Utility requiring stamped one-line? [RE-wrenches]

[Travis Creswell]

I completely agree with William.  We are going through this in Missouri
right now.  The utility requires a "licensed electrician" or professional
engineer to sign off on a grid tie installation.  This pure and simple is a
road block that the Utilities have inserted into our anti-net metering law.

Don't get me wrong.  Of course I fully support safe installations that are
up to code.  

But additional inspections (permits, etc) that are not representative of
what electrical work in that area would normally be subjected cannot be
tolerated by us.  IE; if you are normally required to have an engineer stamp
a one line diagram to get a permit to add a clothes dryer plug in your house
then that same requirement is not out of line for installing a PV system.

But in Missouri we do have not statewide electrician licensing program and
I'm not asking my customers pay an engineer thousands of $'s to learn about
what's even signing off on.

So in most places in Missouri (75%+), the homeowner or any jackleg can wire
up a house then call the utility to come hook up a service.  The utility
hooks it up, assuming they don't see anything to out of line, and hangs
around for a few minutes to see if the houses catches on fire.  

But if the same house wants to inter-tie then they have to have an engineer
or licensed electrician sign off.  It's a totally unreasonable and
completely transparent obstruction. Keep in mind few areas even have a
permit system and there no such thing as a licensed electrician in that
area.

Travis Creswell
Ozark Energy Services

-----Original Message-----
From: William Miller [mailto:wrmiller at charter.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 6:29 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: Utility requiring stamped one-line? [RE-wrenches]



Max:

Maybe you need to update your curriculum.

The need in the industry is to de-mystify residential grid-tie systems.  If 
we allow building officials, unions or utilities to build up the process to 
appear more complicated than it really is, then installations cost more, 
there are fewer of them completed and the industry, the consumers and the 
environment loses.

A small residential installation is not rocket science and we can not let 
any one try to say otherwise.  We need to fight this trend.

William Miller





At 12:38 PM 10/18/2006, you wrote:

>Jeff, we've seen a move toward required engineering in most jurisdictions.
>I've been a C10 since 1982 so we've done a lot of commercial design. I have
>an engineer we work with that checks my drawings and gives me any imput I
>need. We then e-mail him the cad files and he adds his stamp to them and we
>print them and take them to the city. His charge is minimal compared to the
>overall cost of the system.
>The agencys here in the coachella valley (palm springs ca.) Are beginning
to
>ask for engineering on the small residential systems. I can't complain,
I've
>taught classes with a lot of them in attendance.
>
>
>Max Balchowsky
>SEE Systems
>100 S. Sunrise wy # 285
>Palm Springs, Ca. 92262
>760-403-6810
>
>"Creating a Better Future For The Next Generation"
>Creatin


- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & how to change your email address:
www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com


- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & how to change your email address: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9.bWljaGFl
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit:
http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER
--^----------------------------------------------------------------