Leviton 50240-MSA 120/240 Volt 200 Amp, Secondary Surge Arrestor, Surge Protective Device 4 Jaw Socket Meter Socket

I gave this a five-star rating as every Leviton product I've ever used as worked perfectly and is a very quality product. For many years, my local power company (Alabama Power Co, a "Southern Company" who also owns Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, others?) use a device similar to this that they installed behind their power meter, in the meter box I had to provide on the outside of my home. I paid them a reasonable monthly rate for whole house electrical surge protection. Several years ago, they sent me a letter to inform me they were discontinuing that service offering. Since then, I've been "unprotected" because my circuit breaker box is almost inaccessible, is at capacity, and trying to add a whole house surge protector unit that attaches to my breaker box would be cost prohibitive. When I saw this unit on Amazon, I immediately purchased it. Over the next 3-weeks, I made multiple-multiple telephone calls, spoke with the same number of un-friendly and un-helpful Alabama Power employees just trying to get agreement to have someone come out and look at installing this unit (that I agreed to pay them for) that appears to be identical to the one this same power company removed several years ago. Finally, right before my 30-day return window at Amazon closed, I was told Alabama Power Company (aka Southern Company) did not approve, nor permit any device to be installed (by them our certified Electricians) in the meter box I paid for and had to provide for Alabama Power to put their power meter in! So, if you are served by a Southern Company power company, you too can purchase this 5-star rated product, but your 0-star rated power company will not let you install it!

Works great. However, should include a meter ring, as these are impossible to find.

When first installed we had no issue with this product. After a few months the green light was not working nor was the red light on. I called Leviton was told to return it to them and they would send one out right away. That made no sense since it involved an electrician coming twice. I called Amazon they sent another this too did not light. Again Amazon sent another the same thing. Electrician determined not an issue with on our side. called Leviton again, many unreturned calls later finally got someone in tech department who told us Amazon never returns defective ones just restocks them. Assured us send it to us and it will be replaced right away. Well its been over 3 weeks and they tell us its in the "quality lab" being tested. What a joke quality lab, do they even know what that means....

The metered based unit arrived in about 1 weeks time, sent directly from the manufacturer. By then I had contacted my local utility company to explain what I had ordered and to ask what's their role in getting it installed. My utility informed me that with all the sensitive electronic device now in the average home, this is an excellent idea. In fact, several years ago, they considered installing these on all homes, but the idea was eventually tanked. They charged $35 to come out, pull the stock meter and install the surge protection device (SPD) meter socket. They did not permit me to install. (When first calling the utility, one guy said I could do the ground hookup if I wanted, but I didn't pushed it) Touching an incoming input line is obvious very dangerous and potentially fatal. The install took no more than 5 minutes. Meter is pulled, a ground wire from the SPD is spliced into the #6 ground wire. Apparently most houses built during the last 40 years have a separate #6 ground wire exiting the meter box like mine. The SPD meter base socket is then pushed onto the meter box and the original utility company meter is pushed into the SPD socket. The utility crew then added their tamper resistant clip and left. A green LED light turns on telling the home owner that the SPD is functioning. Evidently if one or both sides of your incoming electricity is no longer protected, a red LED light illuminates. Both lights are on the bottom of the SPD socket. I shall see in the future if there is a pay off, but it does give one some peace of mind with it out there as a first line of defense.

I have PECO and they would not install this for me. They did come by to remove the lock on the meter box to allow for it to be installed but I got transferred to several different departments before reaching someone who knew how to put in a service call for that.My contractor had never installed one of these but it didn't take very long for him to figure it out. Flipped the main breaker switch at my panel, removed the meter from the socket, put this device in and the meter on top. Unfortunately I have a pretty shallow meter box, and with this device installed the meter isn't really protected from someone just yanking it off. But my contractor wasn't too concerned about that as PECO's metering system is all digital and they can detect if the meter is unplugged or relocated without their permission. I might try to find a ring or something that can protect this device and the meter but for now, I'm satisfied.Overall it seems like a good investment.