San francisco 200a upgrade

[jeff4040]

I'm in the process of upgrading my PG&E service from 100a to 200a in the city of SF.

PG&E wants us to move the electrical meter from the inside of the garage to the outside of the house.

The problem is, there is not any space on our 23' front lot within the required distances between gas and electric meters and with the necessary access space.

I rarely see any single family home with an electrical meter on the outside. Usually just a gas meter.

Has anyone been able to upgrade from 100a->200a service in san francisco without having to completely rebuild the front of their home?

thanks in advance

 

[jeff4040]

Er, I meant I rarely ever see any single family home in SF with an electrical meter on the outside !

 

[miimura]

I think it's relatively common to have the meter and main panel recessed in framed cavity in the outer wall with a door covered with siding similar to the rest of the building. So, it's not as obvious as my suburban house which has the main panel flush mounted in stucco.

 

[pmccut]

This is above ground service right? Where do the service wires enter the house? Is the meter inside your garage?? I've never seen that...but I'm in Suburbia as well.

I assume they would want the meter panel the required 3' away in any direction (I think) from the gas meter, but service wires can enter from wherever and feed into the outdoor meter somewhere else, then feed the panel in your garage...that seems common.

If underground wiring, good luck. I'm almost 1 year into my 100->200A upgrade request with PG&E. Can give more deets on that if you're in the same situation.

 

[jeff4040]

This is underground service coming in... we're going to have to trench it from the street junction box.

SF the city is a bit unique because generally lots are only 25' wide. With a 8'-10' garage and 4' for the entrance door/stairs, there really isn't much area exposed to put both a gas and electric meter. I think historically everyone just kept the gas meter outside and electric inside.

Since this isnt a like for like exchange, we gotta follow the newly enforced rules :-( Not only is there no suitable space because of an existing gas meter, if we dug up the gas meter and reconfigured the entire facade, it would look really ugly.

I see a lot of renovated houses in SF and almost never electrical meters out front. If all the single family homes in SF go all in on electric, imagine how ugly some of these properties would look! Like a painted lady with an electrical meter slapped on the outside.

 

[pmccut]

Ah okay that makes some sense. I'm in the same boat with underground service but not in SF. I started my request with PG&E about a year ago to get this upgraded. House built in 70s, direct-burial of service lines, no conduit. Electric meter is right above the gas meter, so one of them needs to move.

// rant
One of the PG&E reps came out and gave me the initial estimate, '30-40k for trenching' (doesn't include meter panel or subpanel upgrade), but to get a real estimate it would take 3-4 months and an 'engineering advance' of ~$1500 to find out the real costs. I told him I still wanted to proceed, and he gave me an alternate option of upgrading the 100A meter/panel to 125A (new panel, same location, same wires) which PG&E would allow under the 'like for like' rule. I talked with him for awhile about this, because I know it does not fall under those rules - but he assured me it would be allowed and would pass city inspections. I was definitely told this was not an option up to this point. So if you press them they might allow this if you just need a little more capacity.

6+ months in I finally get the cost and it's a lot lower than 30-40k but still quite expensive. Permits are done, now waiting to demolish the 30ft of concrete on the side of my house and rip up the street. I expect this to take another 3-5 months to complete with PG&E scheduling delays.

 

[miimura]

If you are doing a major renovation at the same time, I would suggest getting rid of the gas entirely. That will avoid the 3' separation issue.

 

[Jkwan]

Upgraded my panel from 100amp to 200amp in the Sunset and was able to keep it at its original location in the tradesman entrance. Also looks ugly on the outside with the conduit running down the front of your house.

 

[SFbayone]

Upgraded my panel from 100amp to 200amp in the Sunset and was able to keep it at its original location in the tradesman entrance. Also looks ugly on the outside with the conduit running down the front of your house.

How were you able to keep it in the tradesman entrance? I'm also in SF, looking to upgrade from 100 to 200, and the electrician tells me to get it done with a permit I'd have to move it outside.

 

[Jkwan]

I guess it depends on the electrician/contractor? I did mine back in 2014 with permits when I did a remodel and was never asked to put it outside. Every remodel/flip I see in SF they have electrical the panel is inside. Did you ask multiple electricians especially ones that are based in San Francisco? But for sure you will need to pull permits.