By Kjel Jones — independent custom-home researcher for Ashton and the Henry’s Fork corridor. Not a builder and not a general contractor. Licensed Idaho real estate agent, LPT Realty.

Published 2026-09-10

Fall River will not schedule your power until the file is complete. Here is the file.

The eight items, in the co-op’s own order

Fall River Electric’s service requirements booklet opens with a Service Requirement Checklist — the actions it says are required of both the member and the co-op, in sequence. Here they are as published:

1. Physical address of the service location.
2. Line extension application — a Purchase of Power Agreement submitted to Engineering, applicable costs paid, and an easement provided by the owner.
3. Service location on a site plan — and if a plat has been done, the plat; in a subdivision, an approved plat from Planning and Zoning.
4. Electrical drawings, if applicable — service entrance equipment and distribution panel information.
5. Load estimates — estimated load information and voltage, from every customer.
6. Membership and account — applicants become members, with an account for each new meter.
7. Fees, deposits and construction costs — all applicable ones, paid in advance, prior to construction.
8. Inspection — the homeowner contacts the appropriate state agency for an electrical inspection of the installation.

Only once the checklist is complete, the booklet says, can co-op crews or contractors schedule service construction. The commercial terms underneath some of these steps — the estimate fee, the meter charge, the deposit, aid to construction — are covered on the co-op costs page; this page is about the file itself, and two of its items deserve a closer read than the checklist gives them.

The site plan has to show your future buildings

Item three is the one buyers skim past and shouldn’t. The booklet does not want a map of the house alone:

Please provide a service location on a site plan. If a plat has been done, one must be provided to Fall River Electric. In the case of a subdivision, an approved plat from Planning and Zoning will be required. The plan should depict the building(s) outline(s), any future building(s), the property layout, and location of the electric service.

— Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative, Electric Service Requirements booklet, Service Requirement Checklist. Updated January 2023, retrieved 7 September 2026

Read the middle clause for what it is: a plan of the buildings you have not built yet. The shop, the second garage, the bunkhouse — the co-op asks for their outlines at the same moment it asks for the house, because the meter, the point of attachment and the route of the line are being decided around all of them at once.

The subdivision clause matters just as much. If the land was ever platted, the plat goes in the file; if it is a subdivision, the approved plat from Planning and Zoning is required — the same recorded document that carries the utility easements, covered in what the plat says about utilities. The co-op reads your plat for the same reason the county drew it.

Three decisions the co-op makes, not you

The checklist frames everything as member actions, but the booklet reserves the physical decisions to itself. Before anything is built, three locations are set — and none of the three is yours to choose:

This is why the site plan matters so much. You are not submitting a request for a meter at a spot you picked; you are giving the co-op the information on which it makes those three determinations. A site plan that shows only the house constrains a decision that was supposed to account for the whole property.

One set of main conductors per building — plan the shop now

Tucked into section 2.01 is a default that surprises anyone planning a house-and-shop layout:

Normally, a building will be supplied with electricity through only one set of main service conductors.

— Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative, Electric Service Requirements booklet, section 2.01. Updated January 2023, retrieved 7 September 2026

Each building is a building — the shop is not served by stretching a wire from the house panel across the yard as a matter of course. And that loops straight back to the checklist: the future shop belongs on the site plan precisely because the meter and attachment decisions are made once, early. Establishing the second building’s service after the first is built is a different, later conversation than accounting for it in the original file.

Temporary construction power is its own permit

Builders need power before the house exists, and the booklet treats that as a separate request with its own gate:

• Power to a member-owned temporary construction service “may be supplied when requested” — requested, not automatic.
• State inspection is required before connection can be made, and the co-op “will energize only after the permit has been paid to the state.”
• The temporary service must be located so its meter is protected from mechanical injury — and if it has to move, the relocation cost is borne by the contractor or member.
• The booklet’s drawings SR-4 and SR-5 show its requirements for temporary service construction.

Sequencing follows: the framing crew’s power depends on a state permit being paid, which depends on the temporary service being requested properly. It is cheap to plan and expensive to discover mid-schedule.

Voltages, loads, and the 300 kilowatt line

The service itself is 60-hertz alternating current, single or three-phase, supplied by overhead or underground distribution. The normal voltages, as the booklet tabulates them:

And the load limit has a number, printed once and easily missed: prior agreement must be obtained from Fall River Electric for single or three-phase loads larger than 300 kilowatts. A house never approaches it; a shop with serious machinery, a commercial building or a drying operation might, and the agreement has to exist before the service does.

The permits gate the connection itself

Section 1.10, “Changes or Conflicts in Requirements,” opens with a sentence that ties the co-op’s calendar to the county’s:

Prior to the service being connected, proper state and county building permits and state electrical permits must be obtained.

— Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative, Electric Service Requirements booklet, section 1.10. Updated January 2023, retrieved 7 September 2026

In other words, the county building permit is not just a parallel obligation — the co-op will not connect service until it exists, along with the state electrical permits. The county side of that file is covered on the permit path page and who pulls the permit; the practical reading is that three calendars — county, state and co-op — have to converge before the lights come on, and none of them substitutes for another.

Assembling the file in order

1. Establish the physical address of the service location.
2. Get the estimate and the line extension application moving — the Purchase of Power Agreement goes to the co-op’s Engineering Department, and the costs are covered on the co-op costs page.
3. Draw the site plan with every building outlined, including the ones you have not built yet, and add the plat if the land was ever platted — in a subdivision, the approved Planning and Zoning plat.
4. State the load and voltage; flag anything that might approach 300 kilowatts before, not after, the design.
5. Complete membership and the account for each new meter — one account per meter, in the booklet’s own wording.
6. Pay the fees, deposits and construction costs in advance — in the booklet’s words, prior to construction; crews are not scheduled before they clear.
7. Line up the county building permit and the state electrical permits; the connection itself waits on them.
8. Request temporary construction power separately, and pay the state permit before the crew needs it — the co-op energizes only after that permit is paid.

The pattern is the co-op’s, and it is consistent: every decision it makes for you is made from the file you hand it. The site plan with the future buildings on it is the single item that buys the most flexibility later — and it costs nothing but foresight.

Common questions

What does Fall River Electric require before construction can be scheduled?

Eight things, per the co-op's Service Requirement Checklist: the physical address; a line extension application with the Purchase of Power Agreement, applicable costs paid and an easement provided; the service location on a site plan, with the plat; electrical drawings if applicable; load and voltage estimates; membership and an account for each new meter; all fees, deposits and construction costs paid in advance; and the state electrical inspection of the installation.

Does Fall River Electric need my subdivision plat?

Yes. The checklist states that if a plat has been done, one must be provided to Fall River Electric, and that in the case of a subdivision, an approved plat from Planning and Zoning will be required.

What has to be on the site plan?

The building outlines, any future buildings, the property layout, and the location of the electric service. The future-buildings line is the one that matters most: the meter and attachment decisions are made around the whole property, not just the house.

Who decides where the meter goes?

Fall River Electric does. The booklet states that before providing any electrical service it will determine the location of the meter equipment, that it shall be consulted to designate the point of attachment for all service equipment, and that the exact point of delivery is determined by the co-op.

Can my house and shop share one service?

Normally a building is supplied through only one set of main service conductors — per building, not per property. A second building is normally its own service question, which is why the co-op asks for future buildings on the original site plan.

How does temporary construction power work?

Power to a member-owned temporary construction service may be supplied when requested. State inspection is required before connection, and the co-op will energize only after the permit has been paid to the state. The temporary service must be located so the meter is protected from mechanical injury, and relocation costs are borne by the contractor or member.

What voltages does Fall River Electric supply?

60-hertz alternating current, single or three-phase, by overhead or underground distribution: 120/240 volts single-phase; 120/208 and 277/480 volts three-phase. Three-phase 120/240 and 240/480 may be provided under special conditions.

Is there a load limit that needs prior agreement?

Yes. Prior agreement must be obtained from Fall River Electric for single or three-phase loads larger than 300 kilowatts. Houses do not approach it; shops with heavy machinery or commercial operations might.

Do permits gate the electrical connection?

Yes. The booklet states that prior to the service being connected, proper state and county building permits and state electrical permits must be obtained. The co-op's construction schedule and the county and state permit processes run in parallel, and the connection waits for all of them.