Service upgrades
When a building outgrows its service, we handle the utility application, the gear, the shutdown plan and the switchover, with the outage measured in hours and announced weeks ahead.
A service upgrade is mostly planning. The electrical part takes a day; the utility application, the gear lead time and the shutdown sequence take weeks, and that is where owners get burned. We open the SRP or APS case the week we are awarded and manage it to the energize date.
Switchgear is submitted with the utility-approved meter section and the available fault current calculated. We size feeders and overcurrent protection from the load study, not from the old gear, and the short-circuit and coordination study is included on anything 1200A and up.
The shutdown
We write a shutdown plan with a time-stamped sequence and a rollback. The owner sees it two weeks out. Temporary power for life safety and IT is in place before the old gear comes offline. Most 800A changeovers are back on in under six hours.
Load studies first
If the building might not need a bigger service, we say so. A 30-day load study on the existing gear costs a fraction of new switchgear and has talked three owners out of an upgrade they did not need.
What happens, in order.
So you know what to expect from the first call to the last walk.
Load study and utility case
Thirty-day metering where it is useful; utility application opened the week of award.
Engineering and submittals
Fault current, feeder sizing, coordination study on 1200A+, gear submitted with the utility meter section.
Shutdown plan
Sequenced, time-stamped, with rollback and temporary power. Delivered to the owner two weeks out.
Changeover and energize
Old gear out, new gear set and terminated, utility inspection, energize, torque and thermal check at 30 days.
The numbers a buyer asks for.
| Service range | 400A to 4000A |
| Voltages | 120/208V, 277/480V, 12.47kV primary with utility |
| Utilities | SRP, APS |
| Typical outage | 4–8 hours for 400–1200A |
| Studies | Short-circuit and coordination included at 1200A+ |
| Lead times | Gear 10–30 weeks; we manage it |
Questions about service upgrades.
How long is the building without power?
For a 400A to 1200A changeover, usually four to eight hours, scheduled on a weekend or overnight. Critical loads stay on temporary power throughout.
Can you handle the utility paperwork?
Yes, start to finish. We have done more than a hundred SRP and APS service cases and know the inspectors.
Do we need a bigger service or just more panels?
Often the latter. We will meter the existing service for 30 days before recommending gear. If the service is fine, we say so.
Need service upgrades? Tell us about the job.
Ray or a project manager replies the same business day with a date for the number.