Home construction in Baltimore delayed by nationwide shortage of electrical equipment

A newly renovated rowhome sits empty in East Baltimore with marble steps and a picture window with dentil molding. It has a newly finished basement, granite countertops in the kitchen and two bedrooms on the second floor. The home, just a few blocks from Johns Hopkins Hospital, is under contract and the renovation was expected to finish in mid-December. But no one has been able to move in due to a global shortage of dull gray, metal boxes. They’re called meter cans or meter sockets and they house the electric meter — the device that measures electricity used by a home. While they don’t look like much, meter cans are essential to connect a new or renovated home to power.