Upgrade Svc., Overhead; Bill vs. Estimate Question

Rpsjr

Appreciate any help with this.

Background:

- new to us old house, got three quotes for an upgrade to 200A service plus addition of three new circuits in conduit with receptacles (Chicago area, conduit is code in just about every town around, I have no issue with that);

- existing service to house was overhead, opted to keep it overhead and not bury it;

- the quote says, exactly: "Installation of a 200 amp 240 volt overhead electric service complete with riser, outdoor meter socket with a 200 amp disconnect, 40 position circuit breaker type distribution panel..." etc.;

I understood from discussing the work with the contractor we chose that install overhead service meant to include the work and materials needed to upgrade the line coming from the pole at the alley to the house to handle 200A capacity; paid 50% down on quote;

- the morning the boss and tech show up for the work, boss says we already have a 200A overhead, which I seem to recall the home inspector mentioning months ago before the closing (makes sense because the overhead runs to a single room addition put on several years ago), but boss was the guy who came to the house to quote the job in the first place, didn't mention anything about the existing overhead capacity at the time;

- the work gets done, seems fine; tech left without going over anything with us but whatever.

Final bill matches the quote to the dollar. There is no indication that there were any surprises during the work.

Since the quote says installation of overhead service and they didn't need to replace the overhead lines from the pole I think the final bill should be lower than the quote. The distance from the pole to the riser is about 40 feet.

Should I expect from the wording in the quote that the final bill should be lower than the quote because they didn't have to touch the existing overhead?

About how much lower?

We didn't go with the lowest quote, didn't beat him up on price and the total bill is quite a pretty penny, so I think he would be making good money either way.

I know there is no way for someone to tell me an exact dollar figure here based on a blog post, but I'd like to get some kind of idea so I can start my conversation about the final bill.

Thanks for any help out there.

joecaption

Not sure how it works there, but around here the power company is responsable for running any wires from the pole to the meter socket in a residental home.

rjniles

+1

Most areas that I am familiar with the POCO provides the overhead drop for the pole to the customers weather head. Your electrician's quote proveded for upgrading the meter socket, conduit and cable up to the weather head.

Even if the service drop had to be replaced it would not have cost you more. And since it didn't it does not cost less.

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k_buz

The overhead lines to the house would be called "the drop". That is not in the wording of the quote and like what has already been said, that is usually the POCO's responsibility. EC's are not normally allowed to touch that period.

kbsparky

YOU got what you bargained for, don't complain! When they prepared the estimate, they already figured that those wires would not have to replaced by them....

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Speedy Petey

I agree with all the others. I have NEVER heard of an area where the overhead drop was the customer/contractor responsibility.

It always belongs to the POCO and they repair/replace/install at their own discretion.

The term "overhead service" refers to the fact that the service enters from over head as opposed to underground.
On the contrary, with an underground service the service lateral (cable from the POCO transformer) is typically customer supplied and owned.

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ddawg16

Likewise from me.....I upgraded my service from 60A to 200A 11 years ago.....I provided a new weatherhead with the right wire in it...power company did the rest.

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