[A Little Short]

I am currently upgrading the service entrance at a 1951 house. The orginal service was 60 amps. The cable from the pole is attached to the eave of the house about 10.5 feet above ground. I am upgrading to a 125 amp service. The Duke Energy technician tells me that if they run new wire from the pole, I will have to put up a riser to get the 12' clearance over the driveway, but if they use the existing wire, which he says is good for 170 amps, it should be grandfathered in and all I will have to do is run a #2 cable from the meter box up to the eave, a distance of about five feet. However, the county code guy says it's not grandfathered and I will have to put up the riser (through the eave and roof) to get the clearance. Does anyone have any experience or comment on this sort of thing? And do you think that

Code 90.2(B)(5) Installations under the exclusive control of an electric utility where such installations
a. Consist of service drops or service laterals, and associated metering

might apply here? 90.2(B) are situations not covered by the NEC

I just did one similar to that here and the POCO made me move and raise the meter. Also raise the mast for the 12' they require at the drop, and change the mast to 2-1/2" rigid.
In your case, I wouldn't listen to a lineman, I would ask the POCO's engineer.
Usually what the POCO requires trumps what the NEC says, from the meter up.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Around here the power company is enforcing the height of the service drops on existing services with no work being done on them. You get a letter from them telling you that you have to make modifications to permit them to raise the service drop. The give you so much time and threaten you with disconnection if you don't comply. It has to do with their liability because their service drop is not in compliance with the clearance rules in the NESC.

The code rules start at the service point and on a typical overhead service that point is the supply end of the service entrance conductors that are coming out of the weather head. You are correct that the code does not apply to the overhead service drop conductors that are supplied and installed by the utility, however there is a minimum height of 10' to the bottom of the required drip loop on the service entrance conductors and those conductors are covered by the NEC. 230.24(B)(1).
That being said, the inspectors in this area will require that your installation be made in a manner that will permit the utility to install their drop conductors so that they are in compliance with the minimum clearance rules in the NEC.