The electrical equipment located on customers property, belongs to Lewis County PUD.  Employees will need access to the electrical equipment during various times of the year.  We need access for;

  • Meter Reading: for timely & accurate billing.
  • Emergencies: In the event of a fire, crews must be able to shut the power off before firefighters can work safely. Every second counts during such a critical event.
  • Maintenance: Lewis County PUD employees will check on and maintain meters and services as needed during the year.
  • Outages: In the event of power outages, employees may need to access our equipment. If the equipment is not accessible, it could cause delays in restoring the power to you and those around you.

If the PUD is not able to access our equipment, you may be charged a “Meter Access Charge.”  This is the amount charged to the customer where we have limited or restricted access to maintain equipment or read meters. We reserve the right to determine what constitutes restricted access.

Electric Meters

Some customers would like to enclose their electric meters for aesthetic purposes. Enclosed meters and the meter base enclosures must be accessible and unobstructed. If you choose to enclose your meter, please be sure to provide an unlocked and unobstructed access door.

 

Covered Meters
Not allowed inaccessible covered meters                 Allowed accessible covered meters

Locked Gates:

  • In the case of a coded gate, the property owner will be required to provide us with a gate code. Some systems allow you to set up additional codes just for utilities and other approved visitors. The code will only be used to access our system and will never be shared.
  • In the case of a gate requiring a key, the property owner will be required to provide us with a key.

We respect your privacy and right for security as a property owner, we will only access our equipment when necessary to provide reliable service to our customers.

Access to premises; identification. WAC 480-100-168

  1. Authorized representatives of an electric utility have the right to enter a customer’s property during reasonable hours to perform necessary functions such as meter reading, maintenance, repairs, testing, installation, or removal of the utility’s property. Utilities must provide photo identification to utility representatives who are authorized to enter customers’ premises. Customers have the right to see the utility-provided identification of electric utility representatives before allowing entry to the customer’s property.
  2. When performing maintenance, repairs, testing, installation, or removal of the utility’s property, the utility must restore the customer’s property as close as reasonably practicable to the condition prior to the utility’s action, unless otherwise defined in the utility’s tariff or through a separate agreement with the customer.

Padmount Transformers:

Our crews need room to work safely around padmount transformers. Please keep shrubs and fences 10 feet away from all sides of the transformer. Obstructions closer to the transformer may be damaged or removed during service restorations and maintenance.

Clearance Zone: Trees and shrubs should be planted at least 10 feet away from ground-mounted transformers. Large Tree Zone: Plant large trees (over 35 feet when mature) at least 50 feet away from overhead power lines. Keep clear: keep area around meter clear from obstructions and debris for visibility and safety. Medium Tree Zone: Plant medium trees (25 to 35 feet when mature) at least 25 feet away from overhead power lines. Low Tree Zone: 10 to 25 feet away from overhead power lines. It is best not to plant in this area. If you do, plant only low-growing trees and shrubs with a height of less than 15 feet when mature. Pruning Zone: Trees and shrubs will be pruned if they are within 10 feet of overhead power lines to help prevent outages.
Electrical Equipment Clearances