Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

[silverbk]

Ok here's the scenario, I have been asked to advise on a project in it's design phase, my customer is planning on building a large home on top of a mountain near Lake George NY.

Niagara Mohawk, the local power company, has been to the site. They claim that the customers 1600 foot driveway does not meet their specs to be considered a road, and will not provide primary service either buried or on poles up the driveway. They state the driveway must be at least 10 feet wide and accessible by their trucks. Improving the driveway is not an option right now due to cost and other site considerations.

Their representative suggested that they provide a secondary 240/120 service, by the road, then it would be the responsibility of the customer to provide a transformer to step the voltage up to primary levels, bury a coaxial primary under the driveway and then install another transformer near the house to step the voltage back down to 240/120 and feed the house.

Has anyone ever run into any situations like this? Would this type of installation be viable?

My suggestion was to have a customer installed and owned primary installed from their pole all the way up the driveway, to a customer owned, installed and maintained transformer pad near the house. They claim they cannot sell residential customers primary power.

Can anyone from Niagara Mohawks territory comment on the company's practices?

 

[petersonra]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

It sounds to me like NM has suggested a perfectly reasonable solution. If the site does not provide access to their trucks, how do you expect them to servcie their equipment?

 

[George Stolz]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

Originally posted by silverbk:
They state the driveway must be at least 10 feet wide and accessible by their trucks. Improving the driveway is not an option right now due to cost and other site considerations.

I think Mr. Fire Marshall and Mr. Insurance Company might get a little perturbed at a driveway a fire-truck can't drive up. If the POCO says the road's too narrow for a utility truck, then maybe they need to spend some of their dream home cash on a dream-home driveway.

My suggestion was to have a customer installed and owned primary installed from their pole all the way up the driveway, to a customer owned, installed and maintained transformer pad near the house. They claim they cannot sell residential customers primary power.

Yeah, fat chance. Residences don't warrant those kind of headaches for the POCO.

 

[George Stolz]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

How much does a 240-to-480 300 amp outdoor pad-mount transformer cost?

How much does a 480-to-240 transformer cost?

Just curious.

 

[ron]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

In a residence, I don't thin NiMo would let the maintenance of a medium voltage line be the responsibility of the residence owner, unless it was brought to medium voltage levels by the owner for liability reasons.
I don't know of any code restrictions for residential primary utility metering, unless it was a restriction by NiMo.

 

[hbiss]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

Heh heh, I think the cost of making the driveway wider is looking better and better.

-Hal

 

[coppertreeelectric]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

I had a situation exactly the same except for the driveway issue. Central Hudson Gas and Electric who is the bordering utility company to Mohawk had us handle the situation like this:

From the road where the utility pole is we ran an underground primary to a customer owned transformer pad. From the pad to the house we ran an underground secondary. The utility supplied the transformer but it was up to us to provide the primary cable, pad and the road-crossing pole to get the primary on our side of the street. The utility company provided the primary to the customer road-crossing pole but we took it from there. Central Hudson G&E made all primary and transformer connections.

The more time goes by the less the utility does. It?s good for the EC but not so good for the customer. I enjoy doing the work because it pays big bucks, but again it?s hard on the customer?s wallet.

Steve

 

[speedypetey]

Re: Problems with Niagra Mohawk new house install

I'll second what Steve said as we are in the same area.
This is a very typical scenario around here as there are a lot of very long driveways.
CHGE DOES provide primary service to customers.