Estimating an LV/MV package from China: the BOQ lines, the terms that make quotations comparable, and what moves price and lead time

This guide covers the estimate for an LV/MV electrical package bought from Chinese manufacturers: the medium-voltage cables, switchgear or ring main units, distribution transformers, compact substations and low-voltage switchboards between the grid connection and the low-voltage feeders. It sets out the method, the lines and the terms; prices depend on the ratings, the destination and the metal markets on the day of the quotation. Sinospect checked the sources below on 27 September 2026.

From the single-line diagram to the BOQ

The single-line diagram fixes the items and their ratings, from the incoming medium-voltage cable to the low-voltage feeders. The layout drawings and the cable schedule fix the quantities, and the project specification sets the standards and tests. A BOQ built from these documents has one line per item, and a quotation that answers it line by line can be compared with the next. For the cables, the line names IEC 60502-2 (2014, with Amendment 1:2024), which covers rated voltages from 6 kV to 30 kV.

The terms that make quotations comparable

Two quotations for the same BOQ can still differ in the terms around the prices, so these terms are aligned before comparing:

• Delivery: the Incoterms 2020 rule and its named place. Under CIF, a rule reserved for maritime trade, the seller’s insurance defaults to the minimum cover of the Institute Cargo Clauses (C); under CIP, the seller insures to the Institute Cargo Clauses (A) or similar clauses, according to the ICC. An FCA sale for carriage by sea can provide for a bill of lading with an on-board notation.
• Scope: what each line includes, such as accessories, spares, special tools, documents and packing, and the site services quoted separately.
• Tests: the routine tests in the price, the type-test reports already held or the tests still to run, and the factory acceptance test with its witness points.
• Metal prices: a fixed price, or a price linked to copper or aluminium, with the index, the basis and the date.
• Currency, validity and payment terms.

The supplier comparison matrix sets these out field by field, and preparing a BOQ or specification covers the fields every request for quotation needs.

Metal prices in cable and transformer quotations

Conductors and windings carry copper or aluminium, whose prices move daily on the metal markets. German cable makers such as kabeltronik and igus quote on a copper basis per 100 kg, included in the list price, and add a copper surcharge. They take the day’s copper quotation plus 1%, subtract the basis, convert the difference to a price per kilogram and multiply it by the kilograms of copper in the cable ordered. The German DEL quotation, the former reference, has been unavailable since 14 February 2022; igus now uses the Westmetall quotation and kabeltronik the Südkupfer price. A Chinese quotation that follows metal prices states the index, the basis and the date that fix the final price; a fixed price states how long it holds.

What moves the price

• the metal in conductors and windings, copper or aluminium, and the metal-price basis;
• the ratings and the short-circuit level;
• the insulating medium and, for EU sites, the SF6 rules;
• the guaranteed transformer losses against the destination’s efficiency rule;
• the makes of circuit-breakers, relays and meters;
• enclosures, degrees of protection and the internal arc classification;
• the test regime: type tests already held or new ones, witnessed routine tests;
• documents, languages, packing and site services.

What moves the lead time

• drawing approval: the cycle of submission, comments and approval that releases production;
• designs outside the maker’s type-tested range, which need new type tests;
• components of a named make that the maker buys in;
• the factory acceptance test and its witness dates;
• the transport mode, the route and the destination’s import approvals.

Market conditions move lead times too. In the US, Wood Mackenzie projected a 10% supply shortfall for distribution transformers in 2025, with about half of US supply imported; the guide to distribution transformers from China gives the details.

EU rules that change the BOQ

• Medium-voltage switchgear put into operation in the EU from 1 January 2026 up to 24 kV, and from 1 January 2030 above 24 kV up to 52 kV, uses a medium free of fluorinated gas, apart from the exceptions in Regulation (EU) 2024/573: see SF6-free switchgear from China.
• Transformers for EU sites meet the Tier 2 maximum losses that apply since 1 July 2021: see distribution transformers from China.
• The Low Voltage Directive (2014/35/EU) covers electrical equipment operating between 50 and 1,000 V AC or 75 and 1,500 V DC, according to the European Commission. The low-voltage switchboards and low-voltage cables of a package fall within that range, and their lines carry the CE documentation.

Buyer checklist

Before the request for quotation

• The single-line diagram, the layout drawings and the cable schedule, with the project specification and the site conditions.
• The destination and its rules: SF6 dates, transformer losses, CE documentation for low-voltage equipment.
• The Incoterms 2020 rule and named place, the tests to witness and the document languages.

Before award

• Quotations aligned on scope, delivery term, tests, metal-price basis, currency and validity.
• Each deviation from the specification listed and priced.
• Lead time stated from drawing approval, with the test dates.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Checked at the sources on 27 September 2026.

• ICC: Incoterms 2020, ICC releases Incoterms 2020
• European Commission: Low Voltage Directive (LVD)
• Cable makers: igus, copper surcharge, kabeltronik, copper surcharge (in German)
• IEC: IEC 60502-2:2014 Amendment 1:2024
• Market: Wood Mackenzie, 14 August 2025