Did This Massachusetts Brewery Break the Law With Their New Electric Meter?

This one is for the people who take a ton of pride in the appearance of their anything -- their personal home, their business, the parking lot of their business -- anything.

Because when you have a parking lot and building appearance as creative as Night Shift Brewing in Boston (and those surrounding it,) you want to keep it that way, especially when an eyesore of an electric meter box is installed.

Imagine taking the time and creativity of that artwork on those buildings in the Night Shift Brewing parking lot, and then just completely sucking the life out of it a bit by installing -- according to the Night Shift Brewing Instagram page -- "an ugly electric meter."

It completely kills the vibe. Which is why Night Shift Brewing decided to channel their parking lot art skills and turn said boring, ugly electric meter into an owl.

First off, let's not bury the headline. How amazing does that look? Kudos to whoever turned something so meh into something so magical. But also, that brings up a question.

Is It Legal to Paint Electric Meters?

First off, according to Eversource (who services Massachusetts with electricity,) "Massachusetts law provides penalties for tampering with the meters or equipment of an electric utility." The NH Public Utilities Commission echoes similar words about electric meter tampering.

Central Maine Power

But what exactly constitutes tampering? According to a phone call with a representative of Central Maine Power, technically the glass cover is the property of the customer, and as long as the globe on the inside of the glass cover isn't tampered with and a technician is still able to take meter readings, it is legal to paint an electric meter.

Night Shift Brewing out here breaking boring without breaking laws. Kudos!