Planning to Upgrade Your Electrical Panel? Be Sure to Contact VEC Ahead of Time
If you’re planning to upgrade your electrical panel to accommodate more power, or “load” at your property, please be sure to call VEC before taking any action. You might be unwittingly incurring extra costs for an upgraded service transformer by increasing your electric usage.
“An upgrade to your electric panel may seem like a simple change that has no effect on your electric utility, but this upgrade can have potentially expensive implications if the transformer serving your property needs to also be upgraded to handle the new load,” said VEC’s System Engineer Paul Pikna. “This doesn’t mean that VEC can’t support the additional load. What it does mean is that it’s a good idea for members to contact VEC so both parties understand the implications of upgrading your panel.”
Depending on what additional load you anticipate putting on your home’s electrical panel (cold climate heat pumps are a great example) it is possible that both your electric panel and the service transformer would need to be increased in size. Transformers are the large cannister-like devices on utility poles (or sometimes they’re in green boxes on the ground) that drop electricity voltage levels so electricity is suitable for use in a home or business.
Transformers can serve one, or a few different services depending upon the situation, and need to be sized appropriately for the expected load. There isn’t a one-size-fits all transformer and if a transformer is overloaded for an extended period of time, it can fail causing interruptions to electric service and additional costs to replace.
“If you are planning to upgrade your electric panel, please contact us to determine whether a new transformer would also be required,” Pikna said. “We want to avoid surprises for our members and at the same time keep the transformers across our system sized appropriately. This is all possible by having a quick conversation with VEC during the planning process of upgrading electric panels,” he said. If you have questions about a system upgrade at your home or business, you can find information at vermontelectric.coop. Click on “Electric Service & System, then “Getting or Changing Service.” You can also email Paul Pikna directly at [email protected].