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Before the survey: can my home take a charger?

Work through these six steps by looking at your own property. Each step explains what to look for and why it matters. At the end you get a short checklist to take to an installer's survey.

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1. Where will the car usually park?

Look at where the car will sit most nights. This affects where the cable can run and whether anyone else needs to agree to the work.

2. Consumer unit, meter and main fuse

Find your consumer unit (fuse box) and, next to or near the meter, the main service fuse. The fuse rating is usually printed or embossed on it, often "60", "80" or "100", followed by "A".

3. Rough cable run

Pace out, or roughly measure, the route a cable would take from the consumer unit to where the charger would sit. Add a bit extra for corners, doorways or going round a wall.

4. Single-phase or three-phase supply

Open the consumer unit cover (or look at the meter tails going into it) and count the large incoming cables. One thick cable usually means single-phase. Three thick cables, often with three separate meter dials or a three-phase meter, means three-phase.

5. Type of earthing

Look at where the earth cable connects. If it joins the same cable sheath as the supplier's incoming neutral, that is usually a combined neutral and earth (often labelled PME). If instead you can see a separate green-and-yellow cable running outside to a metal rod or spike in the ground, that is a TT earth. A lead-sheathed incoming cable with its own earth tail is TN-S. If none of this is clear, say so.

6. Shared or looped supply

Check whether your meter tails come from a box that also feeds a neighbour's meter, or whether you can see a second meter close by fed from the same incoming cable. This is called a looped supply and may need your electricity network operator to resolve it before any charger work can proceed.