Power is calculated,
not hoped for.
The most common sentence before an event is "there's power". What people usually mean is: there is a socket. That is something else. Whether it is enough depends not on the socket but on how many independent circuits there are, how they are protected, and what else is already on them. The good news: you can work it out in fifteen minutes, and it takes no training — only a list.
Step 1: write down everything that draws power
Don't estimate, list. Every device has a power rating in watts, usually on a label or in the data sheet. Lighting, sound, video — but also the fridges behind the bar, patio heaters, coffee machines, the beer tap. The secondary loads are the ones that get forgotten, because they are not "the technical side" — and they are the big ones.
Step 2: what a normal circuit carries
A typical household circuit is usually protected at 16 amps, so roughly three and a half kilowatts. What matters: that applies to the whole CIRCUIT, not to each socket. Several outlets in one room almost always hang off the same breaker. So three sockets do not give you three times the capacity. How many separate circuits there really are is written in the fuse box — or known by the caretaker.
Step 3: allow headroom, and be generous about it
Planned to the limit means: fine normally, not fine when something goes wrong. And at events, things going wrong is normal — somebody plugs in a patio heater, the band brings an extra amplifier, it gets colder than expected. As a steer: treat the calculated total as a ceiling rather than a target and you will usually be right. Headroom costs nothing while planning and costs you the evening when it is missing.
When three-phase or a generator becomes necessary
As soon as several trades come together, household supply no longer covers it — then you need a stronger connection and a distribution unit that turns it into clean separate circuits. The advantage is not only quantity: separate circuits mean a fault in the lighting does not take the sound with it. On an open field there is no way around a generator; there, two questions come in that are easily forgotten — how loud is it, and does the tank last the whole event.
The part where saving money stops
Residual-current devices are not an equipment choice. At events, people, cables and often moisture are in the same place, and the protection works precisely when it matters. Then the boring side: running cables where nobody trips over them, and covering the crossings where paths meet. This is the most invisible part of the work and the part to argue about least.
- ▸Write down every item separately — including the fridge and the patio heater
- ▸A household circuit carries roughly 3.5 kW — the CIRCUIT, not the socket
- ▸Find out how many separate circuits there actually are
- ▸Treat the calculated total as a ceiling, not a target
- ▸Several trades together: a distribution unit with separate outputs
- ▸Outdoors with no connection: a generator — quiet enough, with enough fuel
- ▸Residual-current protection and covered cable runs are not negotiable
Every setup is cut to the venue, the guest count and the running order — this list is a starting point, not a packing list.
What we get asked most often.
That is not something to guess at, but something to calculate. All we need is the list of equipment and the number of separate circuits — the kitchen and the heating are the usual surprises. The answer takes under fifteen minutes.
With sensibly divided circuits, part of the setup goes out instead of all of it — that is exactly what the dividing is for. We plan so that sound and emergency lighting are not on the same circuit as whatever draws the most.
Bigger than the calculated total, and quiet enough for where it stands. Both depend on the individual case — tell us where the guests will be sitting and how long it has to run, and the answer becomes reliable.
Yes. Particularly where several companies come together, it makes sense for one of them to plan the power for everyone — otherwise each calculates only their own part, and the total does not add up. There is more on this on our power supply page.
Tell us about
your event.
Send us the basics — you get an honest assessment and a quote shortly afterwards. No obligation, and nobody chases you about it afterwards.
We usually reply within 24 hours.