A charger goes where the car parks, but its electricity comes from wherever the consumer unit happens to be, and on plenty of Bishop’s Stortford houses those two points sit at opposite ends of the building. The line between them decides most of the job. Our Bishop’s Stortford EV charger guide covers fuses, the network and grants for CM23 and CM22; this one is only about position.
Position matters here because of the housing. At the 2021 Census, 32.6% of households in the town’s built-up area lived in detached houses and 28.8% in semis, against 17.9% in terraces and 20.7% in flats. Privately kept plug-in vehicles across East Hertfordshire rose from 3,882 to about 5,327 in the year to June 2026 (DVLA), and each one charged at home in Thorley, Windhill or Hockerill needs a fixed place to plug in.
Start where the car parks, not where the meter is
Stand where the car’s charging flap ends up when you park the way you normally do, nose in or reversed, and think about a second car if there is one. A tethered cable that has to stretch round a bonnet every evening is a daily irritation. On a detached house with a long drive, the obvious wall can be the wrong one if the car sits halfway down; on a semi in Parsonage, the side wall by the gate can be closer to the flap than the front of the house. Decide this before the survey, because it fixes the end point of every other decision.
Wall, post or garage
Most chargers go on a wall: the front or side of the house, or the outside of a garage. Inside an integral or attached garage the unit is out of the weather and out of sight, which also helps on an older street. Where the parking space is away from any wall, at the far side of a wide Bishop’s Stortford drive for example, a charger can be mounted on a post at the space instead, with the cable run underground to it. That adds groundwork, so it appears as its own line on the quote. The SmartBee-M is rated IP65, so an exposed wall is not a problem for the unit itself.
Tethered or socketed
The SmartBee-M comes in both forms. Tethered, with the cable permanently attached, wins on day-to-day convenience. Socketed, where you keep your own cable in the car, is tidier on the wall and more future-proof if you change cars. On a semi where the charger faces the road, or on any house in the conservation area, a socketed unit with the cable stowed leaves the least to see. Both use a Type 2 connection, the standard fitting on new cars sold in the UK.
The cable run back to the consumer unit
A charger gets a dedicated circuit with its own protective devices, including the protection against a broken supply neutral that outdoor charging equipment requires. The route is priced by the metre and by the obstacle: through a wall, along a garage, under a path or across a drive. On the detached houses that make up nearly a third of the town’s homes, a consumer unit at the back and a car at the front can make the route the largest single item; on a semi with the consumer unit by the front door it can be a few metres. Our guide to EV charger installation cost shows how each item moves a quote.
The survey reads the main fuse at the same visit. A 7.4 kW charger draws 32 A continuously; on an 80 A main fuse that leaves 48 A for the rest of the house, and on 100 A, 68 A (our arithmetic). In a large house with an electric shower and an electric hob, load management turns the charger down while they run. Bishop’s Stortford sits well inside UK Power Networks’ Eastern Power Networks licence area, about 22.5 km from the nearest other licence boundary, and the installer notifies UKPN of the chargepoint.
Inside the conservation area
The Bishop’s Stortford Conservation Area was first designated in 1981 and reviewed in 1997, and it is one of 42 conservation areas in East Hertfordshire. The council’s appraisal records that the Stort Navigation, opened in 1769, prompted an economic boom, and that by 1800 the town was the largest national supplier of brown malt to London’s porter brewers.
East Herts confirmed two Article 4 directions for the area on 15 November 2017, and its leaflet says the direction for all properties brings the installation of renewable energy equipment on dwellings within the planning system, on all elevations. A charger is not renewable energy equipment, and we make no claim either way about how East Herts treats one under the direction. If your house is inside the area, we check the position with the council before a unit goes on any outside wall, and we start from the least visible option: a garage, a rear or side wall, or a post at the space.
Listed houses
On a listed house, whether fixing a charger and running its cable through the walls needs listed building consent is a question for East Herts, not for us. We raise it at the survey and fix nothing until you have the council’s answer. A detached garage, an outbuilding or a post at the parking space can keep the work off the listed building altogether, which is often the simplest route to a yes.
Terraces and flats
For the 17.9% of households in terraced houses without off-street space, the rule is the county’s: Hertfordshire County Council says private charging cables cannot be run across public roads, pavements and paths, and its cross-pavement channel trial covers St Albans postcodes AL1 to AL5 only. In the 20.7% of households in flats, a charger in a shared car park is the freeholder’s decision, and the 19.0% of households in the built-up area that rented privately at the Census need the landlord’s agreement first. Renters and flat owners with private off-street or allocated parking can get OZEV’s grant, 75% of the cost up to £500 per socket, which must be made through an OZEV-authorised installer; tell us your situation at the quote stage. Our guide to who qualifies for the EV chargepoint grant has the detail.
What to have ready for the survey
- A photo of the car parked where it usually sits, with the charging flap visible.
- A photo of the consumer unit and the main fuse housing. Do not open anything to take it.
- Whether you prefer a tethered or a socketed unit, and whether a second car is likely.
- Whether the house is listed or inside the conservation area, if you know.
- Whether panels may follow. If they might, say so: a charger and any future solar panels in Bishop’s Stortford both start at the consumer unit, so it helps to plan the routes together.
Sources: ONS, Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021, tables 1c, 5c and 6c, Bishop’s Stortford BUA; Department for Transport and DVLA, VEH0142 licensed plug-in vehicles by keepership and local authority, East Hertfordshire, private keepers, end of June 2025 and end of June 2026 (published 23 September 2026); East Herts District Council, Bishop’s Stortford Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (adopted December 2014), Bishop’s Stortford Conservation Area Article 4(1) Directions leaflet and Conservation Areas page; Hertfordshire County Council, Electric vehicles and Cross-pavement channel pages (read 19 October 2026); OZEV, Changes to electric vehicle chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026 (updated 7 July 2026); UK Power Networks, Licence Boundaries open dataset (17 December 2024); NESO, GIS boundaries for GB DNO licence areas (3 May 2024); EnSmart SmartBee-M specification as listed by its UK distributor.