Brian FreemanElectric Meter Questions for a Custom Home & ADU
If you’re getting ready to build a custom home and you want to also build an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), but in the future. One of the questions that is really common is trying to find out the electrical situation. So how am I going to get power to my house? How am I gonna get power to the ADU later and how can you set yourself up to make it a lot easier when you add on or actually build the ADU, be it detached or attached?
200 AMP Meter versus 400 AMP Meter
What SDG&E, San Diego Gas and Electric, will allow you to do is on the new home, the primary residence you’re getting ready to bill is they will allow you to put a 400 AMP electrical service on the side of the house. So typically you would put a 200 AMP service if it services a single family residence only. If you had a large barn or other needs for more electrical needs, you could put a 400 AMP and then go off of that into other locations, but typically for a single family residence 200 AMP’s no problem and will get the job done.
Dual Electric Meters for a Custom Home & ADU
On a new service for a new home, with a potential for an Accessory Dwelling Unit, put a 400 AMP panel on the house. So from wherever the source is out of your underground or overhead for SDG&E, they’ll drop to that location or go underground with wire to your new 400 AMP panel. The difference is that a 400 AMP panel needs to be a dual meter. So they will allow you to have a meter for the house and a meter for the future ADU. They won’t set the meter for the Accessory Dwelling Unit yet but they’ll set the one for the house and then just blank off the other for the future Accessory Dwelling Unit.
How Freeman’s Construction Inc. Can Help
What Freeman’s Construction Inc will do is we’ll actually connect that panel and run a sweep out from the slab and just sweep and stub it out in the dirt and then tape off the end of that so it’s ready to go for tie on later. Then all you will have to do is trench to the new location for the ADU and then get the wire poled and have your electrician put in a sub panel on the Accessory Dwelling Unit that will then get the power inside the unit. Doing this will save you a lot of headaches with not having to re-tie everything back in when you decide to build the ADU.
Costs for a Dual Electric Meter
To go from a 200 AMP panel to a 400 AMP panel is somewhere in the range of about $3,000 to upgrade to that panel initially, and then you’re done. So definitely worth the money and effort to get that done.
San Diego County Custom Homes & ADU’s
I hope this helps you understand a little bit of how you can set up an electrical panel for a future ADU. If you have more questions please take a look at our website. We have a ton of resources. Pricing and floor plan for Home Remodeling, Custom Homes and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). Also, feel free to reach out to us. We’d love to talk to you and see how we can help you. Have a great day and thanks for your time!
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