Panel & Service Upgrades in Vancouver

A surprising number of Vancouver houses are still on the service they were built with. Sixty amps was plenty for a 1940s character home and is not plenty for a heat pump, an EV charger, and a suite downstairs. We upgrade services and replace panels across the city, usually to 200 amps, with the permit and the BC Hydro coordination handled. Typical range is $4,000 to $6,000 depending on the service and the meter location.

Vancouver runs its own electrical permitting, so a service upgrade here is permitted and inspected by the City rather than Technical Safety BC. We pull that permit and book the BC Hydro disconnect and reconnect so the whole thing lands on one day.

What we handle in Vancouver

• 60A and 100A to 200A service upgrades, panel replacements
• Load calculation to size the service you actually need
• City of Vancouver permit and inspection handled
• Laneway house services and separate metering

This is the short version for Vancouver. The full rundown — process, pricing, and the technical detail — lives on the panel & service upgrades page.

Common questions in Vancouver

How long does a panel upgrade take in Vancouver?

The work itself is normally one day. Power goes off in the morning, BC Hydro reconnects in the afternoon once the City inspection passes. The permit and the Hydro booking ahead of that day take a couple of weeks.

Who issues the electrical permit for a service upgrade in Vancouver?

The City of Vancouver, not Technical Safety BC. Vancouver is one of the municipalities that handles its own electrical permits and inspections, and we take care of pulling and closing it.

My Vancouver character home still has knob-and-tube. Does that change the upgrade?

It changes the scope, not the panel work. Replacing the service gives the house a modern panel and grounding, but any knob-and-tube branch circuits behind the walls are still knob-and-tube. We tell you what we find and what it would take to deal with it, and a lot of people do the rewire in stages while rooms are open.