Power shutoff by the utility?

[retirede]

Backstory: There’s a house in our neighborhood that’s essentially abandoned. I could write a book on everything that led up to this, but suffice to say the guy has outstanding warrants and isn’t paying any bills. I haven’t seen him around since late last year.

Today I was out for a walk when a truck from the electric coop pulls into the drive. By the time I got close enough to see what he was doing, he was basically finished - putting a sealing ring back on the meter. From the street, it looked like the meter was out of its normal position, radially. The rectangle with the digits that is normally horizontal looked to be at an angle. So my question is - Is that a way to disconnect the power? Unplug the meter, rotate it so the stabs don’t engage, and seal it back up? Or was he doing something else such as simply replacing the meter?

Just my idle curiosity.

 

[augie47]

Normally here they "boot" the meter or remove it entirely but rotating it seemingly accomplishes the same result as booting.

 

[NTesla76]

Before they had remote meter reading around here, they could disconnect power by turning the meter as you described.

 

[qcroanoke]

Normally here they "boot" the meter or remove it entirely but rotating it seemingly accomplishes the same result as booting.

Same here. Or I should say that's how they used to do it. Never heard of rotating it but I can see how that would work.
The way people are now they'd just cut the lock and plug it back in. We have smart Meters but not sure if they can be turned off remotely.

 

[LarryFine]

We have smart Meters but not sure if they can be turned off remotely.

Ours can.

 

[norcal]

They also have insulating boots that slip over of the meter prongs to isolate/insulate them for a shut off.

 

[Chamuit]

Backstory: There’s a house in our neighborhood that’s essentially abandoned. I could write a book on everything that led up to this, but suffice to say the guy has outstanding warrants and isn’t paying any bills. I haven’t seen him around since late last year.

Today I was out for a walk when a truck from the electric coop pulls into the drive. By the time I got close enough to see what he was doing, he was basically finished - putting a sealing ring back on the meter. From the street, it looked like the meter was out of its normal position, radially. The rectangle with the digits that is normally horizontal looked to be at an angle. So my question is - Is that a way to disconnect the power? Unplug the meter, rotate it so the stabs don’t engage, and seal it back up? Or was he doing something else such as simply replacing the meter?

Just my idle curiosity.

I have seen that several times. Mostly with "dumb" meters. Field guy just pulls and turns the meter and locks it. I have done it in the past on jobs were utility had been disconnected and no way to LOTO.

 

[retirede]

OK, I can confirm that this is the case. The guy decided to come back to his house last night and was in the dark. Had to manually open his garage door.

 

[qcroanoke]

OK, I can confirm that this is the case. The guy decided to come back to his house last night and was in the dark. Had to manually open his garage door.

What's the other meter for?

 

[LarryFine]

What's the other meter for?

Looking at the box above it, I'd say the water heater.

 

[qcroanoke]

Looking at the box above it, I'd say the water heater.

I need to get out more.....

 

[rambojoe]

What's the other meter for?

Probably what we call a "in law unit" in az.. or not. Odd set-up for sure.

 

[ggunn]

What's the other meter for?

Maybe a PV system?

 

[Hv&Lv]

They are using on of these below. We used them for years before we went to our PLC smart meters.
they are installed over the top line sockets and the meter stabs go in the slots in the middle to turn it sideways.

 

[MD Automation]

We have smart Meters but not sure if they can be turned off remotely.

Ours can.

Never seen anything like that around my neck of the woods.

Just curious about how that works. Is there a 2 pole contactor inside the meter enclosure, or do they fit something like that in the actual meter itself?

Is it used to help stagger re-energizing scores of houses downstream of a cutout that some lineman is about to close? Or for load shedding?

Or is it primarily to cut-off people that are not paying bills? That would certainly be a very small slice of the customer pie chart.

Again, just curious.

 

[retirede]

The small meter is for the HVAC system. The coop gives a special reduced rate for HVAC for all-electric homes.

 

[LarryFine]

So they only have heat right now?

 

[retirede]

So they only have heat right now?

I don’t know if the HVAC meter is separate or a sub meter.

 

[PaulMmn]

Looking at the box above it, I'd say the water heater.

Growing up my parents' house had 2 meters-- the 2nd was for the hot water heater. At the time, the hot water heater had a lower rate. Eventually, that rate was 'closed,' ie no new subscribers. A family friend who worked for the power company recommended removing the 2nd meter and putting everything on 1 meter, which dad did. Not sure if it saved money or not.

 

[qcroanoke]

I don’t know if the HVAC meter is separate or a sub meter.

I don't see how it could be a sub meter how would they compute the bill if its already pulling through the main meter?