Local professional electricians such as Peterson Electric are licensed and experienced, able to complete your electrical project in alignment with electrical compliance in Fort Collins and other Northern Colorado cities. Not only do they know the proper procedure for upgrading your residential electrical service, they know the potential costs and risks associated with the complicated process.

While many homeowners balk at the prices involved in their service change, leading them to attempt to make the upgrade themselves, it’s not advisable to take on a project of this magnitude on your own. The cost of hiring a professional to make sure your electrical service upgrade is done right the first time vastly outweighs the costs that could arise from common mistakes made during the process.

Most homes have one meter for the property. Most properties with multiple structures split off their electrical power from one meter, with a few exceptions. Typically, homeowners want to upgrade their amps from less than 100 to over 100 or 200 amps, providing better electrical capabilities and more options for further interior upgrades.

The problems homeowners run into when trying to make this upgrade themselves include falling short of city and county regulations, safety risks, and ultimately having to deal with unexpected costs.

Here are a few reasons why upgrading your residential electrical service requires the professional touch of an electrician:

Safety

Simply put, electricity is dangerous. If you’re planning on performing any electrical work other than replacing a lightbulb or setting up a power strip, it’s usually a good idea to hire a professional electrician. Professionals know how to protect themselves and you from electrical shocks and other hazards.

Residential upgrades are complicated and involve a high amount of electricity. An upgrade often means a new meter box and a completely new meter wiring setup. You can find ways to install the ‘big box’ meter cans online, but installing them properly takes experience and know-how. Unless you happen to be a professional electrician, too, you’re taking a risk by trying to set up a new meter can on your own.

Regulations

Some Northern Colorado cities require homeowners to take tests before they allow them to upgrade their electrical service and install new meters to help ensure their safety when undertaking this task, but others don’t. There are also specific regulations for how meters should be set up and wired for residences. While electricians are well-versed in the many changing laws and regulations for residences in various counties and cities around the state, trying to pour through these regulations yourself without the experience and training behind your belt may not be enough.

For example, all meter boxes need to be properly secured to the structure on which they’re housed. If you’re replacing your meter box yourself and you get a larger box than the one you had before, you’ll need to secure it differently than it was before the upgrade. So if you installed a larger meter box supplying your home with 200 amps, you’ll likely need a strap coming up from the conduit to avoid letting the meter box bend away from the structure. A small detail, but infractions like this lead to costly fines and even costlier damage.

Cost

Safety hazards are concerning, but what all those tricky regulations really amount to is cost. If done improperly, upgrading your residential electrical service can cause outages, fines, and costly repairs.

The cost of upgrading your electrical service by yourself is high before you run into potential regulation violations and added fees to correct improper work. Depending on where you live in Northern Colorado, the equipment you’ll need to upgrade your electrical service will cost a few hundred dollars for starters. That doesn’t include possible permit fees and unexpected costs.

The cost of hiring a professional is more than a DIY job, but at least that cost is predictable. If you install and upgrade your service yourself, you could save several hundred dollars initially. However, there could be additional costs lurking in the future because you made a small mistake installing your new meter box.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that hiring a professional electrician to upgrade your home service is always better than trying to do the upgrade yourself for a variety of reasons. You’ll be safe from harm during the install, and you won’t be surprised with damage and costs in the future.

Ready to hire a professional electrician for your electrical service in Northern Colorado? Give us a call 970-599-1872.