Upgrading to 200amps - costs and questions to ask?

Do you know for sure if you need new cables? You might have 200A cables to your panel and just need a 200A panel installed.
I've also seen where people install a 200A panel near the meter, and the old panel becomes a sub panel. That can save you on cabling costs, especially if you're putting EV plugs/chargers in the garage (where the meter often is).

So are you confirming your service supports 200a with Oakville Hydro? That would be the starting point.

For a straight up panel swap with limited other work, should be a bit over $2k.

KennyX wrote: ↑ I'm in Oakville, and the wires are underground, and the meter is about 10-15ft from where my panel is (in the basement) - no obstructions and it's a straight line from the meter to the panel, but Im guessing someone would have to dig a trench to get to the underground wire.

This may add extra, but you will need to look into it. Are you saying the lines between the meter and the panel are buried outside? If so I feel like they might be in a conduit, which should be easy to pull through, but maybe size is not correct.

Our local utility says disconnect and reconnect and upgraded overhead wire is free. I was quoted 4800 for 200 amp panel, transfer switch, and upgrade garage to 60 amps but have since decided to go to 100 amps in garage. Stratford area.

SubjectivelyObjective wrote: ↑ So are you confirming your service supports 200a with Oakville Hydro? That would be the starting point.

For a straight up panel swap with limited other work, should be a bit over $2k.



This may add extra, but you will need to look into it. Are you saying the lines between the meter and the panel are buried outside? If so I feel like they might be in a conduit, which should be easy to pull through, but maybe size is not correct.

Yes, I wanted to call to see if 200amps were supported for my house/location (though I guess I kind of assumed this given my neighborhood), but really just to find out ifi there was a cost for the hydro company to shut the power off and turn it back on (I've seen other threads where there's a cost of $700 in mississauga).

Here's a picture of my meter... just noticed it has "200a", does that mean my house is already capable of 200a? (and no! I didnt paint the meter... previous owner did this)

The meter just means it can be used upto 200A.
I have the same meter but a 100A service.
When I called the city (Mississauga) they said my house line supports 125A.. which i thought was low for the houses in the neighborhood. If I wanted 200 it would involve slab drilling a conduit to my house .. at a cost of 15K.

I still don't know if they actually looked it up.. as some electritians gave me quotes for the upgrade saying its possible.. so idk who to believe anymore.

2” conduit to meter suggests there “should be” a 200A capable service to the meter. 1-1/4 leaving the meter confirms that conductors to panel are not sufficient for 200A

OP you have 100A with 200A ready meter .

Below your meter, there are 2 pipe : the big one (200A) from street to the meter, small one (100A) from meter into your house. When you upgrade to 200A, these 2 pipe will have the same size. We swap out the old panel and upgrade to 200A in Sept last year . Cost $3400 including a 240V receptacle for the dryer.

If you heat with gas and don’t have a pool and/or hot tub is a 200A service necessary? Even with my EV I didn’t see the need for a 200A service.

Backlight wrote: ↑ If you heat with gas and don’t have a pool and/or hot tub is a 200A service necessary? Even with my EV I didn’t see the need for a 200A service.

There are load calculators like this one: LINK

If you have electric water heater, dryer, stove, cooktop, etc. you still might need 200A even if you have gas heat and want to run them all at once, especially in the summer because the A/C is an additional load.

I just want to add to this thread to say that there is a shortage of 200A residential panels at the moment.

dongta wrote: ↑ OP you have 100A with 200A ready meter .

Below your meter, there are 2 pipe : the big one (200A) from street to the meter, small one (100A) from meter into your house. When you upgrade to 200A, these 2 pipe will have the same size. We swap out the old panel and upgrade to 200A in Sept last year . Cost $3400 including a 240V receptacle for the dryer.

How can this be verified ?.. I have big and small pipe as you say.. yet Alectra told me I'm only 125A.

I did a 100—>200 amp swap with a 100 amp line to the garage with a 100 amp panel (my old panel) installed in there last August. Panels were hard to come by at that time.

I believe off the top of my head I was around $2800 tax in for the swap. I had 200 amps to my meter, so it was about 7 feet of 200 amp cable to the panel itself. I was another $1200 for the 100 amp run to the garage which was unfortunately on the other side of the house (45 feet of 100 amp wire). I know the total bill was $40xx, meaning between $4,000 and $4,100.

I've done 2 overhead (one Alectra, one Burlington Hydro) for about $2k each.

Just had an underground one, with 200A wires available at the meter base for just over $2k in Burlington Hydro area as well.

I've used Halton Electric for all 3 and they've been great to work with.

TLSRULZ wrote: ↑ How can this be verified ?.. I have big and small pipe as you say.. yet Alectra told me I'm only 125A.

I saw the wire inside those pipe.. The 200A wire are much bigger than the 100A , they won't fit in that small pipe for sure.

TLSRULZ wrote: ↑ How can this be verified ?.. I have big and small pipe as you say.. yet Alectra told me I'm only 125A.

You verify with your hydro supplier (Alectra) as you've done. They are responsible for and provide the connection from street to meter so if they've said you're only good to 125A that means you're only good to 125A. It's not just your wires that are a factor. They could have determined your transformer is maxed out on the street and can't go higher without a new one.

For those of you that had this done and have underground wiring - did you have to dig up a trench to access/replace the wire? Or did they just pull/fish the old/new wire through the pvc pipe that was already underground?
My last quote was:
a) $4630 - for the upgrade to 200amps, new panel and breakers
b) $800 - Dig Trench approx. 10Feet x 2 feet deep
c) $250 - permit

So taxes in, this would be $6400+!

I'm going to keep calling around, because unless I'm missing something, the quotes I've gotten so far are high (no ask for any subpanels or change in location of panel)

edit: and while I dont need 200amps now, I want to future proof the house. Next car will definitely be EV, and we plan on getting an induction range later this year. Basement is currently unfinished and that's my next project, but I dont want to start that until the electrical upgrade /panel is done.

KennyX wrote: ↑ For those of you that had this done and have underground wiring - did you have to dig up a trench to access/replace the wire? Or did they just pull/fish the old/new wire through the pvc pipe that was already underground?
My last quote was:
a) $4630 - for the upgrade to 200amps, new panel and breakers
b) $800 - Dig Trench approx. 10Feet x 2 feet deep
c) $250 - permit

So taxes in, this would be $6400+!

I'm going to keep calling around, because unless I'm missing something, the quotes I've gotten so far are high (no ask for any subpanels or change in location of panel)

edit: and while I dont need 200amps now, I want to future proof the house. Next car will definitely be EV, and we plan on getting an induction range later this year. Basement is currently unfinished and that's my next project, but I dont want to start that until the electrical upgrade /panel is done.

I just went through this exact process recently and I can tell you that $6400 is VERY reasonable and I doubt you will be able to get it for that price. I know Alectra doesn't charge a $700 fee for disconnect and re-energize but I am sure they will charge you for city plans, design and run a new 4/0AL triplex service wire from the transformer to your meter.

I had to dig my own trench and it took me two weeks worth of weeknights and Sundays to dig 14m x 1.2m deep. It was very labour intensive. Here is my price breakdown for the entire project:

• $4,464.54 to Toronto Hydro for the plans, trenching from my property line to the nearby transformer (about 40ft away), and run a new wire to my meter
• $1,500 to dig the 14m long trench. 1.2m deep
• $500 to backfill the trench with 3/4" gravel (6" deep)
• $800 to backfill the trench
• $950 to run 14m long 4" RED PVC Heavy Wall Type II from my meter to the property line & pour concrete on all of the joints
• $4000 to upgrade my panel & ESA permit

The grand total would have been $12,215 but to cut down on the expenses, I chose to dig and backfill myself so my total was $9,415. A large chunk of the expense was from Toronto Hydro. Maybe you will get lucky with Alectra. I did a little write up on the process on my DIY thread

TLSRULZ wrote: ↑ How can this be verified ?.. I have big and small pipe as you say.. yet Alectra told me I'm only 125A.

The size of the pipe will give you a good guess about what kind of wires is inside but there is no way to know for sure. The only people that can tell you for sure is Alectra. If they say you can only do 125A, then you probably have 3/0 Aluminum wires (which is rated up to 175A). The difference between the 3/0 wire and 4/0 is very minimal, most of us would not be able to tell the difference unless you are an electrician.

Also, are you sure you only need to dig 2' deep? most of Ontario require 800mm depth of cover on soft surface and 1000mm under driveways. So that means, if you are running a 4" (100mm) PVC pipe with 6" (152mm) worth of gravel. The total depth of the trench need to be a minimum of 1,052mm (41-1/2") to 1,252mm (50")

Finally, I don't think you can simply "fish" the new wires through the existence pipe that is already in the ground. Most builders just do "direct" wire burial without the pipes to cut on costs.

PCShutters wrote: ↑ I just went through this exact process recently and I can tell you that $6400 is VERY reasonable and I doubt you will be able to get it for that price. I know Alectra doesn't charge a $700 fee for disconnect and re-energize but I am sure they will charge you for city plans, design and run a new 4/0AL triplex service wire from the transformer to your meter.

I had to dig my own trench and it took me two weeks worth of weeknights and Sundays to dig 14m x 1.2m deep. It was very labour intensive. Here is my price breakdown for the entire project:

Honestly, that would be a nightmare for me. $12k+? I guess if you need it, you have no choice (and I've seen your threads... wow do you a fancy setup!!!!)

I noticed you went for 400amp service though. Hoping that this was the reason you had to do all the extra work and pay all the extra costs (vs. only needing 200amps). I'm still seeing a bunch of people in this thread quote $2-3k though. Which is what Im fine with.

Obviously I dont want to dig a trench to do the upgrade, and I'm really hoping theres some pvc pipe that's already underground where the electrical conduit is between the meter and the inside panel (so no digging is needed). Also praying that my meter is already getting 200amps, it's just only 100amps from meter to panel.