A working meter across the line does not prove a durable service right
When a meter, service disconnect, pole, transformer, pedestal, or buried service conductor serving the home appears on neighboring land, verify the utility's records and the recorded land rights before closing. Current power may rest on an easement, a utility franchise, a revocable permission, a boundary mistake, a shared service arrangement, or facilities that do not serve the parcel as assumed. Do not rely on years of uninterrupted billing as a title opinion.
Electric service is hazardous and utility-controlled. Do not open meter bases, remove seals, trace energized conductors by digging, or ask a contractor to move equipment without utility approval. Call 811 before any excavation, while recognizing that private customer-owned lines may require separate locating. A licensed electrician, serving utility, surveyor, title professional, and local permitting authority each answer different parts of the problem.
Illustrative scenario: the meter is mounted on the neighbor's barn
Imagine a rural home whose billing meter and main disconnect sit on a pole beside the neighbor's barn. An underground cable crosses a field to the house. The seller says both homes once belonged to one family and the arrangement has always worked. The preliminary title report shows no clear electric easement, and the account number on the bill does not establish who owns the pole, cable, disconnect, or access route.
The buyer obtains a boundary survey, recorded records, utility field review, and electrician's one-line sketch. The utility confirms a customer-owned service beyond its delivery point and requires a new meter location on the purchased parcel for future service. A civil and electrical proposal addresses trenching, easements, permits, outage coordination, and restoration. The buyer then requires relocation before closing rather than accepting a handshake right to enter the neighbor's barnyard.
Map every component and the point of delivery
Have the surveyor locate property lines, buildings, meter, poles, transformer, pedestal, disconnect, visible route, gates, roads, and recorded easements. Ask the utility to identify the service point or point of delivery, meter number, premise or location ID, facilities it owns, facilities the customer owns, and which parcel and structures the account is authorized to serve. A utility map helps but does not replace a boundary survey or title examination.
The electrician should document conductor route and type where knowable, service rating, grounding and bonding, disconnect location, overhead clearances, underground depth records, and any shared loads such as wells, barns, gates, or pumps. Do not assume one meter legally serves every structure simply because wires exist. Separate accounts, farm loads, accessory dwellings, generation, and resale of electricity can trigger utility tariffs, codes, or permits.
Read the easement, not just the exception label
Obtain the full recorded easement, plat, prior deed, utility agreement, license, shared-service agreement, and amendments from the recorder or title company. PG&E advises buyers to obtain recorded easements through the county recorder or title company. Read the legal description, beneficiaries, purpose, width, route, equipment covered, access rights, maintenance, vegetation, gates, relocation, cost, exclusivity, duration, transfer, and termination terms.
Confirm that the instrument benefits the purchased parcel or the serving utility and burdens the correct neighboring parcel. A blanket utility exception in a title commitment may not grant the buyer a private right to cross the neighbor's land to repair customer-owned cable. Ask title counsel whether rights run with the land and whether the title policy insures the access relied on. If the route is unrecorded or ambiguous, obtain a recordable solution before closing.
Get the serving utility's written position
Ask for a field meeting and written response on whether the existing configuration is approved, whether crews can access the meter and service equipment, and what happens after a failure, upgrade, ownership change, or neighbor obstruction. PG&E's service guidance says it approves transformer and meter locations and, where possible, connecting spans should not cross adjacent properties. Other utilities have different tariffs and standards; only the actual serving utility can approve this installation.
Request the current service manual, tariff provisions, meter-access rules, clearance requirements, vegetation and gate rules, relocation process, application fees, engineering timeline, outage procedure, and responsibility split. Puget Sound Energy notes that easements may be needed to access private property and that keeping easement areas clear is shared work. Do not infer that the utility will enforce a private access right or relocate facilities at its expense.
Compare keeping the arrangement with relocating it
Keeping it may be reasonable only if the surveyed location, approved utility configuration, recorded rights, reliable access, ownership split, maintenance duties, and lender and insurer positions all align. Consider gates, livestock, seasonal roads, snow, crops, future fencing, development, and emergency disconnection. The agreement should address notice, entry, damage restoration, vegetation, excavation, outage coordination, indemnity, insurance, and successors without giving unqualified rights beyond what service requires.
A relocation concept should show the new utility-approved meter and delivery point, pole or transformer work, trench or overhead span, customer conductors, disconnect, grounding, permits, easements, inspection, outage, removal or abandonment of old facilities, and surface restoration. PG&E states that relocation requests may require equivalent or superior land rights and that the requester may bear costs. Obtain written utility and contractor scopes; a verbal per-foot estimate is not a complete budget.
Protect the transaction and final acceptance
A purchase contingency can require utility confirmation, boundary and easement documents, title coverage, electrical inspection, permit history, account and meter identity, lender and insurer acceptance, and either an enforceable access agreement or completed relocation. Set deadlines and rights if the utility rejects the arrangement, the easement misses the cable, the neighbor will not sign, or costs exceed a stated decision threshold. Do not close on an unsigned future promise.
For relocation, require utility design approval, permits, licensed work, inspections, energization, removal or safe abandonment, recorded land rights, as-built survey, lien releases, and restoration. For an arrangement that remains, keep the utility letter, survey, easement, one-line diagram, service manual, account records, access contacts, and maintenance duties with the property file. Recheck before adding solar, a generator, large farm loads, or a new dwelling.
Frequently asked questions
Does paying the bill prove the meter belongs with the parcel? No. Can the neighbor disconnect it? Do not speculate; determine ownership, utility authority, and recorded rights. Does a utility easement cover my private cable? Not necessarily. Can I move the meter myself? No. Does 811 mark every line? Public locating rules and private-line coverage vary, so ask locally. Will title insurance fix the arrangement? Coverage depends on the policy, exceptions, and endorsed rights.
Who should inspect? The serving utility, licensed electrician, surveyor, title attorney or examiner, title insurer, and permitting authority. What documents matter most? Utility confirmation, boundary survey, complete easement, service diagram, permits, account identity, and relocation scope. When should a buyer pause? When service depends on revocable neighbor permission or the utility will not approve continued use. What is the cleanest solution? Often utility-approved equipment on the served parcel, but site and cost determine feasibility.