November 21, 2008

All Contractors

EXCAVATION

Before you dig, call GSOC toll free at 1(800) 252-1166, at least 48 hours in advance (excluding weekends and holidays) if you don't have an emergency situation.

Emergency situations are limited by law to situations that pose a clear and immediate danger to life or health or significant loss of property.

MMU Operations Center personnel will be happy to assist you with legal description for your dig. To find the legal description, we will need to know the address of the dig and the nearest cross street.

A Locate Request Form is available to provide Gopher State One-Call with the required information to initiate a local request.

If the proper start date and time for your dig has arrived and MMU has failed to mark our facilities, please contact us directly at 537-7005 with your locate number. There may have been a miscommunication or we may have no facilities in the area of your dig. You can also call Gopher State One-Call again to see if the area is cleared for digging.

After markings have been made, excavators are required to maintain a minimum horizontal (side to side) clearance of two feet (24") between an unexposed facility and the cutting edge or point of any power operated excavating or earth moving equipment. For example, if the markings indicate a 6" pipe is buried, the hand dig zone is 54" wide (6"+24" on each side of the mark). If excavation is required within the hand dig zone, the excavation must be performed very carefully, with vacuum excavation or hand tools, and without damage to the facility or undermining of lateral support.

MMU cannot locate water or electric services until proper Gopher State One-Call procedures have been followed.

Electrical Contractors

NEW ELECTRICAL SERVICES

In accordance with state law, a signed affidavit must be submitted to MMU before a service can be hooked up.

Please schedule hookups at least one day in advance if at all possible or no later that 10:00 a.m. on the day desired.

Any underground services from November 1, to April 15, shall be dug into the transformer base or pedestal base.

Temporary services to be hooked up at transformers must be placed on the right of the transformer as you face it.

Please make sure temporaries are in good working condition and neutrals are properly marked. The name of the Electrical Contractor should also be on the temporary service.

The breaker panel cover must be installed before MMU can install a meter or energize the service per OSHA regulations.

Service lines must be installed all the way to the transformer or pedestal (hand dig near transformer or pedestal) at a minimum depth of 24".

As a part of the wiring for any new home or apartment or any remodeling or rewiring project, a 3 wire low voltage conductor (18 AWG) must be run for the remote reader for water meters. Please install the conductor from the area of the water meter to the area of the electric meter.

All NEW or remodeled and/or rewired Residential units must be individually metered, with the exception of multi-unit facilities providing care to elderly or disabled persons. Such multi-unit facilities may be master metered in accordance with the state law (S116J.subd.8). In addition to apartments, duplexes, triplexes etc., this includes homes with more than one separate kitchen and bath facility.

Buildings used for Commercial business may be individually metered for each business or may be master metered, BUT MAY NOT BE A COMBINATION OF THESE TYPES OF METERING. If individually metered, the rate class of each business in the building will be determined by their individual electric consumption. For master metered buildings with demands less than 75 KW, the Commercial Rate will apply and the fixed charge will be multiplied by the number of the businesses served and added to the energy charge to obtain the total billing. For master metered buildings with demands of 75 KW or greater, the Demand Metered Rate will apply.

Final meter height is recommended to be 5 feet above final grade, but may vary no more than 1 foot higher or lower. Proper meter height must be obtained before service will be hooked up.

All meter installations are to be made outside of the house. The meter must be installed outside the perimeter of any planned building, deck, or addition.

As a condition of service, load management equipment is required on electric water heaters, electric heating and/or electric central air conditioning for all new construction or remodeling. Load management receivers must be installed by the main electrical panel, NOT between the floor joists.

Over the years, MMU has had several models of load management receivers. If you have any questions on wiring one of the old models or on the new model, please call MMU at 537-7005.

Plumbing Contractors

WATER METER INSTALLATIONS:

Water meters must be installed so as to leave reasonable room for maintenance and repair. Reasonable room is a minimum 3' X 3' in front of the meter. Do not install water meters behind other equipment such as water heaters or softeners and do not install them flush against the wall.

The building valves and water meters must be installed inside the building at the point of the water service enters. Only the building valve may be installed ahead of the meter.

If you have any questions about a meter installation, please call us and a water operator will answer your questions or come to your site.

Under OSHA regulations, a contractor is required to provide a protection system for those individuals required to enter excavations to protect them from cave-ins, material that could fall or roll from the excavation face or into the excavation, or from the collapse of an adjacent structure. This applies to all excavations that are 4 feet in depth or more.

The proper protection can be accomplished by either sloping the walls of the excavation at an incline away from the excavation so as to prevent cave-ins, or by providing sheeting or shoring, or by use of a manufactured trench box or trench shield.

OSHA regulations also require there must be appropriate means of egress from the excavation, such as a stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means to make egress easily accessible.

MMU employees cannot enter your excavation to perform service line taps, make inspections, etc., if the excavation is not properly protected and egress provided.

MMU recommends that you use a hot water method of thawing frozen water pipes. Hot water thawing creates no electrical or fire hazard and is the safest method of thawing service lines.

If the hot water system cannot be used in a specific circumstance, the water meter, water service and electrical grounding system must be disconnected before hooking up a welder. You may not hook on to a fire hydrant to thaw a service under any circumstances. Curb stop to house or curb stop hookups are allowed.

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