Underground connection to Electric Meter?

[Davej]

I am looking at a house that has the electric meter on the side, but the problem is that I think I would want to change the grade on that side of the house to allow the driveway to be extended beside the house. This idea is complicated by the electric meter. The service connection to the meter is underground.

What would be a rough guess of the cost for an electrician or the power company (???) to rewire that meter? I would rent the necessary equipment and do the digging and expose the wire, but I suspect the wire would need to be lengthened so that it could then be buried deeper.

Thanks...

[gfretwell]

Somebody here said they paid around two grand for something like that. This is your wire so the PoCo will not be responsible for that. They may be able to refer you to their contractor tho.

[Stormin' Norman]

Consider calling the electric utility company and having them come out, at no charge, and mark for you exactly where the wires are located and how deep they are. You might be able to accomplish your grading without moving or lengthening the wires.

[Scott Lurndal]

Wouldn't it be simpler to call the power company and ask? You will not get a useful answer here, unless you include more information such as "location", "size of service", "distance to service transformer", "name of power company".

[gfretwell]

Good luck finding an excavator who will dig over a marked service lateral. The locate people will tell you where it is but they will not guarantee the depth.

[Stormin' Norman]

Dave indicated he was going to personally excavate. Regardless, knowing the precise path and approximate depth of the service is the first step in the process.

[Paintedcow]

No one mentioned having the power shut off before any excavating is even started. Only an idiot will dig with the power ON. Since this is on the power companies side of the meter, it's between them and the home owner to accomplish this work. They will have certain requirements, or they may do the entire job, or maybe the home owner can dig the trench and they do the wiring, or some other arrangement.

Asking for the price on a newsgroup is stupid. Ask the power company! Each company will have their own requirements and codes to follow, and each will have different prices.

[gfretwell]

It basically tells you where not to dig. You also have the problem with "cover". When you are done, it needs to end up 2 feet down, unless it is covered with concrete.

[trader_4]

+1