Big news for retrofit electricians in EURSEC PG&E Territory

B

brycenesbitt

Senior Member
Location
United States
Normally code gets stricter each cycle.
In this case a group of concerned tradespeople were able to argue with a large investor owned utility to give more flexibility for panel retrofits.
In short we got some results.

Previously when replacing an existing service we'd be unable to extend new conductors on the outside wall to the old location.
We'd have to dig into walls and run those inside, due to the rule. This rule was unsupported any hazard data showing that
gas build up and ignition is any sort of problem.

The amended rule is now:

Wall-Mounted Junction Box for Electric Meter Panel Relocation (PG&E Green Book)
3.1 The following updates apply to Greenbook Figure 2-22, “Clearance Requirements for an
Existing Electric Meter/Panel,” and corresponding Note 2 (in Section 2.4.2.E).

3.2 In situations where applicants are relocating their electric meter panel, they are permitted to
install a wall-mounted junction box enclosure in the original panel location, up to 200 Amps.
This allows applicants to connect additional load-side wires that run to the new electric meter
panel location under the following criteria:

1. The wall-mounted junction box enclosure, used only for load side conductors and
connections, must be certified to applicable standards by the Underwriters Laboratory
(UL) or other Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs), rated for NEC
Class I, Division 2 locations, and approved by the local AHJ.

2. The conduit and connectors running from the new electric panel to the wall-mounted
junction box enclosure must be metallic and rated for NEC Class I, Division 2 locations.

3. Switches, circuit breakers, electronic components, or any other type of electrical devices
are not allowed to be inside the junction box enclosure or above the gas meter.
Click to expand...

This was a randomly accepted local exception, but always a crapshoot because it was not written down as a rule.

See
TD-7001M-B010
Released 2/5/2026

The new rule is interesting, because the old field practice was plastic only, to reduce the explosive risk. Go figure.
 
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