"nearest the point of entrance of the service conductors" seems to mean the disconnect has to be nearest to the point of entrance, not that the wires have to go directly into the disconnect. In fact, the rule says an accessible location nearest the point of entrance. That must mean that the second nearest accessible location isn't acceptable not that it must be abutting the point of entrance.
The writers of the rule must have left it vague as to distance so the electrician has a few options. If they wanted as "close as possible", they could have said that, or if they wanted the wires to go directly into the disconnect, they could have said that too. They don't say 2' or 5' because you might need 3' or 6'.
Why would an inspector take a vague rule and say it must mean something specific? They don't do that around here.
