Electrician Restricted From His Own Work

As an electrician, I was called to a customers' house because a situation was quickly developing. He described his problem as half his house was out of power, then it came back on, then half went out again.  When called out to do a job as an emergency, an electrician will listen to the complaint of the homeowner first.  The homeowner will describe their particular situation.  

I started narrowing down the problem.  I started with with most common problems first and eliminate those.  Then I work myself down the list of usual suspects.  I went first to where the customer says it is switched off on another panel.  I checked the breaker where it is switched and found that it is getting no power to that breaker.  Then I go up to the main and I placed my meter on it to make sure there is full power there.  But this customer was only getting half the power there.  So the next step was to check his meter.

Could there be a problem in his meter?  If so, what side?  It could be on one of two sides:  the primary side, which is the power companies' side, or the secondary side, which is the homeowners' side that the electrician wired.  Either way, the power company is not allowed to change the meter.  They must have an electrician.  The meter socket is owned by the homeowner. I broke the seal to check the meter.  That's when I saw the burnt meter.

The local power company wants me to sign a release to get into an area where they do not even own.  They don't have any jurisdiction over me.  The power company can't fix it.  They are not allowed to fix that because they are not licensed electricians.  But, they are requiring me to sign a paper that will allow me access to within the meter pan.  If a meter is smoking in front of me, I will break the seal to prevent a house from burning down.  Am I wrong?

Comments

[mike]

You are not wrong at all. Unfortunately, there are all kinds of rules that we have to fallow set up by these companies and counties that we work within. Regardless if its a "rule" or not. I'd have done that same thing. I can't just stand by and let some guys house burn down. You should be commended.

[Electricians]

I can understand problem.You are absolutely right,Whoever in your electrical situation will do like this only.You are sincere in your job to recover customers problem.I appreciate you.