Our service meter is located about 358 ft as the crow flies from our house. Our meter breaker/disconnect is located there also. It literally is located behind the second house to our West. We have 1.5 acre lots, so this meter cannot be seen from any point near my house or our fence line (located approximately 2/3 of depth of our lot.) AND, I’m not sure yet whether our line runs through our neighbors‘ yards on easements or if it actually comes in at a 90° turn at the alley. Does this violate ANY code? I’d like to get the service company to at least move the meter where it can be readily located.
Rural Meter Base Location
- Thread starter Denakay10
- Start date
- Status
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
ANY code? Good question. That is pretty broad. The POCO may change it for you at your expense or you may have to hire an EC, again at your expense.
One of the reasons the 2020 will be requiring disconnects on the house in the future. That again is up to local interpretation because our SED will still allow a remote disconnect someplace on the property.
One of the reasons the 2020 will be requiring disconnects on the house in the future. That again is up to local interpretation because our SED will still allow a remote disconnect someplace on the property.
Thank you for the quick response! My house is the only in neighborhood with such a huge distance, the other two that are not located on their house, it is located directly behind their house. Is there any issue if my line runs through my neighbors’ backyards?
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
I think there can be an issue if the neighbors want to make something of it. I have a friend who has a similar situation but it is the power company line running underground thru the middle of his property. Not sure he can do anything about it but I believe your neighbors could make you move it
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Let me also state that none of us are lawyers so what we say here may not be the law.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
The issue would arise if it needs repaired and the two of you don't get along. Maybe even if you do, at the moment.
PaulMmn
Senior Member
- Location
- Union, KY, USA
- Occupation
- EIT - Engineer in Training, Lafayette College
Back in NJ some 25 years ago the 'official' property map for my house showed an easement-- the power line to the neighbor's house was above the corner of my detached garage. It's likely that any such encroachments are legally logged.
drcampbell
Senior Member
- Location
- The Motor City, Michigan USA
- Occupation
- Registered Professional Engineer
If there is, it's called an "easement".
I don't have any expertise in the law, so naming it is about the limit of the help I can offer.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
By any chance was your house the first one there and then parcels around it got sold off but utilities (at least this line to your house) were never touched?
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
One of my father in laws neighbors lived in what was a rural setting and is now in city limits. Time to settle the estate and get the house sold the kids find out there was never a legal easement thru the surrounding property to get to the house. The owners of the surrounding property were fine with giving it but the city was now involved. They got it settled but not without a good deal of tension and hot words at several council meetings.
Your probably not going to find out what type of issue it's going to be until a problem arises with your service wiring.
That's when you'll get to see how understanding your neighbors are or are not if it runs through their property.
Seeing as how this seems to be on your side of the meter,moving it could entail a very large expense.
I know If my service wasn't causing me any grief at this point, I'd put it on the very bottom of the list of things I needed to get done.
JAP>
That's when you'll get to see how understanding your neighbors are or are not if it runs through their property.
Seeing as how this seems to be on your side of the meter,moving it could entail a very large expense.
I know If my service wasn't causing me any grief at this point, I'd put it on the very bottom of the list of things I needed to get done.
JAP>
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Or you might be fine until the neighbor decides to build an outbuilding, pool or other activity that required excavation and they find your line in their property. With no easement they sort of have no responsibility to fix it if they damage it as well as the right to demand you have it routed around their property even though they are the ones that want to disturb it.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
You never really specified they were excavating and then found it to be in the way for whatever they were doing. If they find out it is there for some reason but have no plans to excavate they may not care, some might not even be aware there needs to be an easement. When it is in their way for something then there is a problem and if they are not nice they may give you little or no warning to do something about it.
I said the issue would arise when there was a problem with your service wiring.
If they cut into it while they were excavating you would more than likely have a problem with your service wiring.
If they find it and don't mess with it your power is still on so it's a non issue.
when it's in their way for something then there may be a problem.
If they are not nice they may give you little or no warning before they cut it out of the way, hence, you have a problem with your service wiring like I said.
c-mon K-wired,,,, read between the lines every now and then.
JAP>
ggunn
PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Occupation
- Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
In a somewhat related story...
We were contracted to build a PV system on the roof of a customer's house and we were deciding where to hang our PV equipment - the disco, AC combiner, and PV meter. The obvious choice was the external wall on the side of the garage immediately opposite his MDP that was in his garage, but we were told that we couldn't do that. It seems that there was an error when the land was surveyed for laying out this new subdivision, and the lots did not match the civil plats of the land. We couldn't hang our equipment on that wall because our customer's house encroached onto his neighbor's property by about 6 inches; he didn't own the exterior wall of his own house. On the "bright" side he did own the exterior wall of his neighbor's house on the other side.
Lawyers were involved, but I never heard how the issue was resolved, if it ever was.
We were contracted to build a PV system on the roof of a customer's house and we were deciding where to hang our PV equipment - the disco, AC combiner, and PV meter. The obvious choice was the external wall on the side of the garage immediately opposite his MDP that was in his garage, but we were told that we couldn't do that. It seems that there was an error when the land was surveyed for laying out this new subdivision, and the lots did not match the civil plats of the land. We couldn't hang our equipment on that wall because our customer's house encroached onto his neighbor's property by about 6 inches; he didn't own the exterior wall of his own house. On the "bright" side he did own the exterior wall of his neighbor's house on the other side.
Lawyers were involved, but I never heard how the issue was resolved, if it ever was.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Well if it is in raceway, conductor fails and you can pull new conductors without excavating, you and/or your neighbor can possibly not know exactly where it is below ground
In that case no one would really care where it was located underground.
JAP>
- Status