What makes up the price of a switchboard

Author: Volodymyr Ledok, technical director for production at LK Energy Group.
Manufacturing of 0.4–35 kV switchgear, own factory in Odesa.

The short answer (for those in a hurry)

The price of a custom board is made up of five parts: the diagram (how many connections and at what rating), the devices inside, the enclosure and its version, the secondary circuits with metering and automation, and testing with documentation. The largest share usually comes from the devices — which is exactly why two quotations for a board with the same name can differ several times over and both be honest.

Because of this, "how much does a board cost" is a question with no answer until there is a single-line diagram or a completed questionnaire. And one more thing worth knowing before you compare quotations: the same board to the same diagram appears on the market with a 30–50% spread. Below is what makes up the sum, what exactly gets trimmed when a quotation comes out cheaper than the others, how each such saving surfaces within one to three years, and how to compare two offers honestly.

A 30–50% spread on an identical diagram is not "working more efficiently". Steel, copper and switchgear components cost roughly the same for everyone; so does the work of a designer and an assembler. If two quotations for the same board differ by half again, someone has taken that difference out of something — and almost always out of what cannot be seen at acceptance. The customer finds out about it not on the day of signing, but a year or three later, when the board starts running hot, rusting, or failing to interrupt what it was supposed to interrupt.

Why the name in a quotation tells you nothing about the price

"ShchO-90 board", "KSO", "ATS cabinet" are not frame sizes but families. Within a family the product is defined by the diagram: how many incoming and outgoing panels, what busbar rating, whether there is a bus-section device, what current the outgoing lines carry, whether commercial metering is required.

Two boards with the same name can differ twofold in steel and threefold in devices. So a manufacturer who quotes a price before asking about the diagram is quoting the price of somebody else's board.

The five components of the price

1. The diagram and the number of connections

This is the framework of the whole calculation: the number of panels or cubicles, the busbar rating, whether sectionalising and redundancy are required. The diagram determines the enclosure size, the busbar cross-section and the number of devices — three cost items at once.

2. The devices

Usually the largest share of the sum. Three things drive it: the class of the devices (premium, mid-range, budget), the ratings and breaking capacity — dictated by the short-circuit currents in your network, not by preference — and availability from stock. A device "to order from Europe" costs differently from the same one held in stock in Ukraine.

3. The enclosure and its version

Steel and coating: galvanised steel with a 275 g/m² coating, stainless steel, or black steel with stove-baked powder coating. Then the IP rating and climatic version for the installation site, the access arrangement (single- or double-side), and any need for heating, ventilation or air conditioning. An outdoor board costs more than an identical board by diagram intended for a dry heated switchroom — and that is a different design, not a mark-up.

4. Secondary circuits, metering and automation

Current transformers of the required accuracy class, meters, protection relays, ATS schemes, telemetry, SCADA. Here the price grows not with the amount of steel but with the complexity of the secondary wiring diagram: it is engineered separately for every project.

5. Testing, documents, packing and delivery

Quality control and testing in an accredited electrical laboratory, a datasheet with the serial number, test reports, the packing list. Plus transport packaging and delivery — for large products this is a noticeable item, especially when a crane is needed on site.

What gets cut, and what nobody mentions

Below is what does occur on the market and what cannot be seen at acceptance: the board looks new, the devices click, the lamps come on. For each item, how it surfaces within one to three years. Where there is a standard or a figure from a datasheet, we name it; where it is an observation from our service practice, we say so.

1. Enclosure coating

What is done: painting over black steel instead of using galvanised steel — while the paint is intact, telling them apart is almost impossible.

How it surfaces: corrosion starts not on the flat surface but at cut edges, holes and fixing points, where the coating is thinnest. First blistering under the paint, then rust around the door perimeter. For an outdoor board or an unheated room this is a matter of one or two seasons (service observation).

Our standard, for comparison: galvanised steel with a zinc coating weight of 275 g/m²; in some products, steel galvanised by hot-dip immersion and then painted. Hot-dip galvanising and paint over black steel mean different service lives for the enclosure, not different tastes. As far as we know, in the Odesa region we are the only ones producing fully galvanised KTPGS substations in series; we do not claim this for Ukraine as a whole.

2. A busbar that only looks like a busbar

What this does NOT mean: "they used aluminium instead of copper". Copper or aluminium is chosen at the design stage, they serve different purposes, and high currents always call for copper — an aluminium busbar for such a current would be physically enormous. That is an engineering decision, not a saving.

What is actually done: instead of an electrical-grade busbar — one intended for electrical connections — a cheap aluminium alloy with a high impurity content is used, which is not intended for current-carrying joints. They look identical. The difference in material cost is up to 50%, and that is what later "explains" the cheap quotation.

So the question is not "copper or aluminium", but "which aluminium". The material grade is something a manufacturer either names or does not. For reference: in our own questionnaire for ShchO-90 panels the busbar material is stated by grade — AD31T, an electrical-grade aluminium alloy; the cross-section is left to the project. If a quotation gives no grade at all, that is exactly where you should ask.

How it surfaces: as heating in normal operation and at the joints. A hot busbar loosens bolted connections, a weak contact releases even more heat, and the process accelerates itself — ending in darkening and scorching of the contact group. It becomes visible when the load reaches its design value, that is a season or two after commissioning, not at acceptance under a small current.

How it is measured: heating and contact joints have standards — GOST 8024-90 (heating) and GOST 10434-82 (electrical contact joints). Our KSO datasheets state that the temperature of enclosure parts that can be touched does not exceed 50 °C. The question "to which standard was heating verified, and what is written in the report" settles the matter faster than any words about quality. And this is not our private opinion but a well-known picture in the industry: overheating and loosened contact joints are considered one of the main causes of switchgear failure.

3. Breaking capacity of the devices

What is done: devices are selected by rated current and price, identical throughout the board, without checking the short-circuit current at that particular point of the network.

How it surfaces: it does not — until there is a short circuit. The device works honestly as a switch for years. The difference shows up exactly once: when it has to interrupt a fault current it was never rated for.

What it looks like when done properly: in one of our substation orders the devices differ precisely by their position in the diagram — the incoming device of the 0.4 kV board rated 2000 A with a breaking capacity of 85 kA, the outgoing ones 50 kA, and in the auxiliary supply board 10 kA (datasheets from 2025). Fitting the cheapest device with a low breaking capacity everywhere is precisely the saving that appears in no document except the calculation.

The second half of the same saving is service life. A cheaper device may perform one interruption and never close again, or it may manage a hundred and die. At acceptance both click exactly the same way.

Service life is not a figure of speech, it is named in the document: our KSO datasheets list exhaustion of the switching and mechanical service life as grounds for the warranty to end. The figure for a specific device comes from its own manufacturer — and in a cheap device it is used up an order of magnitude faster (service observation).

4. Unbranded devices

What is done: devices of unidentified origin are fitted, outwardly similar to well-known series.

How it surfaces: a year or two later there is nothing compatible to replace them with, no service exists, and the declared characteristics are backed by nothing — no test report, no manufacturer to turn to. A board like this is not repaired, it is rebuilt.

5. A degree of protection that exists only in the quotation

What is done: a single impressive IP rating is written in the specification for the whole product.

How it really works: a substation does not have one degree of protection. The datasheet of our KTPM-400 pole-mounted substation lists three values: IP54 for the low-voltage distribution cabinet, IP23 for the power transformer, IP34 for the remaining components. For KSO and ShchO-90 the value is double: IP20 from the front and IP00 with the doors open. A single IP "for the whole product" is already a simplification, and it means nobody did the calculation.

Why a genuine IP is never free: in our YaVU boxes the IP54 version reduces the rated current by 15% compared with IP31 — a more sealed enclosure dissipates heat less well. So an honest high IP costs either current or money spent on heat removal. If a high IP in a quotation has affected nothing at all, it was most likely simply written there.

How it surfaces: condensation on the devices in an unheated room, dust and moisture outdoors; then corrosion of the contacts and leakage currents where there should be none (service observation).

6. Secondary circuits: cross-sections, ferrules, labelling

What is done: thinner wire in the secondary circuits, conductors without ferrules — simply twisted and clamped, labelling "you will figure it out".

How it surfaces: a conductor without a ferrule gradually unravels under the screw, the contact weakens, and heating and spurious protection trips appear — the worst kind of fault, because it is intermittent and takes a long time to trace. Missing labelling costs differently: any inspection or fault-finding turns into an investigation, and after a few years into "easier to rebuild from scratch" (service observation).

What the norm looks like: labelling is not only tags on wires. The KSO datasheet even specifies colour marking of the busbars: transverse stripes at least 20 mm wide, phase A yellow, B green, C red. Terminal blocks for external circuits are rated for one or two conductors with a total cross-section of up to 6 mm².

7. Terminal blocks in the secondary circuits

What is done: the cheapest terminal blocks are fitted — visually the same as proper ones.

How it surfaces: some of them break at the very first tightening — right there during assembly or commissioning. This shows up as a high reject rate before the product even reaches the customer; whatever did not break immediately gives a weak contact later in service.

8. Tests that never happened

What is done: the product is shipped without test reports, or with a report "for the file" that records no actual measurements.

How it surfaces: an assembly defect that testing would catch in half an hour travels to the customer and appears on site — in the worst case under load. And without a datasheet bearing the serial number and a test report, the customer has nothing to build a warranty claim on.

What exactly should be verified: dielectric strength of the insulation (GOST 1516.3-96), heating (GOST 8024-90), contact joints (GOST 10434-82). Our datasheets also carry specific measured values — for example, insulation resistance of 1000 MOhm. The question for the supplier is simple: to which standards was it tested, and what exactly is written in the report.

9. The parameters nobody asks about

What is done: nothing is said about anything outside the standard quotation checklist.

An example: sound level. The datasheet of our KTPM-400 pole-mounted substation gives it — no more than 60 dBA. For a substation next to housing this is the decisive figure (it is not quoted in the datasheets of our other types), yet it rarely appears in commercial offers: if a parameter is not named, nobody has guaranteed it.

10. What simply was not supplied

What is done: whatever the rules require but does not catch the eye at acceptance is dropped from the scope.

The clearest example is a substation. Two KTPGS units can be visually identical: the same enclosure, the same doors, the same nameplate. What is inside them, however, can be completely different.

Under the rules for the construction and operation of electrical installations, lighting inside a substation is mandatory, including standby lighting. Lighting has to be powered from somewhere — an auxiliary supply board is needed, and it in turn requires an auxiliary supply transformer. The transformer adds cost.

This is not a redundant piece of hardware: the auxiliary supply transformer has its own job — it powers the site itself, that is control circuits, signalling, lighting, heating of cabinets and drives, ventilation — rather than distributing power to consumers. In our questionnaires these items appear as separate lines: indoor and outdoor lighting, heating, ventilation. In other words, for us this is part of the product, not an option. Removing that chain is the simplest way to make a quotation cheaper, and the customer will not see it: the substation looks complete and works. It comes to light either at the first fault, or when it turns out that there is nowhere to power even the metering readout device from.

A case from our service practice. A solar power plant we took on for maintenance: out of four substations, auxiliary supply was present at only one — instead of four transformers the contractor had installed a single one. To take proper measurements we had to run a cable from one substation to the other three. The layout was simplified "at take-off", the rules were broken, in the quotation it simply looked cheaper — and it surfaced a year into operation, when we arrived on site.

And that was not the whole of the saving. Along with the auxiliary supply, forced ventilation had disappeared from the substations as well — there was nothing to power it from either. The result: every KTPGS on the site was running as hot as a frying pan. The pyrometer read up to 88 °C on the surface of the equipment inside the transformer compartment. A surface is always cooler than what it contains — so the oil inside the tank was hotter still: at the limit of the permissible 95 °C for the top oil layers under the Ukrainian rules for the technical operation of consumers' electrical installations (PTEES), or already beyond it. And all of this without a single fault and without a single signal to the customer — the service life was simply being consumed day after day. (We do not name the site or the contractor; 88 °C is our own pyrometer reading on site, 95 °C is the permissible top-oil temperature for transformers with natural circulation under PTEES.)

Why it works exactly this way. There is a clear list of what a substation must contain under the rules. A conscientious manufacturer does not breach it. Anyone who drops half of the regulated scope from a quotation will of course be cheaper — and what is being compared looks like two identical products while the contents differ. Most procurement looks only at price, and in many industries that works. In electrical engineering it does not: the price comes back years later, when the board has to perform as intended — and it does not, because someone saved at take-off. Cheap does not mean good.

How else it surfaces: heating and ventilation removed where conditions require them bring condensation in winter and overheating in summer; an enclosure sized right to the limit turns replacing a device into dismantling half the board (service observation).

11. How the warranty period itself is built

What is done: a period is quoted without saying what it is counted from.

How it should be written: in our datasheets the warranty has two limits — so many years from the date of commissioning, but no more than a year longer from the date of receipt. The second limit protects the manufacturer against a product that sat in a warehouse for a year, and shows the buyer that the period is real. The period differs by product type, so a contract should state not just a figure but both limits.

This is what the price is made of. The board comes out noticeably cheaper — but the quality has dropped. You cannot tell visually: only a technician will see it, and usually once it is already in service.

None of these points is visible while the board stands new and de-energised. All of them become visible in the second or third year — which is exactly why they are convenient to cut for whoever sells rather than maintains.

What makes a board cheaper without losing quality

The sum can be reduced honestly too — without touching what determines the board's service life:

an exact diagram instead of "with a margin, just in case" — surplus connections and inflated ratings are paid for in full;
devices of a single brand within one board — simpler maintenance and spares;
a standard enclosure size wherever the room imposes no constraints;
a version matched to the actual installation site, rather than "maximum IP just in case";
ordering as a package (the board together with the substation or the cubicles) instead of separate items at different times.

How to compare two offers honestly

For a comparison to mean anything, both quotations must be priced from the same diagram. Then look at five lines:

the busbar rating and the outgoing line currents — do they match?
the brand and series of the devices, and their breaking capacity;
the enclosure version: steel, coating, IP, climatic version;
what the document package includes;
the warranty terms — separately for the product and for the enclosure steelwork.

Our own warranty commitment, for reference: 2 years on the product (up to 5 years by agreement) and 10 years on the enclosure steelwork, provided the transport, storage and installation conditions are observed.

Frequently asked questions

Why do boards with identical diagrams differ in price by 30–50%?

Steel, copper and devices cost roughly the same for everyone, so a difference of half again does not come from efficiency but from what has been removed from the product. Most often what gets cut is what cannot be seen at acceptance: the thickness and coating of the steel, busbar cross-sections, the breaking capacity of the devices, ferrules and labelling in the secondary circuits, the real degree of protection, testing with reports. The board still looks new and works — the difference appears in the second or third year of service.

How can hidden savings be spotted before signing a contract?

Ask not about the price but about the specifics of the product: the steel grade and enclosure coating, the cross-section and material of the busbars, the breaking capacity of the devices with reference to the short-circuit current at your point, whether ferrules and labelling are used in the secondary circuits, what the declared IP actually consists of, which tests the product undergoes and what the report contains. The item that has been trimmed usually either has no answer, or the answer sounds like "that is not essential".

Why will a manufacturer not quote a price straight away?

Because a custom board has no frame size until the diagram is known. The number of connections, the busbar rating, the class of devices, the enclosure version and the installation site change the sum several times over. A price quoted before those questions refers not to your board but to a notional average. The shortest route to a real figure is a single-line diagram or a completed questionnaire.

What accounts for the largest share of a board's cost?

Usually the devices: circuit breakers, switch-disconnectors, relays, current transformers, meters. Their class and series, the ratings together with breaking capacity (determined by the short-circuit currents in your network) and availability from stock all drive the figure. The second heaviest item is the enclosure and its version, especially for outdoor installation.

Why does an outdoor board cost more than an identical one by diagram?

It is a different design, not a mark-up. An outdoor version requires a higher degree of protection, a durable enclosure coating, and often heating and ventilation to maintain the internal climate. An otherwise identical board for a dry heated switchroom costs less precisely because it has none of these.

What should never be economised on?

On the breaking capacity of the devices, on the enclosure coating for outdoor installation, and on documentation. The first is a safety matter and is selected by the short-circuit currents. The second determines how long the enclosure will last. The third — the datasheet with the serial number and the test report: without them the product is hard to identify and accept, and a warranty claim becomes a matter of argument.

Send us the diagram and we will price your board

LK Energy manufactures 0.4–35 kV switchgear at its own factory in Odesa: a design office, metalwork, assembly and an accredited electrical testing laboratory in one place. Send us your single-line diagram or fill in the questionnaire, and we will prepare a costing for your project.

This material is for information only and is not an offer. The cost components described here explain the structure of the price rather than set it: the actual figure, the scope of equipment and the delivery time are determined from your diagram or completed questionnaire.

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What makes up the price of a custom switchboard