[Bobski]

SECO visited my home earlier this spring to inspect a electric transformer that happens to be on my property. I subsequently got a letter stating my plants and shrubbery were impeding access to the transformer. I removed and trimmed some bushes and hedges and sent pics to SECO showing that there was now plenty of clearance in front of and on the sides of the transformer. They sent me an email back saying I was still not in compliance with their 'Terms of Service' stating they required a 10 foot front clearance and three foot side clearances. I have a 5 foot front clearance , a three foot side clearance on one side and one foot on the other side. The rep from SECO said there is no tolerances and all clearances must be met . They are threatening to shut my power in (30 to 45) days if I do not comply. Has anybody had any similar issues with SECO ?

[JoMar]

Maybe call the State Utility Commission to get their view. Especially if they put the threat to terminate service in writing. I do know that if there is an issue with access they can dig up your stuff and have no obligation to restore. I suspect their clearances are there in the event they need to bring in back hoes or other equipment to get from the transformer to the easement. Just curious, did you verify their "Terms of Service"?. Should be online.

[Altavia]

Unfortunately, they need to be consistant in enforcement for the situations that are truly difficult.

[juneroses]

The clearance topic was just addressed in the SECO October newsletter which was enclosed with my bill:

SECO News, October 2019 – SECO Energy

[Marathon Man]

Looks like your hoping to avoid removing your bushes. Probably best to give them what they are demanding.

[SKIMAN]

Having been in the trade and dealing with homeowners. Do you love your plants or power.. You could be a part of the green new deal.

[l2ridehd]

They sent me that letter when I lived in Sunset Pointe. I trimmed my bushes around their unit to about what you said you have. They sent me another letter because I only had about 3 feet around it and 5 feet in front. Threatened to shut off my power. I decided to ignore them and never trimmed them again. They never did shut off my power. When I added their surge protection they brought it up again and I ignored them again.

I do want to provide them access and they had very good access after I trimmed them. Could they get a backhoe around it? In front yes, all around no. But the backhoe could remove the bushes in about 15 seconds if required. And a workman could get easy access all the way around. So my suggestion is to trim them and keep them trimmed so someone can always access the unit to do any required work. If for some strange reason they need a backhoe to dig it up, the bushes will just have to suffer.

[Tom C]

If one digs deep enough into the clearance request, one will find there are NEC code requirements for “clear access” to electrical services. This means the electrical panel in your garage, the panel on the outside of the house, and yes, the transformers in our yards.

I have found that USUALLY a utility works WITH the homeowners on these issues to come to an understanding. If a field visit / mutual understanding is not found, I would suggest you request the reasoning behind the utility requirements (this is where you may find they are simply making sure their workers are able to work on equipment that has code access requirements.

Good luck.

[njbchbum]

All of these posts make me wonder what the difficulty is in complying with the utility requirement? Why is violating compliance such as this and TV deed compliance the thing to do?

[New Englander]

Originally Posted by Marathon Man

Looks like your hoping to avoid removing your bushes. Probably best to give them what they are demanding.

[l2ridehd]

The best solution is to provide them the access they really need while being able to hide the utility box from view. 5 or 6 feet in the front allows them to open the panels and access everything inside the box. Should the problem be greater than 3 feet around allows them to remove all the covers. And they should never need to dig unless your box is hit by lightening, but should that happen they will bring in a backhoe and remove your shrubs and dig. The space requirements they want is so they don't damage shrubs if digging. Otherwise for 99% of what they need, it's a bit of an overkill.

[Velvet]

You could probably pay to have it relocated, not sure how much it would cost. Mine is at the back shared by neighbors and so discretely located I did not see it the first couple of times I visited the house, yet there is full access. I really want that. If the power goes out I want it up as fast as possible.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

All of these posts make me wonder what the difficulty is in complying with the utility requirement? Why is violating compliance such as this and TV deed compliance the thing to do?

It's the elite expecting everyone to comply with what they want. As long as there is no enforcement that attitude will continue. It is The Villages way

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by JoMar

It's the elite expecting everyone to comply with what they want. As long as there is no enforcement that attitude will continue. It is The Villages way

Based on the number of property owners in the Villages compared to the number of complainers/violators in the entire populated area I don't see it as "The Villages way" at all! Sorry that you do.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Based on the number of property owners in the Villages compared to the number of complainers/violators in the entire populated area I don't see it as "The Villages way" at all! Sorry that you do.

Yeah probably right but if you regularly attend the CDD meetings just or the District meetings it seems to always be about finding a way to circumvent the deed restrictions or find other ways to not take personal responsibility. I also have learned that for all those that are verbal there are a silent majority that agree but won't speak up. Just seems to be more than when I moved here and in conversations with some who have been here since the 80's and 90's they seem to agree.