As long as a drip loop is installed, and the service conductors enter a proper weatherhead and mast, if the service drop extends from the pole on the street all the way to the meter with no splice, maybe it’s not ideal, but is it a defect?
And…
Does that mean the service conductors in the mast are still just “service conductors”, part of the service drop, and the conductors that extend from the meter to the main disconnect are now the “service entrance conductors”?
I don’t think this would ever happen considering the change in ownership between the poco and the homeowner. Also the sizing rules under the NEC are different than the NESC sizing rules.
I’m in Mexico writing courses to develop a Mexican home inspection industry, Jim. Their electrical codes are the same as the 2002 NEC. I see it all the time down here.
What’s a poco? Power Company? The change in responsibility is at the meter, not the splice. I got that straight from the poco (CFE)
Depending on the poco, some supply the socket, others are purchased as part of the install. In most of my experience the poco makes all the connections in the socket, including line side.
In theory, there is nothing in NEC to mandate a splice at the service point.
Service point is, roughly speaking, the lowest portion of the drip loop, where the service drop turns into service entrance.
In practice, however, the issue is with the listings of available and commonly used wires and cables. The only way the service drop triplex wires can go down the wall is in a conduit.
As far as I know, most or maybe all triplex wires are not listed for that purpose (to be enclosed in a conduit), and neither are they sized the same way as the service entrance, as Jim has noted above.
So to sum up, while technically possible, it is a very unlikely scenario, at least in the US.
Around here, it has been that the electrician stops by and picks up the meter base from the POCO and installs it with the mast and weather-head including SEC up and out. The POCO hooks up the drop to those conductors and installs the meter after inspection by AHJ was completed.
It’s hard to find anyone here to be specific, but the concensus seems to be the the change in responsibility takes place where the service wires connect to the meter.
Actually Bob, their Electrical Code is the the 2002 NEC, word for word. Which just happens to be the book I grabbed from InterNACHI HQ when I left, thinking that I’d leave them the modern versions.
The Mexican Electrical code in effect nationwide is identical to the 2002 NEC!