I agree with meters outside to allow electric power company employees to read the meters, when the homes are not equipped with intelligent meters such as we have had for a couple of years in the province of Quebec.
I find it totally silly and dangerous to have circuit breakers placed outside. Should you have an emergency for some reason, an appliance or whatever equipment on fire, there would be time lost in having to get out to switch off a circuit breaker or the main entrance breaker. That doesn't take into account what vandals and assholes have access to.
All our meters here, with some exceptions I'm sure, are smart meters. I haven't seen a meter reader in a decade or more. Before lovinthehd asked about where the service panel was, I had never considered where other parts of the country or the world put their service panels. I've probably learned more today about them than I ever wanted to know.
Safety concerns are misplaced. The panels are completely self contained, water proof, and actually stand on their own before your home is even built. So there's no discernable safety risk that I've ever heard of or encountered. They are certainly weather safe.
As far as having the dang things outside, and outside towards the street, now that's something that I don't think about very much because it only comes up maybe once a year that we trip a breaker. KEW correctly points out its a pain in the ass. If my wife is running that blowtorch over her hair and I plug in the vacuum cleaner in the same room, that'll usually trip the breaker. Then its a long journey to the box. Yep. And the whole key and lock scenario is why I left mine unlocked recently. I made so many trips to the breaker box when I put in the Nest thermostats I just grew weary of the whole thing.
I think its been a great discussion. I always learn something new. Always appreciate the views from around the country and around the world.
