Electrical panel and service upgrades
Solar, storage, EV charging and heat pumps all land on the same service. We establish what yours can carry before anything is designed — and tell you when an upgrade can be avoided.
The quiet bottleneck in every electrification project
Solar, batteries, EV chargers and heat pumps all connect to the same electrical service. Add them one at a time without checking, and at some point a project stops mid-installation because the panel cannot legally carry the load.
Much of the older housing stock across the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles has 100-amp service and panels with no spare capacity. Establishing that at the start is cheap. Discovering it on installation day is not.
For current market ranges and the Los Angeles permit path, see our panel upgrade cost guide.
What we do
Service and panel upgrades
- 100A to 200A service upgrades and beyond
- Main panel and meter main replacement
- Obsolete and unsafe panel replacement
- Utility coordination and permitting handled
Capacity without an upgrade
- Load calculations that establish what you really need
- Line-side tap solar interconnection where permitted
- Load management devices for EV and heat-pump circuits
- Sub-panels for garages, ADUs and workshops
Before you spend on an upgrade
A service upgrade is a real expense and it is not always necessary. We run the load calculation first, because in a meaningful share of cases a line-side tap or a load-management device delivers the same outcome for a fraction of the cost. If you do need the upgrade, you will know why, with numbers.
Questions we get asked
How do I know if I need a panel upgrade?
Common signals: a 100-amp service with no spare breaker positions, a fuse box rather than breakers, a panel brand with a known safety history, scorching or buzzing, or simply a plan to add solar, a battery, an EV charger or a heat pump. A load calculation gives the definite answer — guessing gives an expensive one.
Can I add solar without upgrading the panel?
Often, yes. A line-side tap connects the system ahead of the main breaker and can avoid an upgrade entirely. Load management devices are another route. Whether either applies depends on your equipment and your local inspector, so we assess before designing.
How long does a service upgrade take?
The electrical work itself is typically a day. The schedule is set by permitting and by utility coordination for the service disconnect and reconnect, which varies by utility and by time of year. We give you the realistic window including those steps.
Will the power be off?
Yes, for part of the day, because the service has to be disconnected to be replaced. We schedule it and tell you in advance so you can plan around refrigeration, work-from-home and medical equipment.
Let’s find out what your building can actually do.
Send twelve months of utility data — or one recent bill — and we will come back with a straight answer, including ‘not yet’ if that is the honest one.