Natan Electric
Panel Upgrades & Service Changes
Service panel upgrades driven by an actual load calculation — permitted, inspected, with the PG&E meter coordination handled.
Licensed & insured
Permitted, inspection-ready work
Warranty
1-year warranty on all work
Response
24/7 emergency dispatch
Experience
16 years in the trade
Panel work is where we most often talk a customer out of the larger job, because the honest answer is frequently smaller than expected.
It starts with a load calculation against your actual connected loads and the load you want to add. Sometimes the result is that you have room and need nothing. Sometimes a load-management device or a reduced EV charge rate solves it for a fraction of the cost. Sometimes you genuinely need the upgrade — and then you need it properly, with the service entrance, meter base and grounding brought up with it rather than a new panel bolted onto old infrastructure.
One piece of advice that saves real money: if you expect to electrify over the next few years — EV charger, heat-pump water heater, heat pump for heating — have the calculation done once, for the end state. Homeowners who solve each appliance as it arrives routinely pay for electrical work three separate times, and sometimes pay to undo the first round.
Permits, inspection and the utility coordination are part of the job, not homework we hand back to you.
Load calculation first. We quote against the result, not against a guess.
Common questions
- How do I know if I need a panel upgrade?
- A load calculation, not the number on the panel. Two identical 100A services can give opposite answers depending on whether the house has gas or electric cooking, heating and drying. Anyone quoting an upgrade without doing one is guessing.
- Can I add an EV charger to a 100A panel?
- Frequently, yes. If the house still has gas heat, cooking and drying, there's often headroom — and a lower charge rate or a load-management device can solve many of the remaining cases far more cheaply than a service upgrade.
- How long does the work take and will the power be off?
- Most residential service changes are a day, with a planned outage while the work and the meter swap happen. We schedule the inspection and the PG&E coordination so those line up, because that sequencing is where these jobs usually stall.
- Are some old panels unsafe regardless of capacity?
- Yes. Certain mid-century panel types have documented breaker failure problems and are worth replacing on safety grounds alone, independent of whether you need more capacity. We'll tell you if that's what you have.
Where we do this work
Need this done today?
Call +1 (925) 470-6006