Electrical Repair Services Houston: Meter Base and Service Mast Repairs



Electric service starts before the panel and long before any switch on the wall. It begins where the utility’s conductors meet your home at the meter base, then travel up or down the service mast and into the main disconnect or electrical panel. When that equipment is tired, corroded, undersized, or storm damaged, everything downstream is at risk. In Houston, where summer heat, sudden storms, and salty Gulf air meet aging housing stock, meter base and service mast repairs are a steady part of day‑to‑day electrical repair services.
I have crawled under bungalows in the Heights, replaced rusted meter sockets in Sharpstown, and straightened bent masts in Clear Lake after tropical winds shoved them off plumb. The parts are simple steel and copper, but the work is not trivial. Small misses become big failures under load. If you are evaluating home electrical repair options or searching for electrical repair Houston contractors, understanding how meters and masts work will help you make smart choices and keep your family safe.
What the meter base and service mast actually do
The meter base is the enclosure that holds the utility meter. It houses the line and load lugs, the jaws that grip the meter blades, the neutral bonding point, and a path into your service panel. In a typical residential setup, utility conductors land at the top lugs, the meter bridges the circuit, then your service entrance conductors carry power from the bottom lugs into the main breaker.
The service mast is the conductive raceway for overhead service. It protects the insulated conductors and presents a point for the weatherhead and drip loop, where the utility’s service drop connects. On homes with underground service, there’s no mast, but there is still a meter base and usually a riser from the ground up to the meter.
These components do not use electricity the way a stove or air conditioner does. They simply carry it. That simplicity hides the stakes. High available fault current, constant thermal cycling, and exposure to weather combine to punish any loose connection or marginal fitting. A quarter turn on a lug can be the difference between decades of service and a scorched socket that cooks the meter at 2 a.m.
Common failure modes we see across Houston
Houston’s climate accelerates wear. Moist air seeps into enclosures. Afternoon heat loads expand metal, then cool evenings contract it, day after day. Add wind that tugs on aerial drops and you get predictable trouble spots.
Loose meter jaws show up more than most homeowners expect. The jaws are spring steel, and after years of heat and vibration they lose tension. A loose meter connection arcs, which raises resistance, which increases heat, which loosens the connection further. That run‑away cycle leaves discolored meter blades and baked insulation on the service conductors. If you smell a hot plastic odor by the meter, do not ignore it.
Corrosion in the meter base is another frequent culprit. On older houses, the back of the meter socket may be mounted to wood, without a gasket against the siding. Rain finds its way in, sits on the bottom lip, and rusts the steel can from the inside out. Eventually the neutral lug oxidizes, and you begin seeing odd symptoms inside: flickering lights, half the house dim while the other half brightens, sensitive electronics failing. That is the signature of a compromised neutral.
Damaged service masts often follow a storm. A tree limb leans into the service drop, the mast takes the strain, and either the mast bends or the roof flashing tears. If the mast moves enough, the threaded hub at the meter base can loosen, creating a water path into the can. On several townhomes off Westheimer, I have seen masts bent just enough to allow water to run down the conductors into the panel, rusting bus bars and tripping breakers on humid days.
Undersized equipment is less dramatic but just as real. Many mid‑century homes still run 100 amp services with two small air handlers, a double oven, and an EV charger added over the years. The service conductors and the meter socket may technically handle the load on average, but the peaks push them beyond comfort. Heat damage accumulates silently. If you are planning a major renovation or adding large loads, you want a proper load calculation and probably an upgrade to 150 or 200 amps, paired with a new meter base and service equipment.
How utilities and permits fit into the picture
Unlike a receptacle swap, meter work involves both the utility and the city or county. In Houston and the surrounding jurisdictions, a licensed electrician pulls a permit for service repairs. The work is inspected, and the utility must de‑energize and re‑energize the service. That sequence matters. If the repair involves the mast or the meter base, we schedule a cut at the pole, complete the work, call for inspection, then request reconnection. On urgent jobs where power is out and there is safety risk, utilities can expedite the cut and resume, but they still require a ticket number and proof that a licensed electrician is on site.
Times vary by area. Within Houston city limits, day‑of cuts are possible if the request is early, though storm events slow everything. In outlying areas like Katy or Spring, the utility window can be longer. You want a contractor who coordinates this dance routinely. Missteps cost you hours or days without power.
Safety red flags that warrant immediate attention
The following short list is worth committing to memory, because these are the symptoms that turn from nuisance to hazard if ignored.
A burning or hot plastic smell at the meter, mast head, or main panel, especially after heavy appliance use. Lights that brighten and dim in different rooms at the same time, or electronics that fail in clusters. Visible rust creeping from the bottom of the meter base, water stains around the hub, or green oxide on copper conductors. A mast that is no longer plumb, cracked roof flashing around the mast, or an overhead drop that sags lower than your roofline. Breakers that trip after rain or high wind, with no clear internal cause.
When any of these show up, call a residential electrical repair company that handles meter and service work daily. Not every electrician focuses on this end of the system. Ask directly: do you perform meter base replacements and mast rebuilds, and will you coordinate with the utility?
Repair vs. replacement: making the right call
Sometimes a small fix is all you need. Sometimes a band‑aid invites a second failure and a second service call. The decision is part technical, part judgment born from seeing dozens of similar cases.
If meter jaws are mildly loose but the can is otherwise sound, we can often replace just the jaws or the socket interior if the manufacturer still supports it. I carry retrofit kits for common sockets used in the 80s and 90s. If the can shows rust at the bottom seam or the neutral lug is oxidized, replacement of the entire meter base is the responsible move. Aluminum service conductors with heat‑hardened insulation push us toward full replacement as well, because terminating on compromised insulation is asking for arcing under load.
Masts split into categories. A mast bent less than a few degrees, with intact threads and flashing, might be reset with proper guying and a new weatherhead. A mast with a crease or flattened side is structurally done, and replacing the entire run is both safer and often faster. If the mast threads into a hub on the top of the meter base and those threads have been stressed or ovaled, replacing the base and the mast together ensures a reliable seal.
Age pushes the decision too. In many Houston neighborhoods, original services from the 60s used meter bases not rated for today’s common continuous loads. When I find a 100 amp meter feeding a home with two HVAC condensers and an electric range, I recommend a service upgrade and panel replacement together. That is not upselling. It is acknowledging that diversified, intermittent loads of the past now look more like continuous draws, and the equipment should match.
Code requirements that actually matter on these jobs
The National Electrical Code and CenterPoint specifications are not red tape. They are lessons learned from fires and failures distilled into rules. Several requirements come up over and over on meter base and service mast work.
Bonding and grounding are foundational. The service neutral must be bonded at the service disconnect, not randomly downstream, and the grounding electrode system must be solid. In practice, this means verifying a continuous grounding electrode conductor to two ground rods spaced at least six feet apart, or to a Ufer (concrete encased) electrode where present. Many older homes have one corroded ground rod with a loose clamp. Upgrading while you have the meter off is time well spent.
Conductor sizing is not a suggestion. If you are moving from a 100 amp to a 200 amp service, the service entrance conductors, the meter base rating, the main breaker, and the panel bus must all match. The same goes for mast diameter and wall thickness, which must be sufficient to support the service drop and meet utility spec. I have seen undersized masts pull right out of the hub during a storm. No homeowner wants to learn about Schedule 80 conduit after their mast is in the neighbor’s yard.
Working clearances around the meter and the main panel are often overlooked in older homes where landscaping has matured. Utility companies need clear access for safety. If boxwood shrubs have grown into the meter location, plan to trim or relocate. Inspectors will fail a job if the meter height or clearances do not meet current requirements, and reconnection will not happen until it is corrected.
Drip loops and weatherheads are small details that pay off. Conductors should approach the weatherhead and dip before entering, encouraging water to drip off instead of running into the mast. I still find weatherheads with missing caps or cracked rubber boots that were ignored for years. A ten‑minute fix avoids years of moisture intrusion.
What a typical repair day looks like
Homeowners often ask how long they will be without power and what happens in what order. A straight meter base replacement with a short mast section, no service upgrade, and a cooperative schedule typically runs like this:
Early morning: we meet on site, review scope, and photograph the existing setup for records. The crew stages materials, verifies the permit is active, and confirms the utility cut window. Mid morning: the utility de‑energizes at the pole or pad‑mount. We lock out and tag our work area, then pull the meter and begin removing the old base. If the mast is part of the scope, it comes down next. We evaluate the conductor condition once de‑energized; if the insulation is brittle or chewed, we replace the conductors. Midday to early afternoon: the new meter base is mounted level and sealed to the wall with a proper flashing or gasket. The mast is cut and threaded to fit, a new weatherhead installed, and the drip loop planned to the utility’s clearances. Grounding and bonding are verified and upgraded if needed. Connections are torqued to spec with a calibrated wrench, and anti‑oxidant compound is applied where aluminum conductors land. Afternoon: we request inspection. Many jurisdictions provide same‑day inspections for service work. Once we pass, we release the job to the utility for reconnection. While waiting, we label the new equipment, test continuity and insulation resistance where appropriate, and clean up the site. Late afternoon or early evening: the utility re‑energizes. We verify proper voltage at the meter and panel, balance across legs, and check for abnormal heat with a thermal camera. The home is back online.
Delays usually come from surprises inside walls, a panel that turns out to be unsafe once opened, or permit and utility backlogs. Clear communication helps. If you are planning the day around refrigeration, pets, or remote work, a small generator can keep essentials running while the service is out, but only if set up safely and isolated from the house. Never backfeed through a dryer outlet.
Cost ranges and what drives them
Pricing varies with scope, material, and access. In Houston, a straightforward meter base replacement with minimal mast work might fall in the low thousands. A full 200 amp service upgrade with new panel, meter base, and mast can multiply that. Several factors move the number: length of mast, conductor size, panel brand and availability, stucco or brick penetrations, roof work for new flashing, and the need to bring grounding and bonding up to current code.
Homeowners sometimes ask whether a partial repair to “get by” is sensible. If the problem is isolated and the equipment is otherwise serviceable, yes, it can be. Replacing scorched meter jaws in a modern can is a reasonable stopgap. If the can is rusting or the neutral is compromised, a patch becomes a gamble. The added truck roll months later wipes out the savings. The honest answer depends on what we can see and measure on site.
How meter and mast work ties into electrical panel repair
The service equipment upstream and the electrical panel downstream share a destiny. Heat and moisture that enter at the mast travel down into the panel. I routinely find panel bus bars with white oxide bloom and breaker stabs that have lost tension after years of damp air from a leaky mast. In those cases, electrical panel repair is not optional. A main breaker that trips randomly on humid days is often telling you about a service issue above.
On the other hand, some symptoms blamed on the panel originate at the meter. Half‑house brownouts point as often to a loose neutral in the meter base as to a panel defect. This is where a holistic approach to residential electrical repair pays off. Testing from the meter to the main breaker under load, with a thermal scan, prevents whack‑a‑mole fixes.
Materials, brands, and the little choices that matter
Service equipment is not all the same. The brand of meter socket and the panel brand should match utility acceptance and local practice. Weatherproofing details matter, like using a metal hub with an intact gasket rather than a plastic bushing where the mast meets the meter base. Stainless screws and proper caulking save headaches later.
For conductors, copper remains my preference when feasible, especially on smaller service sizes, for its lower coefficient of thermal expansion and clean termination. Aluminum is common and perfectly acceptable at the proper size with anti‑oxidant compound and correct torque. The key is terminations done right, every time, no guessing. I mark each lug with torque witness marks after final tightening so anyone who opens the can later knows the work was intentional.
Surge protection is another smart add during service work. A good panel‑mounted surge protective device handles the spikes Houston’s grid throws during storms and utility switching. When installing a new meter base and panel, adding surge protection is a small incremental cost that can save televisions, appliances, and HVAC control boards over the next thunderstorm season.
Special situations we see in Houston neighborhoods
Older bungalows with knob‑and‑tube inside still need modern service equipment outside. It is legal to maintain existing wiring that remains intact and safe, but when you upgrade service capacity, be mindful that higher available current magnifies the risk of any defect. I counsel owners to plan staged upgrades, starting at the service, then migrating circuits.
Townhomes with meter stacks present their own challenges. Shared meter banks require coordination with the property management and often a window when multiple units can be de‑energized. A failing socket in a stack can heat adjacent sockets. If you are seeing melted meter rings or discoloration in a shared bank, act quickly. What looks like one unit’s problem becomes a building’s problem if ignored.
Coastal exposure along the Beltway and down toward Galveston brings aggressive corrosion. In those zones, I specify enclosures with higher corrosion resistance and pay extra attention to seals. Replacing equipment every eight to ten years because salt air chewed it up is not a plan. Building it right on day one is.
What homeowners can do between service visits
You do not need to open panels or meter cans to keep an eye on your system. A few habits go a long way. Every few months, look at the meter base and mast after a rain. Note any fresh rust streaks or water trails. Watch the lights when big loads start, such as the oven and HVAC together. A small, brief dim is normal. Wild swings https://jaidencwjx454.image-perth.org/electrical-repair-houston-led-upgrades-and-fixture-repairs are not. Keep the area around your panel and meter clear of storage and shrubs. If you hear buzzing at the meter or smell hot plastic near the panel, call before the situation escalates.
For those considering home electrical repair themselves, resist the urge at the service entrance. Inside work like replacing a receptacle or swapping a light fixture is one thing. Pulling a meter or opening a live meter base without utility coordination is dangerous and also illegal in many jurisdictions. The available fault current at the service can weld a wrench instantly. Leave meter base and service mast work to licensed electrical repair services.
Choosing the right contractor for electrical repair Houston needs
Not all electricians focus on service work. You want a company comfortable with meter bases, masts, and coordination with utilities. Ask for recent jobs completed in your ZIP code. Inquire about thermal imaging and torque tools, and whether they provide a written scope with brand and model of equipment. Good electrical wiring repair practices include documentation: photos before and after, a permit number, and inspection approval.
Availability matters in a city that sees frequent storms. Some shops keep a team on call for urgent residential electrical repair after wind events. That responsiveness can be the difference between a refrigerator full of food saved and lost. But do not trade speed for sloppiness. A rushed job that skips grounding upgrades or leaves a leaky hub will come back to haunt you.
Why meter and mast health pays dividends
The service entrance is not glamorous, but it is the backbone. Tight connections at the meter translate to fewer nuisance trips inside and more stable voltage for sensitive electronics. A straight, sealed mast keeps moisture out of the panel and lengthens the life of breakers and bus bars. When the meter base and mast are sound, the rest of the system benefits, from the main breaker to the last receptacle in the back bedroom.
I think of it like the foundation of a house. You do not notice it when it is right. You notice it when a door sticks or a window will not close. With electrical systems, the clues are flicker, heat, odors, and trip patterns. Take them seriously. A focused visit to repair a meter base, rebuild a service mast, or perform an electrical panel repair often resolves problems that no amount of outlet swapping will touch.
If you are debating whether to call, here is a simple threshold: any visible damage to the meter base or mast, persistent flicker, or heat and odor near service equipment deserves professional attention. In Houston’s environment, small problems grow fast. The right electrical repair services can stabilize your home, set you up for future load additions, and reduce the chance you are making coffee by flashlight after the next storm rolls through.
A final note from years in the field: precise small choices beat heroic fixes later. A weatherhead cap that seats properly, a conduit thread sealed with the right compound, a ground clamp tightened to spec, a lug torqued and marked. These are the differences between a service that runs quietly for twenty years and one that fails on the hottest afternoon in August. When you hire someone for electrical repair in Houston, look for that mindset. It is not the fastest way to get off the job, but it is the right way to keep your lights on.
All American Electric LLC
Address: 9230 Keough Rd #100, Houston, TX 77040
Phone: (713) 999-3531