Any one from beaver falls PA penn power

[wewirepgh]

would like like to know if i can disconnect the service and hook it back up myself:smile:

 

[LarryFine]

would like like to know if i can disconnect the service and hook it back up myself:smile:

Only your power company knows for sure.

 

[charlie]

Our official stance is, "No, are you crazy? That is unprotected power and it can kill you. We want our service linemen to do this work because they know how to do it safely." However, if you ask any of our service linemen, they will tell you to go ahead if you are confident that you know what you are doing and call us when you are finished so we can reseal the meter fitting.

It depends on the company, like Larry said. Some will come down hard for someone even cutting a seal. :smile:

 

[cadpoint]

Last week, the meter man, had to change the guts out on, my newly installed meter cans.

I had a captive audience.

I point blanked asked about pulling the meter - no, it's company policy to call ahead. If in a pitch, Yes, report the occurrence.

I asked if the company had him attend flash arc training - no.
Frankly, I was floored this is an ex-lineman that took this position.
I got the idea that he frankly doesn't do hot work, well pulling the meter is hot work. PPE should be used!

He went on to enlighten me about the tricks he's seen in and out of the meter it was some wild stories.

After he left in comes the supervisor and I was reverberating meter panel stories. He went on to tell me of a situation and his dance with a meter.

The bottom line is, be sure to acknowledge what your looking at, if or when one might have to pull the meter!

 

[mdshunk]

My only meter horror story was when I pulled an old one with the spring loaded automatic bypasses that only "sorta" snapped in. It sat there and welded for a while. Not quite what I had planned for that day.

 

[mdshunk]

Penn Power is part of First Energy. While I don't do work under Penn Power, I do work under PenElec and Met-Ed, both of which are First Energy companies. They really don't care if you cut your own drop and splice it back. Just call in what you did. Matter of fact, they'd prefer that. PenElec charges 125 bucks if you don't do it yourself.

There's a bunch of Jersey guys on this forum. They might be able to attest about whether JCP&L is the same. That's a First Energy company too.

 

[mdshunk]

From PennPower's rules book:

"A licensed electrical contractor who is upgrading or performing maintenance on a single phase overhead service of 200 amps or less, and not changing the point of attachment, will be required to disconnect and reconnect from the company's service drop, unless a 2-wire service drop is involved or other unusual circumstances exist. The connection must be made with permanent connectors. The company recommends that all connections to the service drop, by the contractor, be made with compression connectors. Appropriate and properly applied mechanical connectors are also considered permanent. "

 

[charlie]

. . . I asked if the company had him attend flash arc training - no. . .

The power companies across the country are scrambling to catch up with industry since arc flash, arc blast, and incident energy has not been part of their vocabulary. The requirement that the appropriate PPE be worn has been in place for several years and most companies require 8 cal Nomex for their field workers. However, beginning on 1/1/2009, electric utilities will have to do the calculations to determine the appropriate PPE for particular situations. My company is in that process right now, as are most companies, and training will follow. :smile:

 

[iwire]

From PennPower's rules book:

"A licensed electrical contractor who is upgrading or performing maintenance on a single phase overhead service of 200 amps or less, and not changing the point of attachment, will be required to disconnect and reconnect from the company's service drop, unless a 2-wire service drop is involved or other unusual circumstances exist. The connection must be made with permanent connectors. The company recommends that all connections to the service drop, by the contractor, be made with compression connectors. Appropriate and properly applied mechanical connectors are also considered permanent. "

What they are asking is direct OSHA violation and could subject the company to large fines (assuming the person doing the work is an employee).

Not saying this will change anything you all do in the field but I will keep pointing out the rules.

 

[mdshunk]

There have been situations where I have had First Energy do the disconnect/reconnect, but that was mainly due to crowded conditions and traffic control (lack of a flagging crew). I'll gladly pay the 125 bucks to them for the big horse and pony show you have to go through to get bucket truck work done in some congested downtown areas. I remember calling in to schedule a disconnect on an underground network service for First Energy once, only to have some guy (engineer?) call me back a couple days later with the address of where the splice vault was located and what tag numbers were on the conductors to the address I was working on. Crazy.