The ELM wishes everyone a healthy and happy holiday.
The 2024 ELM Bull Roast offered great food, music, a lot of door prizes, and a special raffle. We had shrimp, pit beef, ham, turkey, oysters, pastas, chicken, special oyster stew, crab soup, Italian sausage, and other great selections. If attendees went hungry, it was their fault. It is hard to understand that when a person receives a bountiful ticket as a gift and then does not show up to enjoy the benefit how it impacts others. We were 90 persons short on our count, and this amounted to $750 paid unnecessarily. The caterer made money, but the ELM was negatively impacted. I guess we will have to look at things in a different way the next time we hold an affair.
There is a ton of news to share as we begin a new year.
At a recent Baltimore County Contractor’s Meeting, attendees were surprised and
concerned about some items discussed at a presentation given by Ty Basham, the Chief
Electrical Inspector for BC. Did you know that there are over 3,000 grinder/sewerage
pumps moving sewerage from lower to higher areas to keep people from getting sick?
Did you know that there were so many violations, reliability problems, and failures in some
systems that BC had already taken over the installation process? Mr. Phil Flaherty of
Public Works for BC gave in-depth information on the procedure to be followed – listed
and labeled material can only be used, it must be installed by a licensed electrician, with
proper permits, and must go through the public works procedure; otherwise, you will face a
heavy fine. Mr. Petrie of the State Board of Electricians is having similar problems and is trying to make the industry aware of the numerous violations and that installations must be installed in a safe and permitted manner.
Mr. David Blenman, Fire Lieutenant in the Baltimore County Fire Marshal’s Office, gave an enlightening
presentation on Fire Safety for the public, which also is safety for first responders. Sometimes there is no water available to fight electric vehicle fires, and installations below grade make many installations unsafe for people trying to fight the fires. There are improper labels installed on some equipment, which cannot be isolated and shut down for safety to the user. There is a need for smoke removal and in some instances, to keep the public from suffocating. He gave out guidelines and restrictions for future installations and the need to renovate existing installations.
Ty Basham also distributed code information that states BC installations now come under the 2020 version of the NEC, and he is working on ways to adopt the 2023 edition, along with the MUELEC organization, which is trying to establish state-wide code enforcement and penalties for those violating safety codes.
The presentations were so informative that the Electric League is going to schedule a Zoom meeting so
tradespeople will be aware of these major changes. We will notify you of the date and time as plans go forward in the New Year.
The MUELEC organization (composed of members from each State Electrical Administrative Board) met on November 21, 2024 and is looking into many problems brought up at the meeting.
The capacity of feeder and EV circuitry loads to the grid are a real problem as the
definition of what home ownership really is. The NEC has already worked on part of
the problem, and we can look for solutions in the future.
It seems that the technicians for greener energies such as solar, wind, hydro, hydrogen, fuel cells, have a
different idea as to what is an electrical installation. State Law provides the definition of electrical work, how it is to be done, installed by a State Licensed electrician, and have proper inspection and permits. Work is now being done to clarify this for everyone.
There is talk about changing the make up of the State Electrical Examination that will reflect the changes,
revisions, and admissions to the NEC. PSI continues to have problems by mixing the 5-point, theory, and 1-point values and differences.
The Electrical Boards were made aware that there are some individuals who try to circumvent the State
Continuing Education requirements. They refuse to get credit on time and have decided that they will not meet deadlines unless caught by an audit and then they will plead for leniency.
Another major problem was discussed about registrations, permits, and code enforcement, state-wide. There are some jurisdictions that do not worry about the State Law and just continue to do business as usual.
We cannot and should not regress to a position of doing work without proper permits, using old and outdated installation practices, and ignoring an updated NEC and safety codes and then just think it is OK to be caught; sometimes local fines are not the answer to stopping this.
Suggestions have been made that new wording for any affidavit be sent out explaining to the trade that if they are not complying with State Law, their State License will be immediately suspended and then called for a special meeting of the State Board to settle the problem.
Once again, we have included prior information sent out to the trade that we are working on establishing a state-wide electrical code with safety standards and penalties for any violators of the State Law.
Look for future issues of our News and Notes addressing these problems. ELM and MUELEC are trying to
take a commonsense approach of leadership in governing our electrical installations, and we hope to have further information about bringing the State Law into compliance by having the 2023 as the edition being used for testing now and the 2026 for future consideration.
As you can see there are a lot of things going on in our trade, and we must be aware that we need a skilled, competent workforce to serve the public. Meanwhile, the ELM Board of Directors wish you a safe and healthy holiday and hopes to connect with many of you in 2025.
Gil Thompson
ELM Vice President and Legislative Liaison