How Much Does It Cost To Upgrade Your Electrical Service In the Monterey Bay area?

One of the more frequent requests we receive is for electrical service upgrades, electrical meter upgrades, and electrical panel upgrades. 

Upgrading your homes main electrical service has become a popular thing to do. As existing homes age and get remodeled, many people are proactively seeking to upgrade their electrical service for safety reasons and to allow more electrical usage in their home. As more and more people purchase Electric Vehicles many find they have to increase the capacity of their homes system to allow for the large amounts of power the vehicles need to consume on a daily basis. 

Whatever your need or desire to upgrade is, we all at Switched Electric can help guide you through the whole process. This article has been written to help you understand some of the costs of upgrading your electrical service, as well as some of the different options you have when upgrading.

Upgrading your electrical service can cost anywhere from roughly $4,000.00 to $6,000.00 all the way up to $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. The wide range of prices reflect how different some of the service upgrade jobs can be. 

Some of the different things that can affect the price of a service upgrade include whether or not the utility provider (MID, TID, or PG&E) will require you to upgrade the underground line from their utility box to your home. That type of work could mean a hundred feet or more of a 40” deep trench, possibly crossing sidewalks, driveways and even public roads. Some of those jobs are at the high end of the spectrum and require other specialty trades to get the work completed.Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Most homes though are in the lower range, somewhere between that $4,000.00 to $6,000.00 for a 200 Amp Service Upgrade. Even then, there are other factors and considerations to give attention to:

1. Would you like to install Solar Panels in the future?

2. Do you want to have an electric car in the future, just one or two?

3. Do you want to provide the added safety and security of a Whole House Surge Suppression device?

4. Do you want to install protective circuit breakers, such as AFCI and GFCI breakers?

5. Do you want to ensure you always have power by installing either a generator transfer switch or a battery backup unit?

6. Would you like additional receptacles installed below the electrical panel for holiday decorations?

These are just a few of the things to consider that can affect the price of a service upgrade in the Monterey Bay area. 

A 400 Amp electrical service upgrade to a residential home.

Some of the questions you may have about upgrading your electrical service:

1. Do I really need to upgrade?

2. Will we have to get a permit?

3. What size electrical service do I need?

4. How long will I be without power?

5. What is the whole process like?

We can quickly address some of these here, but look at our other articles that go into these questions a bit more deeply too. 

Do I really need to upgrade?

This is a question best answered by performing what is called an “Electrical Load Calculation”. This allows us to see how much power your home is typically using and how much leftover capacity you have for added electrical loads. 

You also want to consider your “Future” electrical needs. While you may only have one smaller sized electric car right now, we know that soon enough in California we may likely all be driving some type of electric vehicle. So upgrading now might make sense to future proof your homes system.

Another factor could be the age of your existing electrical service. In Monterey, Seaside, and other cities like Pacific Grove, there are a good amount of homes built that have much older systems, many in fact still have the old screw in fuses. Some homes have “Zinsco” and “Federal Pacific” electrical panels. These older units are known to have safety issues, and many have areas with exposed live parts. So safety and security could be the driving factor to upgrading your electrical service.

Will I need to get a permit?

The job itself will require a permit. As a professional and licensed electrical contractor,  we at Switched Electric typically provide the permit. We take care of all the necessary applications, fees, and inspections to that you the homeowner don’t have to worry about it.

What size electrical service do I need?

This is another one of those questions that closely follows the thoughts mentioned above under the question “Do I really need to upgrade?”. 

A load calculation will best determine what size you currently need. But again it is still wise to consider your future needs and wants too. Maybe you won’t get an electric car, but what about a nice spa in the backyard? Or a pool? Or a welder and compressor for your garage?

All those things can quickly cause you to wish you had upgraded to the next size up!

How long will I be without power?

Typically you are only without power for a day. Most of the utilities we deal with schedule morning disconnects to your service. We perform the work, get the inspection, and then the utility comes back the same day later in the afternoon to make a new connection to the new main electrical service.

There are occasions where the project can span two days, but they are rarer and we often know this ahead of time.

What is the whole process like?

Typically the process flows a bit like this:

1. You fill out our online form answering a few questions and uploading a few pictures.

2. We take a look at the photos and answers and can then provide an estimated price range for the project.

3. If the price sounds good then we schedule to come out and finalize the price with an onsite visit, sign a contract, and collect the project deposit.

4. We then start the application process with the utility.

5. We procure the permit for the work.

6. We schedule the work with the utility and the inspection department.

7. We order the materials for the service upgrade.

8. We perform the electrical service upgrade, typically a day and a half to two days worth of work.

9. We schedule a final inspection once all the necessary repairs have been performed.

It is a pretty smooth process for us as we have been doing them for a long time. Having a lot of experience upgrading electrical services here in Seaside, we can ensure that your project gets done in a timely manner and that there is as little disruption as possible. 

If you want to explore your different electrical service upgrade options we invite you to fill out our contact form so we can help you through the process.