Meters

Chris,

The NEC code says that neutral and ground can only be bonded in one place. This can be in either the meter box or the main panel.

This just sounds like a roundabout way of telling him not to put a ground on the new meter box.

I have a spare meter box in my garage that I just looked at and there is a lug for a ground wire connected directly to the neutral lug, and the neutral lug is on a metal bracket mounted on the metal of the meter housing. The lugs for the two live wires coming in and going out are of course mounted on insulators.

Maybe its just a local requirement, but it seems like that inspector is asking for a meter box with the neutral lug mounted on an insulator and the ground lug mounted directly onto the main frame.

Seems like a crazy requirement to me since you no longer have access to the meter box after the utility company places their seal on it, so all you have to do is make sure there is no ground on it before the utility company seals it.

I guess out of an abundance of caution he wants the meter box grounded, but he does not want neutral and ground bonded in the meter box.

Maybe there are different rules for meters on the load side of the panel box, but I don't know where my code manual is right now. Perhaps the simple solution is to ask the inspector for the name of a supplier where it can be purchased.


John