Services: Disconnect Location, Emergency Disconnect (2020/2023), and Clearances

The service is where utility power enters the building. Article 230 governs the service conductors, the disconnect, and (a modern addition) the outdoor emergency disconnect.

1. Service disconnect location — 230.70(A)

The service disconnecting means must be readily accessible, installed either outside the building or inside nearest the point of entrance of the service conductors. (CEC 230.70(A)(1)) The idea: you shouldn't have to run service-entrance conductors deep into a building before you can shut them off.

2. Emergency disconnect for dwellings — 230.85

For one- and two-family dwellings, an emergency disconnect must be installed in a readily accessible outdoor location, marked "EMERGENCY DISCONNECT." (CEC 230.85)

This gives first responders a way to quickly cut all power to a home from the outside — the whole reason for the rule. (It was added in the 2020 NEC and continues in the 2023 edition our code is based on.)