Panel Upgrade 100A → 200A in Thorold

You get a written price covering labour, the panel and breakers, and the ESA fee before any work starts, and it does not change afterwards. The number depends on what is actually behind the wall: whether the meter base and service mast also need replacing, how far the panel sits from the entry point, and whether old circuits have to be brought up to code as they are transferred. That is why an electrician assesses the service in person instead of quoting blind over the phone.

Most upgrades are a single working day, with the supply off for the bulk of it rather than for days. We give you the window in advance so you can plan around the fridge, a home office or anyone working shifts. Every circuit is transferred, tested and labelled before the power goes back on, so nobody is left guessing which breaker feeds the basement afterwards.

Not always, and this is the question that decides the whole budget. A free slot in the panel is not the same as spare capacity. We run a load calculation on the existing service first: many 200A panels take a Level 2 charger as is, plenty of 100A services manage with a reduced amperage setting or a load management device, and a 60A service almost always needs upgrading. Skipping that calculation is the usual reason a new charger starts tripping a few weeks in.

Urgent enough that people usually discover it at the worst moment — at renewal, or days before closing on a sale. Ontario insurers regularly load or refuse policies over fuse boxes, 60-amp services, knob-and-tube and aluminum wiring. An upgrade to 200A with an ESA certificate is the documentation they accept, and the same certificate is what a buyer's lawyer will ask for later.

We do. Our electricians are ECRA/ESA licensed and insured, we file the notification, meet the inspector on site and arrange the disconnect and reconnect with the utility. You are not the one chasing those calls. The certificate is handed to you at closeout — undocumented panel work is exactly the part homeowners regret later.

Yes, and doing both together is usually cheaper than two separate visits. A subpanel fed from the new 200A service gives a detached garage, workshop or addition its own circuits without running extension cords across the yard. We size it against the load calculation so the shop, a welder or a future EV charger all have room rather than competing for the same capacity.