It would take to long to describe the situation, but my wife and I are looking at a $10,000+ bill from the city of Seattle just so we can upgrade our electric panel. Our current installation is over 30 years old, so they won't let us touch it without replacing the entire run out to their 'hen hole'. To make matters worse, our electric service is underground, so it will require ripping the hell out of our front yard, plus another $5k at least to complete the upgrade.
What burns my shorts it that there is NOTHING wrong with our current electric cable, and it is more than big enough to support a new 200amp service panel. So we are going to be in $15k based on a rule. Well that pisses me off. This whole thing got started because some jerk at the city allowed the electric meter to be installed above a stairwell 30-40 years ago, ANOTHER violation of current code.
Long and short of it, is there any point in fighting this? Has anyone ever successfully had the city back off on a code requirement like this?
Were good for it, but not bloody happy about it.