Electrical Panel Upgrades Toronto
Electrical Panel Upgrades Toronto
Toronto · Panel & Service Upgrades
Service and panel upgrades for Toronto homes — done around Toronto Hydro's rules, not in spite of them, with the utility scheduling handled for you.
A panel upgrade in Toronto is three organisations working in sequence: us, the Electrical Safety Authority, and Toronto Hydro. Most of the frustration homeowners describe comes from not knowing which one is holding things up. We file, schedule and coordinate all of it, and we tell you at the outset where the weeks actually go.
Pre-war Toronto houses still running fuses or a 60-amp service have run out of road. This is the job that fixes it.
The standard upgrade, and what most Toronto homes need once a charger, a heat pump or a renovation enters the picture.
Where the service size genuinely suits the house, a like-for-like panel swap gets you a modern format without involving the utility.
We file the ESA notification, submit the service layout to Toronto Hydro and schedule the isolation. You are not chasing anyone.
Three Toronto-specific constraints decide the scope of this job more than anything inside your basement.
Toronto Hydro caps overhead residential services at 200 amps. If your house needs more, the service goes underground and the civil work — trenching, conduit, restoration — comes with it. That is the single biggest fork in a Toronto upgrade.
A great many older Toronto houses still have the meter in a basement or vestibule. On upgrade it must be relocated outdoors, which adds exterior work and patching that owners rarely expect.
Toronto Hydro schedules the isolation, and that wait is typically the longest item in the project by a wide margin. Filing early is the only real lever, and we file as soon as the scope is agreed.
We size the service to what the house actually needs, including anything you are planning — charger, heat pump, addition — so it is done once.
Notification filed under our licence and the service layout submitted. This is where the clock starts, so we do not sit on it.
Service entrance, meter base and panel replaced and circuits transferred, ESA inspection, then Toronto Hydro reconnects.
We handle panel and service upgrades right across Toronto. If your street is not listed, it almost certainly still counts — see the service in full or take a look at our Toronto electricians page.
Six to eight weeks end to end is realistic, and the great majority of that is Toronto Hydro scheduling the isolation rather than work at your house. The physical work is typically a single day. Anyone quoting a two-week turnaround is describing the labour, not the process.
You need an ESA notification, not a City of Toronto electrical permit — electrical work in Ontario is regulated by the Electrical Safety Authority. We file it under our licence, ECRA/ESA 7014949. Toronto Hydro will not energise the service until the ESA has authorised it.
Not on an overhead service. Toronto Hydro caps overhead residential at 200 amps, so anything larger has to be supplied underground with the customer paying the civil work. It is worth establishing early whether your plans actually require crossing that threshold.
If it is currently indoors, yes. An indoor meter must be relocated outdoors as part of a service upgrade. It is one of the most common surprises on older Toronto homes, so we identify it at the assessment rather than on the day.
Partly genuine Code change. The Section 10 rewrite means the neutral is grounded at one location only, and ESA stopped accepting meter-base bonding through the neutral in October 2025, so a current service entrance involves work an older one did not.
What drives the price, with the real ESA fee and the utility charge that is a myth. Worth reading: 100-amp vs 200-amp service, fuse box vs breaker panel and standby generator installation.
Read the guide →Old wiring can legally stay under three conditions. Insurance is the real constraint.
Read the guide →The rebate pays for the heat pump and nothing for the electrical work it needs.
Read the guide →Also in Toronto: EV charger installation. Nearby areas: YorkEast YorkEtobicoke — or see every area we cover on our service areas page.
We handle the ESA filing and the Toronto Hydro scheduling. You get one point of contact.