Who Owns Your Power Lines?

The Line of Demarcation

When it comes to your electrical system, there is a literal line in the dirt where the power company’s job ends and your responsibility as a homeowner begins. This boundary is called the Line of Demarcation.

Before you start an underground power line project in Northwest Atlanta, it is crucial to know who is responsible for each piece of equipment.

The Rule of Thumb: The Meter Base Boundary

Whether your power comes from Georgia Power, Cobb EMC, or GreyStone Power, the division of ownership almost always centers around your home’s electric meter.

• The Utility Company Owns: Everything up to the point where the wire connects to your meter base. This includes the high-voltage street lines, the transformers, and the service lateral lines bringing power to your property.

• You (The Homeowner) Own: The physical meter box (enclosure) attached to your wall, the underground conduit paths on your property, the main circuit breaker panel inside your house, and any lines running from your house to detached structures (like a pool, workshop, or garage).

⚠️ The Golden Rule: The utility company provides the electricity, but you must provide the safe, code-compliant infrastructure (the pipes, boxes, and panels) to receive it.

Overhead-to-Underground Conversion

If you are tired of falling tree limbs knocking out your power and want to convert your overhead lines to a sleek, storm-resilient underground system, you cannot just call an electrician OR just call the power company. It requires a coordinated tag-team effort.

Here is exactly how the process works when you partner with Sure Point Electric:

Step 1: The Design & Utility Fee

You contact your utility provider (e.g., Georgia Power) to request an overhead-to-underground conversion. A utility engineer will visit your property to mark the new underground path.

• The Cost: The utility company will charge an engineering/service fee (for example, Georgia Power typically charges an Underground Residential Distribution fee, which can range around $1,000+ depending on the site) to prepare their end of the connection.

Step 2: The SurePoint Prep Work - We'll Do The Heavy Lifting for You

Before the power company will lay a single foot of underground cable, they require a licensed electrician to prep the site. This is where SurePoint Electric steps in.

We will:

• Safely trench or directionally bore the path from the utility transformer to your home.

• Install the heavy-duty, code-compliant underground PVC conduit (the protective piping).

• Install a brand-new, underground-rated meter base on the side of your house.

Step 3: County Inspection & Green Tag Approval

Once our installation is complete, we coordinate with your local municipality (such as Cobb County or Cherokee County) for a safety inspection. The county inspector will issue a Green Tag, signaling to the utility company that our work is perfectly safe and up to the National Electrical Code (NEC).

Step 4: The Final Hookup

With the green light given, your utility provider returns to your property. They pull their high-voltage wires through the conduit we buried, hook it up to the new meter base, and officially energize your new, storm-proof underground power system.

Ready to future-proof your property?

Schedule Your Underground Power Consultation Today with SurePoint Electric by calling (678) 951-5364 to speak with a local NW Atlanta expert.

Also learn more about our storm outage solutions.