Although I am a licensed electrician, I have not done a residential electrical service upgrade in many years. I am located im MA. Wondering if someone out there can help me out by explaining what the procedural steps are. For example after I take out a permit and contact the utility company, can I disconnect the overhead myself? Once I've finished the upgrade can I reconnect the overhead myself? If so, must the service be inspected prior to reconnecting? If I do the service on a Saturday, for example, will the utility company come out on a weekend or is it standard that I do a temp reconnect and jump the meter until the utility company gets out to redo the connection and put the new meter in place. Thanks for your help.

Procedures will vary depending on your area and utility.

Here in NJ, we disconnect and reconnect the overhead drop ourselves, but we reinstall the meter that was removed from the old service (unless it is damaged in some way). The utility comes around to make permanent connections and reseal the meter pan after the inspector issues a "cut-in card". Depending on the area, this could take weeks or even months....

http://www.cl-p.com/online/contractor/indexcontractor.asp

This is the link to CL&P's contractor page. Northeast utilities is the same company, I think. Anyway, cut and reconnect is allowed in CL&P territory, but a licensed electrical contractor must first sign up. You get your jumpers and blank cover from your local BO when you pull the permit, do the work, and leave the meter on the ground next to the meter enclosure. Call for the inspection on Monday, and after the inspector gives the OK, CL&P will come out and replace the meter jumpers with a new meter. Easy and neat. The owner has his usage estimated in the mean time, so I always tell them to enjoy wasting as much electricity as they can until the utility installs the new meter.

Earl

Sounds like I need to call the utility company to get the info on the exact procdures for my area, but at least now I have an idea of what to expect. Thanks guys.

On Long Island the procedure is similar to what NJwirenut describes except that the POCO will supply parallel-groove type connectors to make the permanent connections.

Bill

Varies from town to town. Usually in areas served by Mass Electric or Nstar you will have to call their customer service and get a service request number. You will need this number in order to get a permit. With these utilities you can disconnect and reconnect yourself. Nstar requires your connection to be permanent. Mass Elec used to redo your connnection after inspection. Not sure if they still do. In towns served by local utility it is best to call the utility and see what they require. Any more questions Email me. I work in your town all the time. Scott

To replace an existing service, just pull a permit. For a new service a request # is required fro your permit.
All connections are to be perminant, reuse the old meter unless it's broken or one of the very old ones that will not fit the new socket.
Most towns are also requiring 2 ground rods now unless you show then one is enough

Is the job in Westford? Dennis is a great guy to deal with. I had his father in trade school