cable you hit?  It should be at least 45cm below the surface.  If it was not, then the electricity provider should be liable.

JC_Derby

Mister_G said:

How deep was the cable you hit?  It should be at least 45cm below the surface.  If it was not, then the electricity provider should be liable.

This is utter rubbish. There are no minimum depth requirements for cable lay and even NJUg use only guidelines....who is to say whether or not ground hadn’t been taken away by you or previous owners or any other parties.
OP if you haven’t requested plans (free from your DNO) or used cable location equipment then you are liable...whether or not the company decides to charge you is there decision. 

Regarding the cable route, not sure where you would expect the cable to come from? It’s got to run past a neighbours property to get to yours?

JC_Derby

Farway said:

medmmm said:

Was doing some work inside my front gate replacing posts and hit mains electric cable 
electricity company are not billing me for the works carried out , am I responsible for this ???

Depends if you were using a spade or a JCB I guess

Mains cables should be way deeper than spade depth, and covered by shielding of some sort to warn anyone digging as you did

maybe lack of this is why they are not charging you?

Farway you are wrong cable
 depths are only guidelines. There are no requirements for markers or shielding...I would suspect most DNO laid cables now probably are covered with yellow danger tape and may be ducted and possibly sanded...NON of those things are requirements and historically those cables may have been laid by developers so no guarantees that any of those things are done.

What you stated above is a dangerous misconception that is incorrect.