Have you wondered who pays for repairs when something goes wrong with the electricity in your house inside or out?
Here’s what electricians and representatives of two of our state’s utilities told us:
- Homeowners are responsible for maintenance and repairs on all electric equipment and wiring inside their houses as well as the exterior electric panel, all breakers in the panel and the grounding. The utility is responsible for the service lines and the meter.
- If power comes from an underground line, homeowners are responsible for the underground conduit called the riser — from the electric panel to the connection point of the underground system.
- If the power comes from lines overhead, homeowners are responsible for the connection area on the roof, the overhead riser structure, including wire attachments and braces, and the wire running through the riser that goes to the panel. On the roof, the utility is responsible for the lines up to the connections in the weatherhead, a pipe attached to a conduit that takes lines down to the meter.
- So if you have trouble with wiring or electricity, what do you do first? Generally, a customer will call a utility company, and a utility representative will guide the customer through general troubleshooting to see if the problem involves the utility or if the customer needs to call a qualified electrical contractor.
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