Started clearing my lot for a future home and took a few pics.

[Holmes]

 Around here conduit is needed, but in NH who knows?  Usually 3 of 4 conduits are run ,1 for electric, 2 smaller pipes for telephone and internet and a 4th to put lighting back down the driveway.

[Piston]

.... and a 4th to put lighting back down the driveway.

There's something I didn't think of.   ;)

[GRANITEstateMP]

Piston,

Meeting with the Co-op will help answer a lot of questions.  I went through this a few years ago with them (but much shorter run!) and learned a LOT.  The $250 is actually a "design" charge, you'll get that back off your first couple of bills once the juice starts flowing.  The designer is gonna want to have the house site marked off (within 10-20ft) and if the driveway isn't marked off he'll want that marked as well(or the power right of way if not the driveway, something else to discuss with them).  The whole process takes longer than it should BUT the Co-Op is pretty good to work with.  We ended up getting the plans and the quote from the Co-Op and taking it to a local company (that the Co-Op usually sub's stuff out to) and saving about 50% (cash still does talk!).  We had to buy 2 poles, one as a support for an existing pole on the main road, the other as a ways to cross a wetlands and then went underground another 200 or so feet.  We did all the digging / trenching ourselfs and cut all the trees in the right of way, we also layed all the conduit and sand in the trench.  The Co-op wasn't real happy about my shopping around but that's there problem!  They did bust my nuggets about burying the conduit without them seeing it and wanted me to dig it up so they knew the depth.  Lucky for me, I also took a bunch of pictures and had some with me in the trench holding a tape up!  In the end it all worked out BUT if I ever lose the pole in the driveway I need to buy the next one, not them, since I didn't have them install it!  Also, you can only go so far underground before needing to put in some kind of transformer or something, not sure of the term or the amount of feet you can run before you need one.  Hope this helps.

Matt

[Piston]

Matt,
Thank you for that post.  There is a lot of very helpful information that you just told me about.  You actually answered a lot of the question's I've been wondering about, that even the lady at the Co op couldn't answer for me  :D

I'm glad to know that at least I CAN run my own cable and lay my own conduit.  I will be able to dig the trench with my backhoe and run the conduit.  I think they quoted me about $21 per foot so 700' or so would certainly add up!  If I could do it for half that I would be tickled pink! 

I'm hoping to meet with the design guy in the next couple of weeks.  However, I still need to get up there and mark off where I will be clearing for power (I'm not planning on running it along the driveway if I don't have to) as well as mark off the house location, so as long as I can get those things done I'll make an apt with the design guy. 

Did they pretty much spell out exactly how you needed to run the wire?  As far as depths of the trench, what to fill and how much, what type of conduit/cable you need to run, and things like that?  As long as he can spell everything out for me, I can follow directions.  I won't be doing any sort of electrical work, but I can do the labor intensive stuff. 
Thanks again, that was a really helpful post.  ;D

[GRANITEstateMP]

Piston,

The trench part is pretty easy, it's so many feet/inches deep (I think it was 3ft), it depends on how many tubes/conduit you run.  The "main line" goes into a 3in? piece while the cable / phone can go into 1 1/2in?  The trench gets filled with sand and a Electical Line Buried red tape.  the key is keeping the 3 tubes separated and what order they go in.  Also NO sharp turns!  The plans were really detailed, so much so that they could have been printed in another language!  The sub contractor that pulled the line provided the cable for me so I'm not sure of what is required there.  When buying conduit, there are different grades or schedules, I belive you need a Sched. 80 if it's in a driveway or under a tote road and sched. 40 if its just a path.  As others suggested run a string or something in the conduit as you go.  My wifes Uncle dug and helped with ours, when we had the conduit done he grabbed a shop van and a string pulled it the couple hund feet, worked slick!  You will need metal conduit going up the pole (1 section?) a 90deg bend in metal and maybe the first section away, can't remember...  For Co-Op you also need a master power ON / OFF switch before the meter on the house side (they don't give those away either!).  Like I said the Co-Op was very helpful, just a bit too much $$$!

Matt

[grweldon]

I ran my underground power line from a pole about 100' from my house.  They wouldn't run the power until I had a septic system put in.  Also, my wire was quite a bit bigger than #8...  I used 3/0 aluminum for the conductors with 2/0 for the ground.  I would imagine that the power company won't allow you to use anything less for 200A service.

[beenthere]

also need a master power ON / OFF switch before the meter on the house side

After the meter I can understand, and maybe that is what you meant. Such a disconnect is apparently new code put in by the firemen so they can disconnect the electric supply within 10' of the meter. Not sure why the firemen don't just pull out the meter from its socket.  :

[Piston]

I really appreciate the additional info. 

I'm printing off the 60 page .pdf that they have on their website, it should give me some good info I hope and at least I'll be prepared with some questions for the design guy.

I'd like to have a small barn of some sort (some kind of small woodworking barn or similar) about 500-600' in from the road, then another 150' back or so, would be the house.  So....

What I would like to do, if I even can??, is run the electric from the road, underground, to where the small barn would be, then have my meter mounted on the barn, rather than on the house.  Then, I'd like to run undground from the barn to the house. 

Can I do something like this?  Or do I have to have the meter on the house?  If I needed the meter on the house, then would I have to run the power all the way to the house (700 or so feet, give or take) then go BACK to the barn with underground wire? 

I'd also rather have the meter hanging on the barn, than on the house, for aesthetic reasons. 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Beenthere,

Can't remember if it's before or after the meter but NH Co-Op made this deal code after some bad flooding hear in NH a few years back so that emergency personel could turn off the power from the outside instead of in a partially flooded basement.  Made sense to me, hope it never needs to be used!

[GRANITEstateMP]

Piston,

When we got our site visit, the line designer brought us a neat book, with pictures (I like pictures!) that was a big help.

[Piston]

I just finished reading through the .pdf for installation guidelines. 

One of the things it mentions is "Primary" vs. "Secondary" power.

For instance, in the specs to bury the conduit for the "Primary" power, it shows 3 separate runs of conduit for power to run through, then it shows 2 separate runs above those, one for Telephone and one for Cable TV. 
It also shows a #6 guage copper wire, run at the bottom of the trench, the entire length. 

For the "Secondary" power trench, the specs show only 3 runs of conduit, one for power, one for cable, and one for telephone.  There is NO copper wire for a ground wire in this trench.  Also, all 3 conduit runs are side by side. 

It seems the "secondary" power trench would be considerably cheaper, as well as easier to run. 

I have no idea what the difference between "primary" and "secondary" power is. 

Which one would I be using?  Or at least, which one did you get installed? 

[jcbrotz]

I have no idea what the difference between "primary" and "secondary" power is. 

Primary is pre transformer secondary is post transformer.

[samandothers]

You will need to discuss with their planner whether the meter can go on barn versus house. They may not allow a residential meter on the barn. Also consider your house may be the bigger load and you may want the shortest run of secondary cable to the largest load to reduce voltage drop and flickering lights when AC compressors start.

Primary usually refers to a distribution voltage like 7.2 kilovolts and runs to a transformer. The transformer steps the voltage down to the secondary voltage level for the house 240/120 volts.

I don't know why the number of conduits for primary. I would expect one to the transformer for a radial feed and two if looped, third may be spare.
primary

[Piston]

(Disclaimer, I know nothing about electricity, as if that isn't obvious  :D)

So, would I have primary going from the power lines on the road, underground to a transformer somewhere, then secondary going to my house in another trench? 

OR,

Is the transformer mounted on the pole at the road, then I have all secondary going to my house, in only one trench?

OR, is it one of those "it depends" answers? 

I'm hoping I can only run secondary from the pole at the road, all the way to the house.  That would certainly be cheaper and easier from the sounds of things. 

Thanks for the help guys.  I know this is something that the design guy will tell me but I like to have a little bit of a clue before talking to him.   :D

[samandothers]

If you are 700 feet from pole you will need primary.  The length of secondary depends on load and motor sizes. The planner can help you with this.  The more load the greater the voltage will drop in the lower voltage higher current secondary. Also large motors when starting can cause lights to flicker more than you may want if the run of secondary is to long.

[thecfarm]

Put your meter somewheres by your door or someplace you shovel. In my other house it was on the wrong end of the house. The walkway was on one end and the meter on the other end. A bother for the meter reader and me. But dummy me,is there such a thing now? We just got the Smart meters here in Maine. But make sure the oil or gas fill is by a walk way.  ;D

[Ljohnsaw]

One (sad) thing I've noticed about this forum is that everyone seems to be east of the Rockies, or even the Mississippi!  Is there anyone out here on the left coast?

Wow, only $250 for the initial work?  PG&E (Pacific graft & extortion Gas & Electric wants a $1,000 retainer for engineering look-see.  And then they may ask for more if it gets "involved".  The money would then be applied to work that they could or must do.  I have the option to dig my own trench.  For my property (6,000' elevation), the electric service is underground at the road.  My property is probably 1,000' from where a bank of transformers are located.  I'm hoping for a permanent meter point at the entrance to my property and then running about 200-300' to my cabin and/or well head.

[thecfarm]

We did did our 500 foot driveway 12 years ago,it did not cost us anything. Back in the early '80's there was no power here. Power had to come 2-3 miles. I had the power company do a plan,$150,000.    This was before cell phones,so I had the phone company do a plan,I only had to pay $40 per pole.  Big diffeance in price.Too much for me.I did check out wind power too.Both plans were at no cost. Than more people wanted to build up here in the "90's and they brought it in. That was just about like kicking a ant hill. People started to move in up here.

[GRANITEstateMP]

The deal with primary / secondary was moot with me.  I had to cross a small swampy / wet area and did that above ground (cheaper / permits....) so that took away almost all my problems.  The pole in the drive has a small transformer and the underground run is about 200ish feet.  We ran one big conduit (3in?) that had all the electrical, and 2 smaller ones (one for cable / internet / phone) the third is the spare AKA just in case!  I belive if we would have gone underground from the road to the house then we would have needed either a transformer station deal (technical term is unknown to me!) or run primary the whole way (more $$$), like I said the soft ground / wet lands took care of that problem!

[Ljohnsaw]

Granite,
Interesting point about the wetlands.  Were they on your property or someone else?  For me, there is a road/utility easement on my neighbor's property to mine - it makes a very long, upside down, L shape to my property.  The straight path would be OVER the very end of a seasonal pond, potentially cutting my cost.   However, there isn't an "easement" listed for that and my neighbors might have a issue with the wires. I'll need to do some research on that.  I can see PG&E not wanting overhead because of winter maintenance issues at my elevation.

[jdonovan]

Not sure why the firemen don't just pull out the meter from its socket.  :

meters tend to explode when disconnected under load. SOP around here for all departments is NOT to pull meters. If I believe there is a undue hazard; pull the crews, and work from outside.

[Woodchuck53]

We had an issue with fire a few years ago and didn't know the power company had pulled the meter till we started cleaning up. Then they wanted to charge me to reconnect?? We also just got the smart meters. We'll see how smart they are now that I am supporting even more of the area peoples power needs.