Underground

To be eligible for a payment for an underground cable, the following must apply:

• There must be a high voltage (i.e. not 240v) cable crossing under your property/garden/land which must not be just supplying your property only (for wayleave payments for underground 240v cables, please see our Low Voltage page).
• You must be the current property/land owner and not a tenant.
• A permanent rights payment must not have been paid to a previous owner of the property (we will check this as part of the application process).

How much will I receive?

Each claim will be individually assessed to see if it meets the eligibility criteria, and if it does, a commensurate compensation payment will be agreed. Claim payments agreed to date have typically been between £1,500 to £10,000 for permanent agreements and £500 to £5,000 for termed wayleave agreements for high voltage underground cable claims.

What exactly is the payment for?

It is very often the case that no formal rights or consent agreement exists allowing the electricity company’s cables to cross under your property or land. What should be in place is an agreement known as a Wayleave or an Easement. The electricity companies across the UK are all attending to this issue (and have been for a number of years now) by offering affected property owners a one off payment partly in return for a Deed of Permanent Easement or a fixed term Wayleave and partly in recognition of the general negative impact of their apparatus on your property. This is not a matter of litigation as the electricity companies want and need to update their rights of passage correctly for every property in the UK.

If there is a Wayleave currently in place it is highly unlikely that it will accurately reflect your actual current circumstances as it is likely to date from several years ago and as such we will still be able to secure a new or updated agreement and payment for you.