Electrical Service Upgrades in North Andover, MA
A lot of North Andover’s housing stock, from the colonials near the town common to the split-levels off Route 125, was built with 60 or 100 amp electrical service. That was fine when the house had a furnace, a stove, and maybe a window air conditioner. It is not fine once you add central air, an induction range, a heat pump, and an EV in the driveway. The wire coming from the pole was never sized for the house you actually live in now.
Why North Andover Homes Need This
North Andover sits at the western edge of the area we cover out of Salem, and the housing here reflects a town that has been building and rebuilding for a long time. You’ve got historic center homes from before the 1950s, a wave of post-war colonials and capes, and newer construction out toward the Boxford line. The remodel demand here is real – additions, finished basements, kitchen overhauls – and that demand is exactly what pushes an old electrical service past its limit.
Homes from the older end of that spectrum can still have cloth-insulated wiring or knob and tube in sections that were never touched during a remodel. Some still run on a 60 amp service with a fuse box, which was standard decades ago and is undersized for almost any modern household. It’s also common to find Federal Pacific Stab-Lok or Zinsco panels in houses that haven’t been updated since the original build – both are known for breakers that fail to trip when they should, and both come up regularly in North Andover inspections and insurance reviews.
A 100 to 200 amp service upgrade addresses the capacity question at the root – the wire size coming in, the meter, and the panel that everything downstream depends on.
What the Work Involves
A service upgrade touches both utility equipment and your home’s electrical system, so the work is split between two parties. Your utility owns the transformer and the line coming to the house. Brandon’s crew handles the mast, the meter socket, the service entrance cable, and the panel itself. Coordinating those two pieces correctly is most of the job.
On the day of the upgrade, the utility disconnects power at the transformer or pole before any work starts on the house side. The old mast, weatherhead, and meter socket usually come down and get replaced with new equipment sized for 100, 150, or 200 amps depending on what the house needs. The panel gets swapped for a new one with enough breaker capacity for your current load plus room to grow – EV charger, heat pump, hot tub, whatever’s next. Once the new equipment is in and inspected, the utility reconnects and resets the meter.
Power is typically out for most of the working day, not just an hour or two, because the utility has to schedule its own disconnect and reconnect around the electrician’s timeline. We tell North Andover customers to plan around a full day without power rather than expecting a quick swap.
What It Costs
A straightforward 100 amp to 200 amp upgrade in North Andover generally runs {PRICE_LOW} to {PRICE_HIGH}. Where you land in that range depends on a few things: whether the mast and weatherhead need full replacement, how far the panel is from the service entrance point, whether the meter location is moving, and whether the utility requires trenching for an underground service versus a straightforward overhead swap. Older homes with knob and tube still active in parts of the house sometimes need additional work to bring circuits up to code once the new panel goes in, which is a separate conversation from the service upgrade itself.
Brandon walks the property, looks at the existing mast and panel, and gives you a number before anything is scheduled. No guessing after the fact.
How Long It Takes
The upgrade itself is usually a single day of on-site work, assuming the utility can meet the disconnect and reconnect schedule. What varies more is the lead time before that day. The utility needs advance notice to schedule the disconnect, and in some cases they need to inspect the new service point before approving reconnection. In North Andover, because we’re coming from Salem, we build the utility’s scheduling window into the plan up front rather than promising a same-week turnaround we can’t guarantee on their end.
Permits and Inspection
Electrical service upgrades require a permit in Massachusetts, full stop. Brandon pulls the permit, the town’s electrical inspector signs off on the new panel and service entrance before the utility gives final approval to energize it, and you get a paper trail showing the work was done to code. [EXTERNAL LINK: Massachusetts electrical code and permitting requirements, Mass.gov – Board of State Examiners of Electricians] That inspection step is the difference between hiring a licensed electrician and hiring someone with a truck and a toolbox. Skipped permits and unpermitted panel swaps are common enough on the North Shore that home inspectors flag them constantly during resale – it’s not worth the risk on a system that carries every amp your house uses.
Common Questions
Do I need a permit for an electrical service upgrade in North Andover?
Yes. Massachusetts requires a permit and inspection for any service upgrade. Brandon pulls the permit and schedules the town inspector before the utility reconnects power.
How do I know if my house needs 100 or 200 amp service?
It depends on what you're running now and what you're adding. A house with electric heat, an EV charger, or central air usually needs 200 amp service. A smaller home without heavy electric loads may be fine at 100 amp. Brandon can calculate your actual load during the visit.
Will I lose power during the upgrade?
Yes, for most of the day. The utility has to disconnect service at the pole or transformer before work starts and reconnect it after inspection, so plan around a full day without electricity rather than a quick outage.
What if my panel is a Federal Pacific Stab-Lok or Zinsco?
Those panels are known for breakers that don't trip reliably, which is a safety issue independent of amperage. If you have one, replacing it is worth doing regardless of whether you're also increasing your amp capacity – ask Brandon about panel replacement specifically.
Does Belfiore work on older North Andover homes with knob and tube wiring?
Yes. It's common in the town's older housing stock. A service upgrade addresses the incoming capacity; any remaining knob and tube or cloth wiring on individual circuits is a separate scope we can quote alongside it.
Reach Out for Electrical Service Upgrades
If your North Andover home is still running on 60 or 100 amps and you’re planning an addition, a heat pump, or an EV charger, call {PHONE} and describe what you’ve got. We’ll get a visit scheduled, take a look at the existing service, and give you a clear plan for the upgrade – permit, utility coordination, and all.
Contact information
Talk to Brandon
Brandon is the electrician half of Belfiore. He left union work to run the electrical side of the family business, and service upgrades are some of the most consequential work he does – get the amperage and the panel right and everything downstream, from your kitchen circuits to your EV charger, has room to work properly. He’ll look at your mast, your panel, and your utility connection and tell you straight what size service actually fits your house, not an upsell.