Who Pays to Replace a Meter Can in Florida, You or FPL?

Short answer: the power company owns the meter, and you own the box it plugs into. In Florida that box, the meter can, is customer-owned equipment along with the mast, the weatherhead, the service entrance conductors and the panel behind it. So when a meter can rusts through, cracks, or gets yanked off the wall in a storm, the repair bill lands on the property owner, not FPL or FPU. The utility will pull their meter and cut power so the work can happen safely, and they will set it back and reconnect once the county signs off. Everything in between is yours.

We get this call constantly after a bad summer, and the surprise is almost never about the work. It is about who is responsible. Here is how the ownership line actually works, what a proper replacement involves, and what to check before you hire anyone.

Where the utility stops and your house begins

The dividing line is called the point of delivery, and it is more or less the top of your service. On an overhead service, the utility owns the wires running from the pole to the attachment point on your house. On an underground service, they own the conductors up to the connection at your meter enclosure. They also own the meter itself, which is why you should never pull one yourself.

Everything on the house side of that point belongs to the property owner:

• The meter can, the metal enclosure bolted to the wall
• The service mast or riser and the weatherhead on top of it
• The service entrance conductors running from the weatherhead down into the can
• The ground rods, grounding electrode conductor and bonding
• The main breaker or disconnect and the panel

That split holds whether you are in a beachside bungalow in Cocoa, a Palm Bay ranch on a long rural feed, or one of the manufactured homes down in Barefoot Bay where the service riser is often the first thing to show its age. The utility maintains their side. You maintain yours. If you want to see how we handle the customer-owned side of that equation, our electrical service upgrade work covers the whole assembly, not just the panel.

Why Florida meter cans fail early

Salt air is the obvious culprit near the water, and yes, a can in Rockledge or along the Indian River will corrode faster than one twenty miles inland. But we replace plenty of cans in dry inland neighborhoods too, and the reasons are usually more boring than salt:

• Water intrusion from the top. A cracked or misaligned weatherhead lets rain follow the conductors straight down into the enclosure. The rust starts inside where nobody sees it.
• Storm loading on the mast. A limb or a gust that pulls hard on the service drop can bend the mast, break the seal, or tear the whole assembly off the wall. We see this every hurricane season.
• Age and hardware. Older cans use lugs and hardware that loosen with decades of heat cycling. Loose connections run hot, and heat kills the enclosure and the conductors.
• It was never right to begin with. DIY work, a previous owner's shortcut, or a can that was undersized for a service that got upgraded later.

If your meter can has rust streaks running down the wall, a cover that will not seat, scorch marks around the lugs, or visible daylight at the top, it needs to be looked at. Rust on the outside is normal wear. Rust from the inside out is a different problem.

What a real meter can replacement includes

A meter can does not get swapped in isolation, and any quote that treats it that way should make you suspicious. When we price this work, the scope generally includes:

• Permit through the county or municipal building department, plus the inspection
• Coordination with the utility for a disconnect and reconnect, which is scheduled, not instant
• New enclosure rated for the service size and the exposure
• New service entrance conductors and mast or riser hardware if the old ones are compromised
• Grounding and bonding brought up to current code, which is where a lot of older services fall short
• Sealing, strapping and weatherproofing that will actually survive the next storm season

What moves the number up or down: whether the service is overhead or underground, how much of the mast and conductor has to be replaced, the condition of the panel it feeds, wall material and site access, whether the grounding needs rework, and which jurisdiction is issuing the permit. Some counties are quicker than others. If you have seen a general industry range quoted online, treat it as exactly that, a range that varies enormously by site, and get a real number based on your actual service.

One thing worth knowing: if the panel behind the can is also failing, doing both at once usually costs less than doing them six months apart, because you only pay for one permit, one disconnect and one inspection.

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask whether the contractor is pulling the permit, or expecting you to. Ask whether the quote includes the inspection and the utility coordination, or just the parts and labor. Ask what happens if the inspector fails the grounding, which is common on older services. And ask for the Florida electrical contractor license number. Ours is EC 13005020, and any legitimate outfit will give you theirs without hesitating.

If the meter can on your house looks rough and you want an honest read on it, call us at (844) 432-2262 or send us photos through our Barefoot Bay service page. Quotes are free and there is no obligation attached, and we respond within one business day. If it turns out the utility owns the failed part, we will tell you that too and point you to the right phone number.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will FPL replace my meter can for free?

No. The utility owns and maintains the meter and the service conductors up to the point of delivery, but the meter enclosure is customer-owned equipment in Florida. They will disconnect power and reset the meter afterward at no charge, but the enclosure, mast and service conductors are the property owner's responsibility.

Do I need a permit to replace a meter can?

Yes, in every Florida county we work in. The replacement requires a permit and an inspection, and the utility will not restore power until the inspection clears. This is also why the work has to be done by a licensed electrical contractor rather than a handyman.

How long will my power be off?

It depends on the utility's disconnect schedule more than on the work itself. Most straightforward replacements are a single-day outage once the crew and the utility are on site together, but if the inspection cannot happen the same day, the outage can run longer. We walk through the realistic timeline before we start.