Electrical home amperage upgrade
Hello! We have plans to do a couple of projects at our home, including adding an electric car charger, installing a heat pump, and possible putting in an ADU. The heating company advised that our house could currently handle one of the above projects, but would likely need to have the amperage increased to handle more than one of the projects. I believe he said that we have 100 amps service right now. The house was built in 1928 and has had a recent electrical panel upgrade, is not on knob & tube anymore.
Do you have any experience with making such a change? Any advice on electricians who a great for this project, and rough ideas about cost?
Oct 16, 2023
Parent Replies
We did a lot of similar work that you're looking at doing and I would highly recommend https://www.berkeleyelectric.com/ Zalman is the head person over there and he was fantastic. He did a walk through of the house and talked about the various projects we wanted to do and helped us understand the pricing etc. Cost is going to be relative to what aspects you want done. We spent 30k but got a new 200amp panel, extra spaces on the panel for future electrical projects, new wiring in the house, overhead lights since our house practically had none etc. We also had to hard wire in smoke detectors because of the scale of the work we were doing. Call Zalman and he can get you a fair and comprehensive estimate.
Hi, my mother had a similar upgrade and used Uzoh Electric.
He's honest and thoroughly explains everything. He's put in alot of car charges for neigbors in my moms south bay community 321-439-9469
We recently completed a kitchen renovation with a significant electrical upgrade (upgrading main panel to 200 amps, rewiring kitchen to bring it up to code as it hadn't been upgraded since probably 1970, electrical for a heat pump, adding circuits in preparation for a full transition induction appliances/HVAC, new subpanel, installing new circuits and lighting) and I can highly recommend Smart Electric. The owner, Mohammad Millad, is a gem. Highly professional and meticulous in the way you want your electrician to be! His number is: (510) 990-4677. https://www.instagram.com/smart___electric/?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg%3D%3D
In July of 2022, we increased our electrical service from 100 amps to 200 amps because we eventually will have: heat pump, heat pump water heater, induction stove, electric dryer, and solar with battery backup. We were advised that 200 amps were enough. The cost, including permits, was $10,300. We used Guerreros Electric Inc and were very happy with them. They were not the cheapest quote we got, but they were professional, organized, easy to communicate with, and did quality work.
We just upgraded from 125a to 200a this summer. Note that the cost is going to vary hugely depending on whether your power is overhead or underground. If it's underground and you have to trench to upgrade the service (you may not need to) it can get quite costly and involves PG&E permitting that can take some time. We have overhead lines and the total cost with permits was $4K; the PG&E and city permitting processes were both very quick. This was on the higher end cost-wise, but we did it as part of a solar installation and opted to use an electrician who regularly worked with our solar installer for ease of streamlining the work.
Wanted to be sure you are aware of the tax credit available for this work, if it meets certain requirements. https://www.energystar.gov/about/federal_tax_credits/electric_panel_upg…;
Any improvement to, or replacement of, a panelboard, sub-panelboard, branch circuits, or feeders which:
And be sure to get the BayREN rebates for your other upgrades. https://www.bayren.org/rebates-financing
If you happen to live in Albany, they also offer a number of related rebates. https://www.albanyca.org/departments/sustainability/sustainability-reso…