A new connection runs in a fixed order that cannot be shortcut, and most of the elapsed time sits with the network operator rather than with anything a customer or a consultant does.
Verification
- Verified as at:
- Source:
- Omnium method; network operator timescales vary by operator and by job
- Last reviewed by:
- Omnium
Figures in this sheet were current at the verification date above. Regulated charges reset each April. If you are relying on a figure, check the source or ask us.
A4 board pack. Cover page, then a running head and foot on every page.
The order
- Application and design. The network operator assesses what the site needs and what the network can carry, and issues a quotation.
- Acceptance and payment. The quotation is accepted and paid. Nothing is programmed until it is.
- Physical works. The operator installs the service and the connection.
- Supply point issued. The site receives its MPAN or MPRN, which is where the connection work ends and the supply work begins.
Why it takes as long as it does
The timescale is set by the network operator’s programme, not by how urgently the site needs it. Design capacity, planning, road access and the operator’s own workload all sit outside anyone else’s control.
Quotations carry validity periods, and letting one lapse means requoting rather than resuming. Payment is what starts the clock on the works.
We will give you the operator’s stated timescales rather than an optimistic one, and we will tell you when a programme date is at risk rather than after it has slipped.
What Omnium does and does not do
We manage the application, review the quotation, challenge the design where the numbers do not support it, and hold the programme.
We do not carry out connection works. Those are the network operator’s, or an independent connection provider’s.
The order matters
A site cannot have a meter before it has a supply point, and cannot have a supply contract before it has a meter point number. Sequencing work in the wrong order is the most common reason a project slips.
Related sheets
- New meter connections
What happens once a supply point number exists. Contract, metering appointment, meter fit, in that order.
- Meter types explained
Half-hourly, non-half-hourly, AMR, smart and unmetered supplies, what each means for billing and data, and why the meter type decides what you can see.
- Network charges and agreed capacity
Why regulated network charges rose sharply in April 2026, and why the capacity you reserve is a lever most businesses have never pulled.
Take this sheet into a meeting
New connections exports as an A4 board pack: a cover page carrying the title and the verification date, then the sheet itself with a running head and foot on every page.
If this sheet raises a question about your own sites, speak to us.