Why did SDG&E quote such a high price for the service upgrade?
Was there a long easement through which larger cable would have to be pulled?
I had to pay for a transformer and my costs were still under $2000 to the utility with 100′ feet of cable from the pole to my panel included. When I put in an additional 200Amp panel for the rental , the larger diameter 100′ replacement feeder cable was free.[/quote]
Is yours above-ground? In our case, they only had to trench about 20-30 feet. There’s a sidewalk there, so maybe that was part of the problem? I was surprised about the cost, too. Based on what Hobie has posted, I think we’ll look into it again.[/quote]
Yes we have a pole at the property line. Sounds like the conduit they had underground was too small or else there was direct burial type cable that was too small(I don’t think they do that really…but it’s possible. Could you find a neighbor who had a service panel upgrade done and ask what the process was?
For 3O feet, that sounds really high. Maybe see if you can contract out the trench and any new conduit and have them pull the cable to your service.[/quote]
Yes, I believe this was the case. I don’t think our neighbors have had this done, but will ask around. Most of the people here are old-timers who’ve not done too much in the way of major additions/renovations.
We still want solar, so might check it out again when/if this comes up.
[quote=Hobie]CAR: The trenching is the reason for the $$. City permits, marking out, working around existing utilitys add to cost. If you had underground conduit sized accordingly for the new service, cheaper or free new wire upgrade to the meter, me thinks.
More $$ if drop is from overhead pole supplied by undersized xformer as Blog mentioned.[/quote]
That makes sense. I guess you had above-ground lines, too? Lucky! 🙂
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