Three-Phase Power Upgrades in Melbourne

Three-Phase Power Upgrades across Melbourne

Converting a single-phase property to three-phase, upgrading consumer mains and the main earth, and relocating meter boxes where the supply has to move.

Litmec specialises in project electrical work — switchboard and supply upgrades, three-phase conversions, full and partial rewiring, renovation and extension rough-ins, and commercial and industrial fitout. Smaller jobs are taken on as part of a larger scope or for established clients.

What the work involves

Going from single-phase to three-phase is not a switchboard job with a bigger board on the end of it. The distributor has to provide the additional phases at the point of attachment, the consumer mains have to be replaced with cable rated for the new supply, the main earth and the earthing system have to be brought up to current requirements, and the switchboard has to be rebuilt around a three-phase main switch with the existing circuits balanced sensibly across the phases. Where the meter box also has to move — because the existing position will not take a larger enclosure, or the run is too long — that becomes part of the same job rather than a separate one.

What usually brings it forward

The triggers we see most often are:

• a ducted air conditioning system the existing supply cannot carry
• an EV charger — or a second one — on a house already close to its limit
• an induction cooktop replacing gas, often alongside a full kitchen renovation
• a workshop, pool, lift or pottery kiln with a genuine three-phase load
• a second storey or large extension that roughly doubles the connected load

Why it is worth doing properly

The reason to do it properly is that a supply upgrade done halfway just relocates the bottleneck. Putting a larger board on undersized mains, or adding phases without rebalancing the circuits, produces an installation that looks upgraded and behaves exactly as it did before. We assess the whole path from the point of attachment in.

What to expect on the day

Expect the supply to be off for a substantial part of the day, and expect the distributor to be involved — the additional phases are their work, not ours, and their attendance has to be booked rather than assumed. We tell you honestly which parts of the timeline we control and which we do not. Where the existing board can be re-used as a sub-board it will be, and where it cannot we say so before the job rather than after it.

What it costs

Three-phase work is priced per project after a site inspection, because the cost is driven by the run length from the point of attachment, whether the distributor has to attend, and what the existing switchboard can be re-used for.

Quotes are free, fixed-price and given after a site inspection. What is quoted is what is paid, and a Certificate of Electrical Safety is issued on completion.

Where we do this work

Litmec is based in Newport in Melbourne's inner west and travels for project work — across Greater Melbourne and out to roughly 100 km where the scope justifies the trip. Switchboard and supply upgrades, three-phase conversions, rewiring, renovation rough-ins and commercial fitout are quoted anywhere in that radius. The regions we publish suburb pages for are the bayside, east, inner city, inner east, inner north-west, inner south, inner west, west. Suburb pages for this service: Toorak, Armadale, South Yarra, Hampton, Sandringham, Black Rock, Essendon, Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds, Richmond, Kew, Hawthorn, Camberwell, Malvern, Balwyn, Box Hill, Doncaster, Glen Waverley, Point Cook, West Footscray, Newport, Williamstown, Yarraville, Spotswood, Altona, Footscray, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Albert Park, Brighton, Altona North, Brooklyn, Tottenham, Sunshine, Laverton, West Melbourne.

Whether three-phase is actually the right answer is worth establishing before anything is quoted — sometimes a single-phase supply upgrade and a rebuilt board does the same job for considerably less. Call 0418 583 097 to talk it through.