[matt151617]

Sometime before I purchased my house the panel was upgraded to 200 amps (years and years ago). However, looking at the overhead wires coming in from the pole, they look to be a significantly smaller gauge than the wires dropping into the meter base. Is this normal, or should I have my power company install new wire from the pole?

 

[rrolleston]

Yes it's normal POCO has their own rules and regulations as far as overhead aerial runs go.

 

[RAUL HIDALGO]

Most overhead wires will always be smaller sized than the wires at your service drop this die to the big electrical companies not being ruled by the national electrical code also. Since the wires are aluminum and suspended in the air they can carry a larger load

 

[Kyle_in_rure]

As others have said, overhead wires used by the POCO are usually smaller. If you look closely, you can see the size of the wires entering your service drop are larger than those coming from the transformer.

Nothing to worry about.

 

[rrolleston]

Only reason they installed larger size service wire for our home is that we were planning on electric heat and electric tankless water heater. Only time they replace the overhead wire in a service upgrade is if you give them a load calc that shows you will be using a lot more power. But I see many upgrades where people don't use much more than they did before the upgrade.