Electrical · Service

Upgrading to 200 amp service, from your side of the meter

The electrical trade has written this job up well. Nobody has written up your day: the permit, the utility appointment, the hours without power, and the inspection that has to pass before anyone turns you back on.

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In short

What is 200 amp service upgrade?

A 200 amp service upgrade replaces the whole electrical service entering your home — the meter socket, the service entrance conductors, the mast or lateral, the grounding electrode system and the main panel — not just the breaker box. Because the utility owns the wires up to your meter, it is a three-party job: you, your electrician, and the utility. The on-site work is usually one to two days; the scheduling around it is what makes the calendar long.

Triggers

Signs you need 200 amp service upgrade

A load calculation has already shown your demand exceeds what your existing service can carry — the decision has been made and you are now planning the work
Your service conductors are the limiting factor, not the panel, so a breaker-box swap alone will not raise your capacity
The meter socket is damaged, corroded, burnt or has been red-tagged by the utility
The service mast is loose, bent, pulling away from the wall, or the overhead drop hangs below required clearance over a driveway or roof
An inspector or the utility has told you in writing that the service entrance has to be replaced before other work can be signed off

Seeing something not on this list? Browse electrical problems by symptom →

The job

How 200 amp service upgrade actually works

The site survey and what it commits you to

Before anything is priced, the electrician establishes whether your service is overhead or underground, where the meter is, whether the mast and weather head can be reused, how the grounding electrode system is arranged, and where the new panel will physically go. Overhead and underground services diverge sharply in cost and in who does what — with an underground lateral, the utility often owns and schedules more of the work.

Watch for: A quote produced without anyone looking at the meter and the mast. Nearly every unpleasant surprise on this job lives in the twelve feet between the utility drop and your panel.
Permit first, then the utility application

The electrician pulls the electrical permit, then applies to the utility for a service change. These are separate processes with separate queues, and the utility application is normally the long pole. In many areas the utility will not schedule a disconnect until it has the permit number.

Watch for: Being given a start date before the utility has confirmed one. The honest answer at quoting time is a range, and a contractor who commits to a date they do not control is managing your feelings, not your project.
The disconnect appointment

On the day, the utility must physically de-energise and pull the meter before your electrician can touch the service entrance. Depending on the utility this is a scheduled crew visit, a same-day cut-and-reconnect, or a self-service arrangement where the electrician is authorised to pull the meter under seal.

Watch for: A morning window that slips. If the utility crew arrives at 2pm, the work does not finish that day and you may be reconnected on a temporary basis or not at all. Ask what the contingency is before it happens.
Meter socket, service entrance conductors and mast

The old meter socket comes off and a new one rated for the new service goes on, with conductors sized for it. Overhead services get a new mast, weather head and drip loop, positioned to keep the drop at required clearance. Underground services get the lateral terminated into the new equipment.

Watch for: Reusing an old meter socket or mast to shave the quote. If either is rated below the new service, or is corroded, it becomes the weak point of a system you just spent five figures raising.
Grounding electrode system

The upgrade is where grounding gets brought to current standards — ground rods driven to spec, bonding to the metallic water service where present, and a properly sized grounding electrode conductor. On older homes this is often the largest single change from what was there before.

Watch for: Grounding shown as a small allowance. Rock, frost line, finished landscaping and a slab foundation all make driving rods harder, and this is a common source of a supplementary bill.
The new panel and circuit transfer

Each existing branch circuit is moved onto the new panel and landed on an appropriately sized breaker, with arc-fault and ground-fault protection where current code requires it. Circuits that were doubled up on a single breaker get separated. This is the slowest part of the on-site work in a house with a lot of circuits.

Watch for: Undersized or unlabelled circuits carried over without being checked. An upgrade is the one moment when every branch circuit is in someone's hands — a crew that just re-lands them has skipped the most useful inspection your house will ever get.
Inspection — before you get power back

A jurisdictional inspector has to sign the work off. In most places the utility will not reconnect permanently until it has that sign-off, which means an inspection failure directly extends the time you are without power or on a temporary connection. Same-day inspection is common in some jurisdictions and unavailable in others.

Watch for: A job finished on a Friday afternoon in a jurisdiction that does not inspect at weekends. Ask when inspection is booked, not just when the work is booked.
Reconnection and the seal

The utility re-energises the service, sets and seals the meter, and the connection becomes permanent. Only then is your service actually 200 amps in any useful sense.

Watch for: Assuming the job is over when the electrician leaves. Until the meter is set and sealed and the permit is closed out, you have an open permit on your property, which surfaces at resale.

Money

What does 200 amp service upgrade cost?

A full 200 amp service upgrade — meter socket, service entrance conductors, mast, grounding and panel — typically runs several thousand dollars, and commonly lands well above a panel-only swap. Underground services, long runs, a relocated meter and difficult grounding push it higher. Local labour rates and utility charges vary widely.

See the full 200 amp service upgrade cost guide — by material, size and region →

Straight answer

When 200 amp service upgrade is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

Your service conductors are already rated for the amperage you want. Some homes have a 100 amp panel fed by conductors and a meter socket rated higher. Where that is true, a panel change alone gets you there, and paying for a full service upgrade buys you nothing you did not already own.
You are doing it purely to "future-proof" with nothing planned. Service upgrades do not appreciate. If there is no EV, no heat pump and no addition on the horizon, the money sits in your wall doing nothing, and the code you eventually build to will have moved.
The utility has told you the drop or transformer needs work and you have not priced that. Utility-side work has its own charges, its own queue and its own rules about who pays. Find out what your utility will bill you before you sign with an electrician — that number is not in their quote.
You cannot be without power for a working day in the next few months. Medical equipment, a home-based business, a newborn, a full chest freezer. This job takes your power away on someone else's schedule, and rushing it is how corners get cut.
The house is being rewired anyway. Do not sequence the service upgrade separately from a whole-house rewire — you will pay twice for panel work and coordinate two sets of inspections. Bundle them and the total drops.
You are within months of selling. Buyers rarely pay a premium for service size, and an upgrade with a still-open permit is worse at closing than an old service that is honestly disclosed.

Your options

Types of 200 amp service upgrade

Overhead vs underground service

Who owns which section, and why the cost differs so much.

200 amp vs 100 amp service

What each actually supports in a real house.

Compare electrical options side by side →

Before you sign

What to check when hiring for 200 amp service upgrade

Is my service overhead or underground, and who does which part?

It changes the price, the timeline and the number of parties. If your electrician has not established this, they have not scoped the job.
Have you applied to the utility yet, and what is their current lead time?

The utility queue is usually the longest step. A contractor who tracks it will know the number; one who does not will say "a few weeks" about everything.
What are the utility's own charges, and are they in this price or billed to me separately?

Service change fees, transformer work and pole work are frequently outside the electrician's quote entirely. Find the boundary before you sign.
How many hours will my power be off, and what is the plan if inspection does not happen the same day?

The gap between "work finished" and "utility reconnected" is the part of this job that ruins weekends.
Does the price include a new meter socket, mast, weather head and grounding — or are any of those reused?

Reused components are the most common way one quote is lower than another for what looks like the same job.
Will you separate any double-tapped or undersized circuits you find?

Every circuit is in your electrician's hands exactly once during this job. Agree now whether found problems get fixed or just re-landed.
Who closes out the permit, and will I get a copy of the final sign-off?

An open permit follows the property, not the contractor, and turns up at closing when you are least able to deal with it.

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Local pros

200 Amp Service Upgrade near you

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Panel Upgrade

Whether you need more capacity at all

Whole House Rewire

Best bundled with a service upgrade

Subpanel Installation

Feeding a garage, shop or ADU

Electrical Inspection

Assess the service before you commit

All electrical services →

FAQ

200 Amp Service Upgrade — questions people ask

Still have a question? Talk to our team →

How long will my power be off during a 200 amp service upgrade?

Plan for most of a working day — commonly around six to eight hours from the utility disconnect to reconnection, when everything goes smoothly. It goes longer when the utility crew arrives late, when the inspection cannot be done the same day, or when something under the meter turns out to be worse than it looked. Empty the fridge of anything critical and arrange somewhere to work if you work from home.

Do I have to be home for the work?

Usually yes, at least at the start and the end. The utility often needs access and authorisation, the inspector may need to be let in, and you will want to be there when circuits are being identified and labelled. If you cannot be, agree in advance in writing who is authorised to let the utility and the inspector in.

Who pays for the utility's part of the work?

It depends on the utility and on what is needed. Some service changes are performed at no direct charge as part of normal service; others carry a fee, and work on the transformer, the pole or an underground lateral can be billed to the customer. This is genuinely local — ask your utility directly, and do not assume the electrician's quote covers it.

Why does the inspection have to pass before the power comes back?

Because the utility is being asked to energise equipment it did not install. In most jurisdictions the utility takes the inspector's sign-off as its authorisation to reconnect permanently. That is why a failed inspection is expensive in a way it is not on other jobs: it does not just delay paperwork, it delays your electricity.

Can the meter be moved to a different spot while you are doing this?

Often yes, and an upgrade is the natural time to do it — but it needs the utility's agreement, because they have rules about access, clearance and the route of the drop or lateral. Relocating adds cost and adds a decision point to the utility application, so raise it at the survey rather than on the day.

How far in advance should I book this?

Longer than you would expect, and the reason is scheduling rather than labour. Permit issuance and the utility service-change queue both sit ahead of the actual work, and in some areas that adds up to weeks or months. If the upgrade is a prerequisite for something else — a heat pump install, a solar array, an EV charger — start it first, not last.