Turn off all the 220 breakers and see if some of your 110 go out. Sounds like you have lost a hot leg of your service.

You're right. Edison came out and opened up the panel where the main comes in from the ground. One of the hot wires had a "melt down" at the connector where the wires hook up to the socket that the meter attaches to. The second wire was loose also. He cut off the bad wire and tied it off. We left the other one there. An electrician (my responsibility) is comming out this morning to either replace the whole bracket or the connectors. I was talking to the electric company tech and he said that I only have 100 amp service and probably over the years lots of things have been added. Like air conditioning, electric range, swimming pool etc. He said that I am probably drawing a lot of power and when those connectins get loose, they just break. I'm sure that when it is over 100 and the air is on and the pool is running and we are cooking dinner, plus a couple refers running lights, TV etc, we are geting close to that 100 amp. I'm going to look into a 200 amp service. Thanks for the help. Oh yea, the main wires coming in (0 guage or so) is aluminum. He said that Alum gets hotter also. He said he would come back and put a copper pigtail on which will help with the heat at the connectors.

Ken

if the problem was on the utility side of the meter, then Edison should be responsible for repair not you.

You're being fed a line a bull from the customer disservice people. First, yes it is probably the case that you're pushing the limits of 100Amp service, but just about everything else they said is malarky.

Aluminum (properly sized) does not get hotter.
If you weren't tripping your 100Amp main breaker, any melting of the wires or loosening of the connections is a defect and needed repair anyhow. The high load wasn't the problem there. If the wires are lose they will start to overheat way before the rated load.

Depending on the demarc between the POCI and the house, the meter enclosure very well may be the responsibility of the owner.

Sometimes the demarc is at the weather head splice, while others places use the meter enclosure itself.

If the demarc is at the weather head the owner is responsible for the drop to the meter base.

If the demarc is at the meter enclosure the POCO usually handles their side, while the homeowner handles the load side.

If a bad POCO connection damaged the meter base they should replace it and it is the demarc
If a load side connection damaged the meter base it is on the homeowner.

Overloading of the connection would have tripped the main breaker.
That is one of its purposes (the other is faults in the panel itself).
If you have NOT tripped the main breaker the fault is likely a loose connection.

Once they become loose it goes down hill from there.
The loose connection gets hotter and can cause arcing, further damaging the connection till it fails completely.

A load side failure usually results in loosing one leg, killing the 240 V loads and leaving half the 120 V loads working fine.

A line side failure does the same thing, but if the broken connection touches the meter enclosure it can blow a POCO line fuse and create a lot of fireworks at the meter enclosure.

Either way, have it fixed and then try and lean on the POCO for reimbursement if they should have done the work.

it's all fixed now. By the way, here in California (Orange County), the Edison Co. runs wires underground and up the inside of the wall to the panel. The contractor is then responsible to install the panel and hook up the hot to the "meter bracket". The utility then places a glass meter into the bracket and seals it. They will take care of all the line up to the meter. In my case, they had to cut back the line about a foot and they will do a splice so it will reach the meter again. If I want to upgrade to 200 amp, they will determine if the wire gauge is okay and if is not, they will run new wires up to the panel on their nickel. So, they only stub the line into the wall and the rest is up to me. Anyway, I'm up and running again. By the way, my comment about aluminum getting hotter than copper was in reference to the fact that the wire was loose at the connection. That creates heat. Aluminum melts quicker than copper. I'm sure the copper would have melted eventually, but I presume it would have taken longer. They figure the connection was loose from the time the house was built and it finally failed. There is no reason for the connection to get loose over time.

Heated aluminum oxidizes faster. Aluminum oxide is a poor conductor. Heated aluminum expands and extrudes out of the connector. When it cools, it shrinks and leaves the connection more loose than before. The next heat/cool cycle is thus worse. Brickeyee already said it better. I do suggest the upgrade to 200 amp service since repairs are mandated. Whatever the load, the 200 will heat less.

Well the 200A won't have any bearing, but the fatter wire they will need to run the 200A service will.

"By the way, here in California (Orange County), the Edison Co. runs wires underground and up the inside of the wall to the panel. The contractor is then responsible to install the panel and hook up the hot to the "meter bracket"."

This is a different, and stupid, way to do this kind of thing.
This means that any repair must either be done on a hot feed or creates the usual dance of getting a POCO disconnect, then an electrician, then a POCO reconnect.
Sorry you do not have service for a couple days.

I have the tools to work low voltage lines hot (what the POCO calls 120/240V and even 440 V) but they are a real PITA to maintain and have tested.