Electrical Panel Upgrades near you

People often say panel upgrade when they mean one of two related jobs. The panel is the box of breakers that divides power into circuits. The service, called the entrée électrique in Quebec, is everything upstream of it: the mast or underground conduit, the service conductors, the meter base and the main disconnect that link the house to the utility. Adding a subpanel, or swapping a full panel for one with more spaces, gives you more room for circuits but doesn't give the house any more power.

When the house truly needs more capacity, the service itself has to grow, which means larger conductors, usually a new meter base and mast, a panel rated for the new capacity, and work by the utility on its side of the meter. The electrician starts with a load calculation, based on the size of the house and its heating, cooling and major appliances, to tell which of the two jobs you actually need.

A service upgrade involves three parties: your electrician, the electrical safety authority or permit office, and the utility. In Quebec, only a member of the CMEQ can carry out work on an electrical installation and send Hydro-Québec a request for work. Hydro-Québec records the request, gives the contractor and the customer a confirmation number, assesses the scope of any work on its side and sends the customer the related agreements. Once the preparatory work is done, the contractor tells Hydro-Québec it can begin, and only Hydro-Québec connects the house to its line.

In Ontario, the Licensed Electrical Contractor files a notification with ESA before starting, and ESA's inspections for this kind of job include one for the service itself. In British Columbia, BC Hydro reminds customers that an authorization or permit is needed before electrical products are installed, and Technical Safety BC's bulletin on upgrading electrical systems in single dwellings adds that an upgrade brings grounding and bonding up to current code and calls for ground-fault protection on receptacles such as those in bathrooms and outdoors.

The utility's schedule often sets the pace. If the upgrade has to be finished before a heat pump or a charger is installed, start the conversation early and ask your electrician to line up the utility's work with the inspection.

Heating is usually the biggest factor. Natural Resources Canada notes that a 200 ampere service is normally required for an all-electric air-source heat pump or a ground-source heat pump, and that switching from a gas or oil heating system may make a panel upgrade necessary. An add-on air-source heat pump working with an existing furnace generally doesn't require a service upgrade, although the age of the service and the home's total load may still make one necessary.

Then look ahead. An EV charger, a heat pump water heater, an induction range, a hot tub or a future basement suite each adds load, and upgrading once for what you expect is far less disruptive than upgrading twice. Ask the electrician to leave spare breaker spaces, to label the panel clearly, and to tell you whether a load management device, which shares capacity between large appliances, could meet your needs without a larger service.