Multiple Homes One service

[arnettda]

I live in vacation land where there are a bunch of old resorts that the cabins have all been sold off and are now privately owned. Some still have old overhead services that come from a pole top disconnect and daisy chain from one cabin to the next. I am looking at installing a new service for one. Some of the cabins have been torn down and are now summer homes but still feed of the old overhead service. Can I do a load calculation like I would for a apartment building to see how large of a new service I need and put them all on one service. Each had a private meter on the cabin so they can figure out each cabins usage and the meter fee where I live is $52.00 a month.
They would Like me to still daisy chain together what I can, Like a RV park. Would this be Legal? I am giving them a estimate where I have a 320 meter and then a Main distribution panel that feed most cabins individually, and I am installing two services now instead of one to avoid going the CT cabinet route.
Thanks

 

[paullmullen]

My guess is that the local utility would have policy that guides your choices here more than the NEC.

By the way, why are you avoiding at CT cabinet? Expense or something else?

 

[augie47]

Why not just build the service for your house and have POCO hit it leaving the rest as is ??

 

[electrofelon]

I'm a bit confused as to the ownership and metering situation here. When you say that each have a "private meter" do you mean a utility meter or they are submetered off of a single utility meter?

Anyway, I don't see any reason you can't install a single meter and service to serve all of them. As always, get approval from the utility for what you want to do.

 

[arnettda]

I'm a bit confused as to the ownership and metering situation here. When you say that each have a "private meter" do you mean a utility meter or they are submetered off of a single utility meter?

Anyway, I don't see any reason you can't install a single meter and service to serve all of them. As always, get approval from the utility for what you want to do.

Yes there is one utility meter and then each house/cabin is submetered and then the condo association secretary reads the submeters every month and bills each acordingly.

 

[arnettda]

My guess is that the local utility would have policy that guides your choices here more than the NEC.

By the way, why are you avoiding at CT cabinet? Expense or something else?

Avoiding the CT cabinet because of overall price.

 

[PaulMmn]

Do I remember some discussion a while ago about sub-metering (in some areas) being illegal, because whomever set up the submetering would then be 'selling' electricity without being an 'official' power company? May have been a landlord/tenant situation.

 

[retirede]

Do I remember some discussion a while ago about sub-metering (in some areas) being illegal, because whomever set up the submetering would then be 'selling' electricity without being an 'official' power company? May have been a landlord/tenant situation.

It is illegal in some states under some circumstances.

 

[electrofelon]

Do I remember some discussion a while ago about sub-metering (in some areas) being illegal, because whomever set up the submetering would then be 'selling' electricity without being an 'official' power company? May have been a landlord/tenant situation.

That is a myth. I dug into it a while back and could not find anywhere it is illegal. Some states have some laws that say things like the electricity cannot be marked up/increased in price, or dictate what fees or price increase can be charged to the submeteree

 

[retirede]

That is a myth. I dug into it a while back and could not find anywhere it is illegal. Some states have some laws that say things like the electricity cannot be marked up/increased in price, or dictate what fees or price increase can be charged to the submeteree

In some states, EV charging is priced per minute instead of per kWh. The charging companies claim this is because they are not legally allowed to sell electricity in those states. They make less money charging per minute, so I’m sure they wouldn’t do that unless required to.

 

[electrofelon]

In some states, EV charging is priced per minute instead of per kWh. The charging companies claim this is because they are not legally allowed to sell electricity in those states. They make less money charging per minute, so I’m sure they wouldn’t do that unless required to.

I dont believe it. You cant sell electricity?? get real. Next someone will tell me i cant sell water.

 

[mtnelect]

In Southern California, the utility doesn't care about "Sub-Metering" as long as it gets paid by the main account owner. We have several Maintenace Contracts with each building owner in a "Historical" community, that sub-lets their building, and we read their sub-metering monthly for them.

 

[hillbilly1]

That is a myth. I dug into it a while back and could not find anywhere it is illegal. Some states have some laws that say things like the electricity cannot be marked up/increased in price, or dictate what fees or price increase can be charged to the submeteree

No. Sub metering is not illegal. But in some states you cannot make a profit from the electricity you charge for. Georgia is/was one of those states. When I was putting in chargers, the taxpayers were paying for the electricity, because the chargers were free to use. They now charge to use them, so they may have changed the law. Very seldom see anybody at them. Locally, the city put in charging stations, I have never seen anyone at them. I saw a bank of Tesla stations in Ohio last week, nobody at them. It’s much cheaper to charge at home, so unless someone is traveling, they don’t get used.

 

[retirede]

I dont believe it. You cant sell electricity?? get real. Next someone will tell me i cant sell water.

Maybe “illegal to sell electricity” isn’t exactly correct, but as Electrify America was transitioning from per-minute to per-kWh pricing, it was doing so on a state by star basis and stated this (quoted from a 2020 Car and Driver article):

“While Electrify America said that it would have been happy to roll out the change from per-minute to per-kWh charging nationwide, there are a variety of laws that keep that from happening, and the company said it's trying to figure out how to make that switch while staying in compliance.”

 

[ActionDave]

Pic I took from the screen of an Electrify America Charger.