Shift Electric Co. - Portland, Oregon
Electrical Panel Upgrade
The electrical panel is the nerve center of your home. There are a multitude of reasons that a customer may want to update their panel. Oftentimes, an older home has an obsolete brand of existing panel, or a panel brand that has a noteworthy history of not functioning correctly.
A new panel can often offer additional breaker spaces for adding new circuits and powering a modern home. One of the best investments you can make in your home and your safety is a modern electrical panel that brings your home into the future
Signs You Need an Electrical Panel Upgrade
- Frequently tripped breakers
- Flickering or dimming lights
- Buzzing, crackling, or burning smell from the panel
- Warm or discolored breaker switches
- Fuse box (not breakers) still in use
- Federal Pacific (FPE), Zinsco, Pushmatic, Challenger, or Bulldog panel...these brands are flagged as fire hazards
- Adding an EV charger, hot tub, heat pump, ADU, or large appliance
- House is 40+ years old and never updated
- Home inspection flagged the panel
- Not enough breaker spaces / extension cords running everywhere
Is Your Home Outpacing Your Eletrical Panel?
A service upgrade becomes necessary when your needs, and future plans outpace the current capacity of the electrical service. Modern homes have a much larger demand for electrical than homes built in the past.
Perhaps you're adding a level 2 car charger, hot tub, remodel addition to your home. Or you're building an addition or running electrical to an ADU that will require heating and cooling in addition to what currently exists in the home.
The capacity of the existing service is not always apparent as it is determined by the conductors feeding your electrical panel by the serving utility.
A Panel Upgrade requires cooperation with the utility and municipal permitting department to update all components of the service to the National Electrical Code Standards of the current code cycle.
When installing a new meter base, this is the most optimal time to add future distribution capabilities to the exterior of your home for items such as Hot Tubs, Car Chargers, AC Units. We can easily add this option at the time of install.
A Electrical Panel Upgrade Can Include:
- A New Meter Base, Mast, Weatherhead and Point of Attachment
- New Service Entrance Conductors to the Utility Attachment Points
- Coordination with Utility Companies and Permitting Departments
- New Feeders to the Existing Panel Location
- New Grounding Electrode
- New Electrical Panel with room for future circuits
- Permit is included in fixed price
What to consider when installing a new Electrical Panel?
- Meter Base with power distribution capabilities for future, exterior power needs
- Generator Hook-up
- Whole-Home Surge Protector
Exclusions: Relocating existing electrical panel due to non code-compliant location.
We are happy to relocate the electrical panel if determined necessary. We will provide a budget price for the additional costs. Please let us know when requesting this service if the panel is in a stairwell, laundry area, closet, bedroom or has any issues that impede the clearance above, below or to either side of the panel.
The process for an Electrical Panel Upgrade:
- Free estimate & site walk-through
- We coordinate the meter spot with PGE / Pacific Power
- New meter base, mast, weatherhead & grounding installed
- Utility & city inspection
- Power "swing over" date scheduled
- New panel installed and energized — same day
A meter spot is required from the power company and is a non binding request to inform us of the location that the utility company would want the new meter base. There are requirements for this and standards that must be followed. As your contractor, we call in the meter spot so that the utility informs us directly of the requirements. Please let us know who is your utility provider at the time of requesting this service
Once the meter spot is obtained, we can come out and build a new meter base, mast and weatherhead with conductors in place on the exterior of your home. At this time, we install a new grounding electrode. At the time of our first day onsite, we will review the panel location for any clearance issues and take a tertiary measurement for wiring needed.
We then have this installation inspected and approved by the serving permitting authority.
Once the meter base is inspected, we can call in for a swing over date from the power company (the date at which they will move power to your new meter base)
On the date of the swing over, we will come and install a new electrical panel in your home and energize the new service.
Our process is a tried and true method for successful, consistent and predictable results. We have engineered our process thoughtfully to have the least amount of impact on the customer with minimal duration without power. Understand, that this service requires coordination from a multitude of unconnected entities, we provide that bridge.
Get in Touch
Still have questions about your unique situation? Give us a call or submit an inquiry today!