ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area meter seal

The only people here allowed to remove a seal are the POCO, electrical inspectors, and the fire department in an emergency. Being a small town though, you know most of the lineman and it usually isn't a problem if it is justified.

Same as Eagle. We do it probably 3 to 4 times a month, just on service calls. Never called anybody, never been questioned.
John

Electure, PG&E uses the same locking ring up here in the SF area. I called PG&E Nov. 9th to have them remove a lock and they didn't come out until the 15th. The telephone customer service people usually give you static about removing the meter, but when you're changing out a service, what are you suppose to do?

When I first got started in residential work, I called the PoCo before the first service upgrade I did, to have them come out to disconnect the service drop and pull the meter.

I was asked by the person on the phone if there was some reason I couldn't do it myself! I've been doing it myself ever since, without even bothering to call. I cut the overhead drop conductors and the meter seal myself, pull and reset the meter, and reconnect the service drop to the new entrance conductors. Generally, I will take the seal I cut off, and hang it on the new meter pan with a business card.

After the inspection is complete, the PoCo comes back to make permanent connections, and reseals the meter at that time. Have done it this way for several years now, and no complaints yet. About the only time I call the utility now is when the meter is sealed with one of their high-security "barrel locks", which needs a special tool for removal. These generally seem to be installed in more urban areas, with the usual arrangement being a simple plastic/wire tag or pressed lead seal.

Does anyone know of a source for one of those special tools? It would save a lot of hassle from time to time. The utility usually only gives a estimate on a service call time (somewhere in a 4-6 hour period!), and usually will not unlock the meter in advance of my arrival. A real PITA when you want to get a job started early and end up waiting on the PoCo crew for several hours....

it takes a while with a hacksaw....

In Austria all meters are hardwired. They have pressed lead seals that both prevent the meter being opened and the connections being accessed. Anyone can cut the seal, but only a licensed electrician can apply for resealing.
So if anyone else cuts the seal s/he will be in serious trouble when the meter guy comes next time. Electrician has to send a form to the PoCo, they usually arrive whenever they want, w/o needing the electrician to be present and reseal the meter. (In our case we didn't even notice them, we just found the new seal)

I always had a problem lining up for service repacements on multi-family dwellings. Got tired of waiting around for the POCO to show up. Sometimes had to wait over a week. I had to come up with something, so I talked to the agent I was working with, told him, we need to speed up the process, so we came up with a service change/inspection request that we sent to his insurance co.. When I called the POCO the next time, they said, sorry we don't have anyone available to unlock till next week, my reponse was, the insurance co. requests an inspection of wiring, sure enough, within a 1/2hr. There was the meter guy.

I am also in SoCa and I have to say that my local power company (SCE) was great to work with during our remodel.
I asked them to remove the meter seal - I called from work and it was done by the time I got home.
I upgraded our panel from 100A to 200A so I called them to make sure that the service entrance wiring was adequate. They sent someone out to replace it. How much did it cost? Nothing. They even replaced the meter when the contractor dropped a 2x6 on it from the 2nd story roof. Again there was no charge.
Maybe they treated me differently because I am an owner/builder.

Meters in England are hard-wired and have the terminal cover sealed. Nobody except a PoCo employee is allowed to cut the seal.

One occasion a few years ago when a building was to be demolished and I was stripping out equipment I called the local PoCo to have the power removed. This was in the days when you could still speak to the local engineer directly instead of getting a call-center, and because he couldn't get out at the appointed time he told me to just go ahead and break the seal myself to pull the main fuse. (Nice to know that not everybody is a "more than my job's worth" type!)

You get this note in the mailbox from the PoCo each year: "Please make a reading of your meter, fill out attached postcard and send it to us"