How to Wire a Meter Base Panel & an Electrical Panel

Wiring the meter base panel or service entrance to a home's main electrical panel is performed for the transfer of the utility's electrical service for the consumer. Many utilities control the type and wire size that is allowed in the service entrance. By following a basic process, you can wire the meter base and the main panel.

Things You'll Need

• Pocket knife
• Socket set (includes Allen sockets)
• Torque wrench

Instructions

1. Contact your power utility and receive their set of specifications for the service entrance's wire sizes and types. Generally this is a one-page document that gives you all the information you will need for location, types of enclosures and wire types and sizes. Follow their specifications for connection to the incoming electrical service.

2. Understand that there will be three wires for the incoming power, two hot wires and one neutral or ground wire. These three wires will be connected to the meter base and run from that base into the main electrical panel. The most important factor is to keep the two hot wires identified from the neutral or ground wire of the electrical system.

3. Strip back the outer insulation from all the wires in the meter base, using a pocket knife. Expose at least one inch of the stranded bare copper wire. Loosen the meter base lugs using the correctly sized socket. There will be six lugs altogether in the meter base. Four lugs are for the hot wires and two lugs are for the neutral or ground wire. The neutral wires should be connected to the two center lugs located under where the meter will be plugged into. These lugs are also identified by the fact that they are tied together by a solid conductor or bus bar. The meter will be installed by the power company.

4. Connect the incoming and outgoing hot power wires in the following order: top lugs, incoming power connections (for the meter base, it will be the two top outside lugs). The incoming wires from the transformer should be connected to these socket head bolts. The wires coming from the meter base, outgoing power connections, and into the home's main panel will be connected to the bottom set of socket head lugs. The electrical conductive connections for these sets of wires are made through the electric meter. In both terminations, the bolt heads should be loosened so the metal contactor can flip out of the way and the exposed copper wire can be laid under the bus bar. Slip the bar back into the slot of the connector and tighten with the socket head wrench.

5. Terminate the wire's in the homes main panel by first stripping the wire insulation back as in step 3. The neutral wire will be connected to the large bus bar that is also connected to the rear of the main panel enclosure. The two hot wires will be connected to the top lugs of the main panel's circuit breaker. In all cases, follow the torque recommendations of the bolt heads listed on the identification tags of the manufacturer's labeling. Use the torque wrench for the final tightening of all the bolt heads.

Tips & Warnings

• Follow all state and local electrical codes when installing any electrical devices or power transfer equipment.

References

• National Electrical Codes; NFPA;1988