I am in the process of remodeling and completely rewiring my 1927 built home. The subject at hand is once I get my service inspection completed I will be required to move the live wires that are currently connected to my old (still active service) to the new service entrance. The utility company expects the customer (me) to temporally connect the service and then they will come over at their leisure to do a permanent connection. The entrance is an overhead feeder where the wires run about 10 feet from a sub pole to my weather head. The old service and new service entrance are about 1ft apart exiting on the roof of my house. There are no trees or obstructions present and because the wire is primarily a vertical drop there is very little tension on the lines. I consider this task within my comfort level, but would like to validate my plan and seek any advice from others as I am not an electrician and don�t want to put myself in any more danger than required.

Here is the plan:

Prerequisite: Inspection is bought off and I am allowed to switch power to my new service.

Wearing my insulated leather gloves (heavy welding gloves), using insulated lineman�s pliers I cut one of the 120v lines while holding onto the insulated part of the wire.
The while still holding on the cut line (to prevent grounding to the mast) I strip the wire using insulated wire strippers.
Next I simply insert the live wire into a 2 lug splice connector (2/0 copper THWN) and torque the lug holding the splice connector with a pair of insulated channel locks and an insulated 3/8 ratchet.
Lastly tape well using standard electrical tape.

After one connection completed I repeat the same procedure for the other 120v leg and then do the neutral last.

Note: I will be standing on my roof and not working from a ladder during the process.

I also will be wearing coveralls and a thick flannel shirt during this process just in case a wire slips out of my grasp it does not ground out on my body. I will also be very careful not to come in contact with the metal service mast or anything that would provide a path to ground via through my body.

Please let me know if anyone has any comments or suggestions. Any advice is appreciated.

Note: I am looking for advice on the best way practices to accomplish this task. I understand just like anything you do there comes inherent risk and that is why I am seeking the advice of others. Thus, please don�t say this job is for a licensed electrician only.
Thanks,
Ian

You should NOT be messing with the overhead POCO drop AT ALL!!! PERIOD!

Cutting hot wires with pliers? Self insulated rachet? What pray tell are you going to do if you lose your grip on the wire? Despite the fact it appears to not be under much tension, it is going to be HEAVY.

Frankly this is a job for someone with a clue. In fact, when the utility says they want "you" to do the work, they mean they want "you" to hire a licensed electrician. I'm sorry you DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT but some things are not DIY

How about you do the following:

1. Pull your existing meter.
2. Run your temporary service from the metered side of the old meter to the new one.
3 Wait for the power company to do it right.

Still trying to wrap my head around that statement!
Anyone anywhere ever heard of such a thing?

It is not the amateur hour.

While the voltage is only 120 V to the neutral (and 240 V between the hots) the current available to a fault is into the tens of thousands of amps.

Anything that gets across the lines and conducts well will be vaporized. INSTANTLY.

Where I live the POCO is responsible for everything down to the meter pan.

We normally jumper from the bottom of the old meter base to the top of the new, insert shorting bars, and plug the meter back into the old base.

The AHJ will get around to inspecting, and then the POCO will come install a new drop.

I've heard of that. In our area if the inspector passes the job it is expected that the electrician will hook up the service and the power company will stop by at their leisure to check the work.