Laziness, why else? They could of just run the wires in around the slipfitter but they took the quick way out.

Somehow I don't think breaking the fixture is that easy. It would be MUCH easier to run it through the slipfitter.

Nah. Just need to hammer a flat head screwdriver into the housing and you have a nice hole.

That or tin snips.

My guess is they took some linemens grabbed the housing and broke it out that way, I don't think tin snips would quite cut it (no pun intended) My wouldn't anyways.

I wonder what happened to the NEMA tag. o.o

They converted the OVH to a 50w light now.

Micheal- To your comment up there, the National Grid covers all OVER the United States, it's the company that regulates the electricity all over the US.

All the power lines in the USA are all interconnected, making one huge grid system, So you might get some electricity from Colorado where you live! And vice versa and all around.

But what I am saying is National Grid is all over America, and utilities around the US sell their electricity to it. I guess around where you live the National Grid services their own lights and power-lines, but the National Grid is all over America.

Are you sure? Because according to their website they only supply the notheast. And yep. NGrid is in charge of all that stuff here. I can report lights out in Rhode Island here

As far as I understand National Grid is utility company, just like Xcel in your area or Hydro One Brampton in my area. Now the term "national grid" could be used to describe the electrical system across the continent (not really national but more international) since the US and Canada are connected.

Hmm I am actually not sure. I saw the website and that's all it said. Maybe it's different.

Like National Grid... (yours)

Xcel energy also does multiple states, they do Michigan as well and some other states. Colorado is just one of them. I think Xcel is a bit scattered.

I wonder if Xcel energy in Michigan had the same choice fixtures as Xcel in Denver...

Usually it's similar. Here's what I learned about NGrid from Joe Maurath. NGrid started as a small company owning some distribution lines in the UK. When they crossed the pond and aquired Narragansett Electric, Mass Electric, and the other little electric companies in RI and southeastern MA, they knew almost nothing about the poles on the street, just the big high voltage equippement. But as they got larger, they got more knowledge too. That's why NGrid maily owns the big distribution lines though.

NGrid rips you off every way they can though. lots of hidden fees and high rates. Especially for their streetlight department. $75 to change ONE light's PC and lamp! $25 for labor, and $25 for each additional part. A new fixture is covered by the annual charge though so them installing a new fixture doesn't inflict any charges. I was quite shocked when I learned they charged fees like that.

I honestly don't find that outrageous, I think the city here pays the contractor about the same.

Yes, but the city there owns the lights right? If that's the case they save some money becuase on top of their mantenance fees, they also have a yearly fee which can range from $40 to $150 depending on the wattage and wether it's a flood light or cobrahead.

Don't forget they have to pay for the electricity on top of that, plus if the light is on a utility pole they need to pay a rental fee for the pole space that's another charge. Not to mention fixture replacement (I think around $250) and pole replacements which are $2000+. The utility companies use to own the lights, however since the utility companies are government owned anyways it was determined that they where "taking business away from private contractors" so they could no longer own/maintain lights.

The municipalitys here pay for kWh usage too for the street lights. True that they don't pay for the other things you mentioned though. Overall, I think it would be cheaper for the municipalities here to buy out NGrid's lighting and have contractors mantain it. Towns near Joe M. in Mass did just that becuase they were fed up with all of NGrid's pointless fees that he didn't mention to me.

Yes Boston owns its municipal streetlights. Most town and cities under NSTAR do. Boston pays a flat rate for the electrical usage, that's all. There are no rental fees since they own the lights, that's how it works here in NU where we have 5 towns that bought the lights from us. The only thing the must notify the company is if they are adding or removing fixtures to readjust the rate they pay for the electrical usage. The LED lights I have from Easthampton, MA are on NU poles but the city owns and maintains them. The only thing we maintain in that city are privately own lights.

National Grid is actually a company from the UK who starting buying out US utility companies in the Northeast during the early 2000s. Over here most lights are city owned so they have to pay a contractor to maintain them and the electricity it uses.

@ Joe; I already said that. They actually came in the mid-to-late 90's. I think in 1995 or 1996 Narragansett Electric was bought by NGrid

I've never seen lights in my area wired like this.