A couple of years ago our local electric utility converted all of their meters to a remote read type of meter where they could electronically "ping" the customer's meter and get the reading without coming on site. The problem I am having is that when they did this they changed the style of meter seal to a long "thumb-screw"type of seal that will not allow the cover that encloses the tenants main breakers to clear the seals, so I have to call the utility and wait for one of their employees to come and change the seal back to the small "wire and dogtag" type the the meterbases were designed to work with originally. This condition occurs on meter paks where there is a "stack" of 2 or three meters on one or both sides of the pack (older style Crouse-Hinds, Challenger, etc) and the main breaker is located below the meter (all of the utility's equipment is still enclosed when the cover comes off. I want to file an informal complaint with the Regulatory Commision and am looking for a code reference that explains why the utility cannot restrict access to the customers equipment----they don't want to change the seals untill there is a service call that requires it, so I either have to make a second trip to the site or not get paid to wait for them to show up (could be 20-30 below in the middle of the night) or bill the customer to have me sit and wait for them---this does not involve pulling the meter, I thought it might be a UL issue also because the seal on the meter was not designed for use with this style meter pak-----thanks, Kelly
Electric utility "sealing" customer's access
- Thread starter KASIII
- Start date
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Cavie
Senior Member
- Location
- SW Florida
Call them and tell them you are cutting the seal to do your work. Do not pull the meter and there should be no issue.
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
I have the same issue. There is not enough clearence to remove the cover to replace a breaker or service the customer section.
Here in Ca they have replaced lock rings with a special key. I hear you can get them at the swap meets but they are supposidly illegal to posses.
There must be a UL issue and that might be way to go about the complaint.
Here in Ca they have replaced lock rings with a special key. I hear you can get them at the swap meets but they are supposidly illegal to posses.
There must be a UL issue and that might be way to go about the complaint.
mivey
Senior Member
I have a key to open any utility lock that blocks access to my equipment.
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
mivey
Senior Member
High-speed metal-cutting disk. :grin:
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
I figured that.
I wonder how clean that works as the POCO's lineman had to cut a rusted lock ring off one time ,and left me a note " sorry for the slit cut I made in the cover of your meter box"
- Location
- Massachusetts
Basically they (the power company) can lock customers equipment if they covered it in the terms of service agreement with the customer.
The customer can always refuse but then the power company does not have to provide power.
Check the customers service agreement.
The customer can always refuse but then the power company does not have to provide power.
Check the customers service agreement.
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
POCO cannot lock the customers section or breaker unless they have a disconnection order.
The POCO is not intentionally locking out the customer section is is the product of a poor design.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Sure they can, dependent on their particular service agreement with the customer. Around here some power companies do install seals on customer owned and maintained equipment.
Here the customer has to provide a place to install CTs for metering, often that is provided in one of the switchgear sections, the power company will often seal each compartment on the line side of the CTs to prevent tampering.
In my situation there are no CT's, as it is a six pack and the meters are 100 amp---there is a utility buss between the verticle 3 stacks and sometimes they seal that, but not always. The folks sealing the meters aren't always aware of the design of the enclosure and they make sure the meters can't be pulled, and then miss the big cover in the middle with all the hot underground feeders,lugs and busses---I'm going to go take a picture---Kelly
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
Bob we are not talking about line side equipment.
The POCO has no authority to place a seal on customer side equipment that has customer owned breakers. Even if it is done by accident or inadvertanly.
The POCO has no authority to place a seal on customer side equipment that has customer owned breakers. Even if it is done by accident or inadvertanly.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
I'm with Mivey.
Here there is no way that the equipment installed would allow you into the utility section without cutting a seal, they could care less about the customer side, but the equipment is designed so that the two areas are seperate.
- Location
- Massachusetts
They have any 'right' that was already contained in their service agreement that the customer agreed to when they applied for service.
You are free to tell them no and then they are free to let you home go without power.
The OP states
that makes great sense as they will know better than anyone what the service agreement allows or not.
From the law books for NH at least ( and I bet other states are similar)
PART Puc 306 EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
Puc 306.01 Standard Practice in Construction, Operation and Maintenance.
(a) Each utility shall construct, install, operate and maintain its plant, structures and equipment and lines, as follows:
(1) In accordance with good utility practice;
For purposes of this section, “good utility practice” means in accordance with the standards established by:
(1) The National Electrical Safety Code
Its their seal on their meter so I would say the NESC applys.
I don't have a copy of the NESC, but I bet it states you cannot block access to the MDP, maybe not specifically but something in there would apply to this situation.
PART Puc 306 EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
Puc 306.01 Standard Practice in Construction, Operation and Maintenance.
(a) Each utility shall construct, install, operate and maintain its plant, structures and equipment and lines, as follows:
(1) In accordance with good utility practice;
For purposes of this section, “good utility practice” means in accordance with the standards established by:
(1) The National Electrical Safety Code
Its their seal on their meter so I would say the NESC applys.
I don't have a copy of the NESC, but I bet it states you cannot block access to the MDP, maybe not specifically but something in there would apply to this situation.
Sierrasparky
Senior Member
- Location
- USA
- Occupation
- Electrician ,contractor
Just to let you know there are several meter paks. Those that service multi-family have customer side ewuipment " Blocked by untility owned Lock Rings. You need to call the utility to come and remove the ring on all the meters just to take the cover off of the area where the breaker is. This is after the meter so the utility does not care. Some panels have a small cut out to allow such a device not to interfere with the cover. However the meter installer needs to rotate the lock before locking in order for it to work.
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