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A service upgrade isn’t the same job as swapping out a panel. It’s upgrading the whole path that brings power into your house (the meter base, the service entrance cable or mast, and the main disconnect) so the home can actually carry more amperage than it was originally built for. If you’re going from 100-amp service to 200-amp, this is the work that makes that number real, not just a bigger box on the wall.

What Counts as a Service Upgrade?

Your electrical service is everything between the utility’s wires and the point where power enters your panel: the weatherhead, the service entrance cable or mast running down the side of the house, the meter base the utility reads, and the main disconnect that shuts everything off. When we upgrade service, we’re resizing all of it to match a higher amperage: typically 100 amps up to 200, though some larger homes or shops need more. This is different from a straight panel upgrade, which can mean replacing an old or unsafe panel with a new one at the same amperage. A panel-only swap fixes a failing or outdated panel. A service upgrade increases how much power can reach your house in the first place. You often need both done together, but they’re not automatically the same project.

When Do You Actually Need One?

Most Fort Worth homes built through the 1970s and 80s were wired for 60 or 100 amps, which was plenty for a house with gas heat and a handful of appliances. It stops being enough once you start stacking modern loads on top of that original design:

• Installing a Level 2 EV charger, which by itself can eat a large share of a 100-amp panel’s capacity
• Adding a heat pump or converting from gas to electric heat and air
• A home addition, converted garage, or finished workshop with its own circuits
• A whole-home generator, which needs to be sized against your existing service
• A kitchen remodel adding an electric range, larger microwave, and multiple dedicated circuits at once

Our guide on 100-amp vs. 200-amp panel walks through how to tell which side of that line your home is on.

How Do You Know If You Need 100 or 200 Amps?

It comes down to a load calculation: adding up what your home actually draws, or plans to draw, against what the service can safely deliver. A licensed electrician runs these numbers instead of guessing based on the panel’s age or a rule of thumb. We look at your existing appliances, your HVAC system, and anything you’re planning to add in the next few years, since it’s a lot cheaper to size the service correctly once than to upgrade again in five years because an EV charger or generator wasn’t part of the original plan.

Oncor Coordination: What’s Involved

Most of Fort Worth is served by Oncor, and a service upgrade almost always requires coordinating with them. The service drop, the poles, and the meter itself are Oncor’s equipment; everything from the weatherhead and meter base inward is the homeowner’s side. On a service upgrade day, we typically need Oncor to disconnect power at the meter before we can safely work on the service entrance and meter base, and then schedule the reconnect once our work passes inspection. That coordination adds a step to the timeline that a simple panel swap doesn’t have, and we handle the scheduling as part of the job so you’re not the one on hold with the utility.

Permits and Inspection

A service upgrade requires a permit in Fort Worth, and for good reason. This is the point in your home’s electrical system where a mistake has the most consequences. We pull the permit, do the work to the National Electrical Code, and get it inspected before Oncor reconnects power. That inspection record is also what your insurance company and any future buyer will want to see if the question of your home’s electrical capacity ever comes up.

What the Job Looks Like

We start with a load calculation and a look at your existing service equipment, then quote the full scope: new meter base, service entrance cable or mast, main disconnect, and panel if it needs to be replaced or upgraded alongside it. Once the permit’s pulled and Oncor has scheduled the disconnect, the physical work on a straightforward upgrade is usually a single day, with the reconnect and final inspection following shortly after. We walk you through the whole sequence up front so there are no surprises about why the power has to go out on install day.

Flat-Rate Pricing

We quote service upgrades flat-rate after the load calculation and site visit, not by the hour. One number, covering the equipment, the permit, and the Oncor coordination, before any work starts.

Not sure if your home needs a service upgrade or just a panel swap? Call (817) 533-0943 or contact us online and we’ll walk through it with you.