Access to Our Equipment

Together with our contractor Precision Pipeline Solutions, we conduct safety tests and inspections of overhead and underground O&R-owned and municipal electric facilities. Inspection of such facilities, which has been ordered by the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), is important to preserving public safety and energy reliability. This program requires that all electrical facilities be inspected once every five years.

Pad Mounted Transformers

Pad mounted transformers located on many of our customers' front yards must be inspected once every five years as part of the PSC program. The pad mounted transformer is contained within a three-foot-square green metal box that houses important electrical equipment supplying neighborhoods with underground electric service.

If you have a pad mounted transformer on your property, any landscaping around it must meet utility easement accessibility standards, as shown in the illustration below.

Keep the following in mind before making any landscaping decisions around a pad mounted transformer:

• Landscaping around the box must provide a service area zone of 10 feet from the front door and three feet from each of the other three sides of the transformer.
• Obstructing it would cause difficulty in gaining access to our equipment and slow down our work in restoring electrical service.
• There's high voltage wiring underground leading to the box, and if you or a landscaper digs in the wrong spot, you run the risk of serious accident or injury. For help in locating underground facilities, always call 811 before you dig.
• Don't change the ground levels around it. For maintenance work and speedy service restoration, our crews must have unobstructed access to our electrical equipment at all times. We're not responsible for the replacement or restoration of landscaping that hinders access to our electrical equipment.