What is the minimum overhead electric service drop height/clearance

to a house?
Saturday, December 22, 2018

The National Electrical Code (NEC) has multiple different minimum standards, all of which
depend on what is under the wires as they run from the utility pole to the service mast on your
house. Thanks to Code Check, we have an excellent graphic to make things clear. Their long-
time illustrator, Paddy Morrissey, loves to sneak images of Ben Franklin and his famous kite-in-a-
thunderstorm experiment into their electrical diagrams, as you will notice. 

Starting
with the most common ones:

 Over residential property and driveways on the property (E) - 12 feet

 Over walking surfaces that are only accessible to pedestrians (D) - 10 feet
 Over a roadway (F) - 18 feet 
 Over a roof low-slope roof, with less than 4/12 slope (A) - 8 feet
 Over a roof with 4/12 slope or more (B) - 3 feet
 Over a roof with 4/12 slope or more, within 4 feet of roof edge at eaves (C) - 18 inches
 Above decks and balconies, including out 3 feet (G,H) - 10 feet
  To the sides and below an openable window (I) - 3 feet

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

Service.

 the conductors and equipment for delivering electric energy from the serving utility to the wiring system of the
premises served. 
 Service Drop - electric utility conductors.
 Service Point - the point of connection between the premises wiring and the utility supply conductors.
 Service Entrance Conductor - premises wiring.
 Service Equipment - The necessary equipment, usually consisting of a circuit breaker(s) or switch(es) and
fuse(s) and their accessories, connected to the load end of the of service conductors to a building or other
structure, or an otherwise designated area, and intended to constitute the main control and cutoff of the supply.
Service Equipment-Disconnecting Means - service disconnect must disconnect all service-entrance conductors from the building or structure
premises wiring.

The service disconnect must be at a readily accessible location either outside the building or structure or
inside nearest the point of entry of the service conductors.

additional grounding connection is

Where the transformer supplying the service is located outside the building, at least one 
required to be made from the grounded service conductor to a grounding electrode, either at the
transformer or elsewhere outside the building.
Proper Wiring Installation.