Dedicated Electrical Meter Cost

[GRivera]

As I wait for a yay or nay on the building permit for my 30x40 garage, I am trying to get an estimate on electrical hook up for it - at least 100 amp service. The garage will be opposite a private driveway from the main power transformer about 80 feet away. My house panel (200 amp) is about 250 feet away and on the other side of another driveway.

I figure I can either have Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) run a dedicated line and meter from transformer or I can upgrade my house panel to 300 amp and run a line out to a sub panel at detached garage. BGE will not provide any kind of estimate on dedicated service. I would have to put in a work order and have a site inspection after building is up.

Does anyone know the approximate cost for either of these choices?

 

[Stuart in MN]

It all depends on what kind of revenue your utility thinks they will get from the second meter over time (that is, if they'll even agree to a second meter.) There's no good way to estimate the cost for the install - it could be free, it could be thousands of dollars.

 

[ishiboo]

As Stuart said, it's VERY dependent on your utility. 80' around here I'm pretty sure would be free with our utility.

 

[pop pop]

Don't know cost and it won't matter what we estimate, it's their estimate.
Consider a larger (300amp) panel in the garage and feed the house from the garage?

 

[Kevin54]

When I looked into it, it was cost prohibitive. The power company told me to just tie into the house. Just the minimum monthly for the meter alone was close to $150/mo. Then the installation would have been a few thousand. They would have to put in another pole, another transformer, buried wire, and so on.

 

[GRivera]

Am I correct in assuming that dedicated service will require a separate meter?

 

[Orionrising]

yes.

 

[rnscustom]

Here I think it's one meter to a residence , garage would have to be a sub .

 

[GRivera]

When I looked into it, it was cost prohibitive. The power company told me to just tie into the house. Just the minimum monthly for the meter alone was close to $150/mo. Then the installation would have been a few thousand. They would have to put in another pole, another transformer, buried wire, and so on.

A monthly service charge of that magnitude would definitely be a deal breaker! I better get prepared to call an electrician for a house panel upgrade!

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Yep around here one company charges commercial rate if there isn't a house.

 

[gtr1999]

I bought my house back in August and the back garage has a separate 200 amp 240/120 vac service. There is a line pole about 1/2 way down the driveway to the meter head. Cost me $20 a month for the meter.

 

[theoldwizard1]

When I looked into it, it was cost prohibitive.

There is usually an exception for out buildings on a farm.

 

[bczygan]

So price out both ways with the utility, and the other onsite owner costs for each method.

You will then have your answer.

Bill

 

[GRivera]

So price out both ways with the utility, and the other onsite owner costs for each method.

You will then have your answer.

Bill

BGE takes a really long time to come out and provide a quote (months)

 

[tjdux]

BGE takes a really long time to come out and provide a quote (months)

Yeah they all seem that way. We wont tell you anything unless its a notice that your bill is past due.

Had similar issues as you when I upgraded my old house from a 60 amp (not kidding) to a 200 amp. Electrician told me i had to have the city run the new supply before he would do the new panel and city saod he had to do new panel and get it inspected by the state before they run new lines from the transformer.

Wound up just doing it myself from the meter down after waiting a year for guys to sort it out. Must have been well enough no fires yet after 3 years. Sorry to rant on your thread.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[brownbagg]

why do u need 300 amps on the house, what you running 7 hvac units

 

[buddyboy]

your house might not be using all 200 amps and are you sure you need 100 amps in your shop?

 

[CNGsaves]

Too little information . . . .
. . . a) this rural or city area ??
. . . b) buried or aerial PoCo feeder power ?? Now with house ?? Garage idea ??
. . . c) load calcs to support idea of 300A (see above) . . necessary ??
. . . d) any neighbors have similar setup with two meters ??
. . . e) what is their minimum fixed charge for the extra meter, even if no Kw's used ??

 

[GRivera]

This is R1 rural. The main house panel has some open slots (gotta count them). The power lines are buried underground. I already have a 60 amp sub panel for an inground swimming pool with a heat pump.

I'm not certain I will need 100 amps in detached garage. Aside from a 20 amp circuit for outlets and a 15 amp for lights, I intend to install a 2 post lift, a large 2 stage air compressor. Maybe down the road an in wall heat/AC unit.

My neighbors do not have separate service from their residences.

 

[54stude]

In twin cities Mn I have a second 200 amp meter on my garage, and it is $20 per month plus usage.


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[tallgrass1951]

When I did mine 2 years ago I had to provide the trench and underground conduit. The utility provided the wire and hooked the power at no charge. 200 amp service and minimum charge is $14.95/month.

 

[James-W]

Where I live, Wisconsin Electric will run up to 100 feet for free. The meter charge was $10 per month, but I think they raised it a buck or so. I am not positive of that, but I think they did.

You may as well have them run a 200 amp service instead of a 100 amp service. It is free either way so why settle for the lesser service? The monthly meter charge is the same for either service so the only real cost difference is for the electrical service panel. It is better to have more available power than you need than to have too little power when you need it.

 

[unslow1]

In twin cities Mn I have a second 200 amp meter on my garage, and it is $20 per month plus usage.


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I think here it's $18 and we have both houses set up that way. It's nice peace of mind to just be able to throw a main and shut off the garage completely if you want. It also alleviates the argument about who is running up the bill.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

No way to answer this unless someone else has done the same thing with the same PoCo...

 

[ard]

No way to answer this unless someone else has done the same thing with the same PoCo...

Please. No need to be rational... everyone wants to tell them what it cost them where they live. Why spoil the fun?


OP- it is hard to believe that you cannot force a public utility to provide rate and service info. Telling you to 'build it first then figure out electric service later' is retarded. I would find out what there process IS, then force them to follow that process- likely with written demands. If I wanted to screw with them. Where I live I know that a second meter is an non-starter.

Personally I would trench to the house, add a 90A sub, and live with that. If you need the house upgraded later you can do it. I would absolutely NOT upgrade the house to 300 becuase you thing 200+100 needs 300.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Yeah absent of load calcs, the OP has no idea what size service he NEEDS...

 

[tkendall1517]

As one who is regularly involved in doing load calcs for residences, it is amazing how much load a 200A panel will take. 3500 Sq ft house with 3 ac units and a detached garage shop and a pool usually comes in under 175A in the overheated sunny desert I live in. If you have open slots in your main panel, put a 100A breaker in there, bury conduit too the new shop. Even if they hook you up for free, most utilities charge a minimum of 15$/mo per service, and sometimes way more. Even at that a 15$ rate, that's 180/yr, 1800/decade just to pay for the privilege of having a second service. Unless your planning on trying to run a 4 employee metal or woodworking business out of your new shop, you will never trip a 100 a subpanel breaker or the 200 a main on the house.

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[BIG-BRO]

I am doing a separate meter on my detached garage here in New Hampshire this year. No prob with second service to separate building. Underground utilities on street. Utility is Eversource (formerly PSNH). They came out for a free site visit and I was very pleasantly surprised ! They will supply wire AND pull it to the building at NO cost. NO bill from the utility at all for install. I dig trench, and lay PVC ( they even had a full .pdf document on their website laying out all the requirements of depth, etc.). I have electrician hook up to meter.

Monthly rate and per/kWh rate is listed as "General" instead of "Residential" which is only slightly more (but certainly NOT "Commercial" - so don't let those responses necessarily scare you until you check your local utility). Didn't even have to call for tht info - all three sets of rates right on website.

 

[GRivera]

Thanks all. I called BGE about 2 weeks ago and the process is to fill out an on line service request, which I already started. The only selection for a detached garage is "commercial " -the rep said this is what one selects for a detached garage in R1 zone like mine.

She also said cost will not be estimated until a site visit is done and the only way to get the site visit is via the service request form. Because the building isn't up yet, I only partially filled out the online request.

Fwiw, my house also has a heat pump as NG is not available in our area.

I will speak with an electrician to get opinion and estimate on sub panel option as mentioned by tkendall.

 

[CNGsaves]

^ ^ ^ Sounds like now you know the process. Recommend you "grease the skids" with nicety . . . . . ie be on best behavier full of smiles, offering cold drink to on-site estimator, etc. Since you are rural, I'd guess your chances on low cost 2nd meter are good. However, that means you pay the "minimum" charge on 2nd meter FOREVER. The "customer charge" just to get a bill will surely be over $2,000 for a decade, if you plan on living in house that long.

For just 250 ft between detached garage and house with 200A service, I'd recommend instead OP that you price out the following:

...a) trenching the 250 ft at least 36" for 2" plastic electrical conduit
...b) boring costs (if any) to go under driveway
...c) wiring size considerations for 250 ft at 100A (likely could be less)
OPTIONS:...low cost single cable like Aluminum MHF (mobile home feeder)
.................Copper wire alternatives
...d) Load Calcs on real electrical demands you'd EVER have in detached shop

GJ sparky's could be VERY useful in helping you OP for item (c).

 

[ard]

Did you download and read the 312 page BG&E Electric Metering Manual to understand the rules the utility must follow (and that apply to you)??? Or did you just talk to the lady on the phone and assume she gave you the right answer (a second meter to a residential home detached garage must be "commercial")?

 

[American Locomotive]

I think you're overestimating how much power you need. To need 300 amp service to your house, you would have to be in a situation where you would definitely exceed 200 amps between your home and garage.

 

[GRivera]

Did you download and read the 312 page BG&E Electric Metering Manual to understand the rules the utility must follow (and that apply to you)??? Or did you just talk to the lady on the phone and assume she gave you the right answer (a second meter to a residential home detached garage must be "commercial")?

I only spoke with the lady but the service request form is extremely limited in options, making commercial only choice

 

[ard]

I only spoke with the lady but the service request form is extremely limited in options, making commercial only choice

So I gave the BG&E Metering manual a quick review.

http://www.bge.com/MyAccount/MyService/Documents/BGE Metering Manual_ Full Version.pdf

They seem to follow the same practices that many large utilities do- one meter/one service per parcel. From that document:

"Will not permit more than one meter on the same class of service in new construction or where building is being rewired"

If you keep insisting on "I want a second meter/service" the only way that will do that is to create a new 'class of service', AKA "commercial" on your lot.

Essentially the message this lady should have said is, "We do not permit more that one meter for a residential lot- the only way you can get a second meter is to create a 'commercial' designation on the second building. You should know that rates are higher, and the installation costs for commercial mean that you the commercial customer bears all the costs association with trenching, conduit, cabling, etc." (at least this is what I gleaned from the BG&E document)

As I said, I would plan on serving it from the house panel. You can upgrade the house if necessary. Wire the shop with a panel/wire/breaker that will meet the planned needs of the shop. 60A, 90A, 100A, whatever. I would not drop $5k on the house at this point. (what a professional might charge to upgrade to a 300+ A service)

 

[James-W]

I think you're overestimating how much power you need. To need 300 amp service to your house, you would have to be in a situation where you would definitely exceed 200 amps between your home and garage.

I agree that he may not need as much power as he thinks he needs. But the thing is, it does not hurt to have more power available than you need. I have never heard of anyone who complained about having too much power available. On the other hand, I have heard MANY people complain that they have too little power available.

 

[AntonLargiader]

I have never heard of anyone who complained about having too much power available. On the other hand, I have heard MANY people complain that they have too little power available.

People pay good money to have too much power available; the only way they'd complain is if they could see how little they are actually using and calculate that against what they paid in installation costs. That just isn't going to happen in the vast majority of cases... people are going to feel good about having the extra capacity and that will be the end of it. OTOH, having too little is obvious. So your comparison isn't really that meaningful. It's just the typical upsell.

 

[GRivera]

I am in no way tied to the dedicated service and appreciate the insight. It sounds like a 100 amp sub panel will likely be the way to go- any ideas on cost of running 250' wire to support this amperage?

 

[OccupantRJ]

Yep around here one company charges commercial rate if there isn't a house.

Same here. My old shop was SGS, small garage service, although my average bill was about $30 a month for the 24 years I was there. Flat rate just to have a service used to be about $15 around here.

 

[penright]

Besides the cost of a minimum, check and see what the cost per kWh is, for me I saved money because the house broke me into the next bracket. The engineer from my electrical company was really nice. After talking it was black and white on how long the payoff on ruining it from the house.

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[American Locomotive]

I agree that he may not need as much power as he thinks he needs. But the thing is, it does not hurt to have more power available than you need. I have never heard of anyone who complained about having too much power available. On the other hand, I have heard MANY people complain that they have too little power available.

It hurts the wallet to run cable that can support 300 amps and tear out your distribution panel for a new 300 amp unit when it turns out your normal load came in well under 100 amps, and absolute worst case still wasn't anywhere near 200.