Yampa Valley Electric Association

Yampa Valley Electric provides customers with a meter socket surge suppressor adaptor (MSA) for a $5.00 monthly fee with a 36-month contract. There is no installation fee and should the contract be broken, the customer will be assessed the remainder of the contract or a $50.00 fee. The warranty is through the manufacturer and not through YVEA. YVEA will assist the customer in the event of a claim, but will not financially be responsible for the warranty.

What is an electric surge?
A surge is when the voltage increases dramatically above the standard voltage provided by YVEA. Most homes have a 120/240-volt system. That means the nominal voltage on one leg to ground is 120 volts and leg to leg nominal voltage is 240 volts. A surge could be classified as when the voltage increases greater than 140 volts.

What does the meter socket surge suppressor do?
The MSA minimizes the amount and duration of the surge that comes in via the utilities electric system to a safe voltage that most appliances can tolerate. Most sensitive electronic equipment (i.e. televisions, stereos, computers, faxes, printers, etc.) may not tolerate that voltage and will require a second line of defense provided by a “point-of-use surge arrestor”. The surge protector passes the surge from the device to the system ground. YVEA does not verify the integrity of your business or home’s grounding system.

What does the meter socket surge suppressor not do?
It will not prevent flickering, outages or dips in voltage. A dip is when the voltage goes below 120 volts. A dip in voltage can cause damage to equipment too. A meter socket surge suppressor will not protect your home against a direct lighting strike. All surge protection devices will burn out after repeated power surges.

The MSA has an indicator light that tells you if the components are functioning. Without an indicator light, you have no knowledge if the protector is still functioning properly. YVEA requires its meter readers to visually check the indicator light each month when reading the meter.

The electrical surge must pass through the surge suppressor to be warranted. Damage caused by a direct hit of lighting that does not pass through the MSSS is not covered through the warranty, but may be covered by the homeowner’s insurance policy (check with your insurance agent). Surges may be externally generated and come in via the utility service or they may be internally generated within the customer’s home or business. Surges may also enter via a phone line, cable TV line, satellite dish cable, water line or other means.

Please read and understand the surge arrestor product warranty before signing the contract. If you have any questions, please give either Brian Thornton or Jim Chappell a call at 879-1160.