Have to reroute subpanel panel left in temporarily position by electrician (licensed, and a friend). Cover off, subpanel feed temped in. Need to kill power at the meter for safety for 15 minutes to get the wire into connector, into panel. Strange lock on the meter. This is one of the wireless ones read remotely by driveby meter readers, they don't come into the house. Any suggestions for getting the lock off?
Don't even try. Just call the electrical utility and they will come out, do a quick disconnect, then re-connect it for you. Depending on their policy, there may or may not be a charge for this. When I had a new entry point installed, they came right out (a few hours). They even took the opportunity to replace the wires from the pole to the house. There was no charge for any of this.
Trying to defeat the lock will only get you in much more trouble than it is worth.
Alan
Ditto!
First off: Call the power company if you want to open the meter box, it belongs to them not you, and if you open it without authorization that is considered "tampering with a power distribution device" and is a serious offense... (No normal person ever has the need to open the meter box without the power company being there unless they intend to tamper with the meter to steal power...)
Secondly, why on earth would you need to kill power at the meter unless you are replacing the main panel's main breaker, or doing some kind of work between the main panel and the meter box??? This sub-panel of which you speak is wired into a branch circuit within the main panel, yes??? If you shut off the main breaker for the main panel it will be perfectly safe to work inside that panel to do whatever you need to do as long as you avoid touching the feeder wires going into the main breaker...
Working on wiring inside of circuit breaker panels is really something that homeowners should leave to professional electricians... (In this case, call your friend back to finish the job he started) It is very easy to kink wires or nick the insulation on them (both bad things to do) as you route them within the panel...
Evan, ~~formerly a maintenance man, now a college student...
utility theft is a HUGE and ever growing problem in our wonderful nation of crooks we have here.
why not, just once, call the people that put the lock there and get their assistance.
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