How Preparing Your Home for a Meter Can Replacement Makes 
All The Difference
You’re standing in the driveway, the electrician is pointing at a rusted gray box on the side of your house, and he’s just told you the whole thing needs to come off. Maybe the utility flagged it. Maybe a storm last spring punched a dent in the housing and water’s been staining the siding underneath.
I’ve been doing electrical work around Newark for over fifteen years, and meter cans are one of those things nobody thinks about until they fail. The good news is that preparing your home properly, the job goes smoothly.
Why Meter Cans Fail in the First Place
Newark weather is rough on outdoor electrical equipment. Humid summers, freeze-thaw winters, and the salt air that creeps inland off the Delaware Bay. The gasket dries out, water finds its way past the seal, and rust starts working on the inside.
Older homes in neighborhoods like Brookside or the Devon area still have meter cans from the 60s and 70s hanging on. I’ve pulled cans off houses where the back panel basically disintegrated from rust when I touched it.
The other big driver is load. Folks have added EV chargers, heat pumps, and finished basements, and the old 100-amp service can’t carry it. When you upgrade the panel, the meter can usually has to go too.
What the Power Company Actually Does That Day
The electrician doesn’t just unscrew the meter and swap the can. The utility has to physically pull the meter and de-energize the service drop first. Delmarva sends a crew to disconnect at the pole or pad, and they show up in their own window.
Power-off time is usually two to five hours. I tell homeowners to prepare your home for at least six. If the inspector runs late or Delmarva pushes the reconnect to the back of their queue, you don’t want to be scrambling for ice at 7pm.
Clearing the Work Area Before the Crew Arrives
To prepare your home properly, start outside. The meter can needs at least three feet of clear space around it.
A homeowner I worked with last summer had built a raised herb garden directly under her meter. Basil, rosemary, the whole setup. We had to tarp it and work around it. Cost her an extra forty minutes of labor.
Trim back shrubs touching the can. Move hoses, trash bins, the kids’ bikes. If the meter sits behind a fence, open the gate before we arrive.
Protecting What’s Inside
When the power comes back on, there’s almost always a brief surge. Most modern electronics handle it fine. Some don’t.
Before the crew arrives, you can begin preparing your home by unplugging TVs, desktop computers, gaming consoles, and anything with a sensitive control board newer fridges and induction ranges included. Surge protectors help, but they’re not bulletproof. Twenty seconds of unplugging beats a $400 repair.
For anyone in the house on home oxygen, dialysis equipment, or a CPAP that matters overnight tell us in advance. We coordinate with Delmarva to minimize downtime.
When You Can DIY and When You Absolutely Can’t
You cannot replace a meter can yourself. Not legally, not safely, not in Delaware. The line side is energized at all times from the utility, and only licensed electricians coordinating with Delmarva are permitted to touch it. Pulling the meter without authorization is a code violation that can red-tag your service.
What you can do is everything around the work. Preparing your home by clearing the access, and securing the pets. That’s where homeowner effort pays off.
What You Can Do First
Walk around the outside of the house a day or two before the appointment and look at the meter from a few feet back. If shrubs are touching it, trim them. Watch out for buried sprinkler heads or low-voltage landscape wiring I’ve cut through both, and I knew they were there.
Find your indoor panel and clear three to four feet in front of it. Electricians often need to check connections or grounding while the system is de-energized. If your panel is behind a bookshelf or in a closet stacked with paint cans, now’s the time for preparing your home for indoor access too. Don’t try to remove the panel cover yourself to help.
Charge everything. Phones, laptops, the kids’ devices if you want any peace during the outage. Set the thermostat a few degrees cooler in summer or warmer in winter so the house holds temperature longer. Insulin or other temperature-sensitive medications need a real plan a cooler with ice packs is the simplest answer.
What to Do When You’re Ready to Schedule
Putting off a failing meter can is a decision that doesn’t seem urgent until the moment it becomes very urgent. I’ve seen rusted-out cans arc inside the housing during a January ice storm, and emergency replacement costs more than double a planned job. The inspector still has to come. Delmarva still has to disconnect. You just end up doing it all at 11pm in the cold.
If your meter looks rough, or Delmarva left a sticker on it, get it scheduled and begin preparing your home ahead of time. You call. We come. It’s fixed. That’s the whole point of working with a local team that knows Newark housing stock.
FAQ
How long is the power actually off?
Usually two to four hours in Newark, sometimes longer if the utility runs behind. The physical work is maybe an hour. The rest is coordination, inspection, and waiting for reconnect.
Do I need a permit for this in Delaware?
Yes. New Castle County requires an electrical permit for any meter or service work, and an inspection happens before reconnect. Your electrician should pull it. If they ask you to, that’s a yellow flag.
Delmarva sent me a letter, but my meter looks fine. Do I really need this?
Probably, yeah. When the utility flags a can, they’ve usually seen something on their end bad seal, internal damage, or a recalled model. Ignoring the letter can lead to a forced disconnect.
Can I run a generator while the power’s off?
Only with a properly installed standby generator and transfer switch. Plugging a portable generator into a wall outlet backfeeds the line and can kill the lineman working on your service. Don’t do it.
The rust on my meter is it really a problem?
Surface rust outside is cosmetic and common on older Newark homes near the bay. Rust around the seal or inside the housing means the can needs to come off.
How early should I prepare your home before the appointment?
A day or two is plenty. Clear the outside access, charge phones, plan around the outage window, and confirm pets have somewhere safe to be.
Honestly, the homeowners who handle this well aren’t the ones who know the most about electrical work. They’re the ones preparing their home for the crew, and trust the crew to do the rest.
