Breaking and Picking Up Loads

This video explains how to turn off the power before you begin and turn it back on after you have replaced the meter. Before turning off the breaker, try to ask the customer to shut things off first if they are home. We don’t want to catch anyone by surprise with their power going off.

Fast Moving Meter

An electrical load is an electrical component or portion of a circuit that consumes (active) electric power, such as electrical appliances and lights inside the home. The term may also refer to the power consumed by a circuit. Electric meters have an indicator to show how much load is going through the meter. On the Analog meters there is a disk that spins. The faster the disk spins the more load is going through the meter. On a digital meter there are dots that typically go across the bottom of the LCD display. The faster the dots move the more load on the circuit.

You should observe the speed of the indicator. If the meter appears to be under a high amount of load, try waiting a few minutes to see if it slows down. If it does not slow down look around the meter for the main disconnect breaker. With your gloves on, turn off the main disconnect breaker. This will de-energize the building breaking load. Continue with your meter install making sure you turn back on the main disconnect.

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