The Opportunity

The objective of this Opportunity is to shortlist the submissions that best answer the brief, with the aim of attending a presentation day with the EIC Industry Partners, where it can be discussed in greater detail with a technical panel.

The EIC welcomes submissions from individual companies or companies working in collaboration with each other.

What is the problem? 

As the UK transitions towards net zero, there has been a large increase in the uptake of low carbon technologies (LCTs) such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, leading to a significant increase in power demand.

As a result, a growing number of customers require larger domestic fuses in their properties to prevent service cables from burning out. If a customer’s fuse is incorrectly upgraded by installing the incorrect size, this can lead to a risk of fire, property damage and injury.

UK Power Networks (UKPN) currently carry out around 5,600 fuse upgrades annually, with this number expected to increase to over 35,000 during the ED2 funding period (up to March 2028). It’s anticipated that the number of incorrect upgrades may also increase during this period.

To correctly replace domestic fuses, operational staff must identify the size, type and rating of the LV cables feeding the property. This is particularly the case for Paper Insulated Lead Covered (PILC) cables, as they can have up to four individual cores within the cable sheath.

It’s often difficult to identify cable characteristics upon initial visual inspection. Current practices include:

• Manually opening the cut out to reveal the cable core, requiring two operators
• Relying on operator experience and local knowledge to determine the cable characteristics without opening the cut out
• Checking for markings on the cable sheath, which are not always present.

Additionally, cable records kept by DNOs don’t always correctly record the size and location of the service cable.

Preferred Output

UKPN are aiming to help the net zero transition by supporting further uptake of LCTs. To accomplish this, they’re looking to develop a device to allow a single operator to identify the size, type and rating of LV service cables without opening the cable sheath.

The aim would be to:

• Avoid misidentification of LV service cables
• Upgrade fuses reliably and in a timely manner
• Reduce health and safety incidents caused by incorrect fuse replacements.