Hole in service entry wire

Depends. How big of a hole in how bit of a wire? Less material in the wire means less capacity. Tiny hole, no big deal. Big hole can cause problems when you run lots of power.

If you grazed a tiny bit, no big deal, but if you took out 3/4 of a conductor, I'd replace.

Are you talking about your service drop from your POCO or some other wire?

If it goes directly into or out of your electric meter it should be replaced.

Did you wrap the wire with good electrical tape.

Putting in a doggie door, through the wall, a wire was nicked by a sawzall blade. Tapped it -- it was not terrible. Bubba did it. I found it :-)

I guess I'm alsways optimistic because I figured he drilled all the way through the insulation but missed the wire. If it's like that, I'd fill it full of silicone sealant I think. Pack it in good with a wooden paint stirrer.

JK

The "scam" would be to sew you up and get to cut you open to fix it whenit lets go - and get $2500- instead.

Unless you've got an unusual install, aluminum 4/0 SE cable is about $5/ft and a typical install might need 10 feet so that's about $50 bucks.  Add an hour drive time and two hours to swap the cable and you are looking at roughly $350.

Find an honest electrician.

And it will likely fail again.

A lesser used abbreviation. Just kidding.

Yeah, I got off cheap.

I was just kidding before. He was a very nice guy who apologized for having to charge the extra $25.

Sounds like a troll to me. How about the part about the lights flickering? Why would the lights flicker, unless the drill completed a circuit and drew huge amps, in which case there would be a lot more to worry about than the lights flickering and the hole.

Forget the Likely - it WILL fail again . 3 rolls of tape won't make it any beter than one. It needs a "self vulcanizing" or "self sealing" tape, or better yet a jell filled connector. Undeground cable connector kits have a gell-filled heat shrink tube - 2 layers. When you heat the shrink tube the tube shrinks and the jell melts and squeases out the ends. The second longer piece goes over top and double seals the joint.