Master electricians · Westmount
Electrician in Westmount
Row houses, semi-detached houses or apartments built before 1961: our master electricians work in Westmount, a city with its own electrical network, Hydro Westmount.
Written price, payment at the end
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In short
- Westmount has its own electricity distributor, Hydro Westmount, which manages and maintains the network serving every home and every business in the city. It is not Hydro-Québec.
- In the 2021 census, about 65.4% of Westmount’s dwellings were built in 1960 or earlier. Only 12.5% are single-detached houses.
- The City publishes a list of electrical work exempt from a permit, including replacing the service box of a single residential unit. No permit doesn’t mean anyone can do it: this work remains reserved for electrical contractors.
- Written, free quote, no deposit, and you pay once the work is done.
Our master electricians’ work in Westmount
Westmount is an independent city, an enclave within Montréal, east of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Our page for that borough lists Westmount among the neighbouring areas we travel to, and we go everywhere on the island.
Home, plex, condo or business: we always start by seeing the installation, then give you a written price, item by item. Here is the work we do in housing like Westmount’s.
Electrical panel
Fuses, subpanel, 200 A
Replacing a fuse box with breakers, upgrading a 60 or 100 A panel to 200 A, or adding a subpanel for lack of slots: the choice follows from a load calculation done on site. Some panels, Federal Pioneer Stab-Lok, Commander or Sylvania among others, deserve a close look, without being replaced because of their name.
Service entrance
From the service connection to the panel
When the house lacks capacity, we rebuild the service entrance at 200, 320 or 400 A. If the mast is rusting or no longer holds firmly, it is replaced during the same job, which spares you a second job and a second power interruption.
EV charger
House or building parking
A Level 2 charger on a circuit reserved for it, most often a FLO Home X3. For a single-family house, count on around $1,750, charger included, in a simple case. In a condo, the condo board has a say on access to common areas and on how consumption is shared.
Generator
Manual or automatic transfer switch
A 60 A manual transfer switch, installed and connected, costs around $2,000; an automatic transfer switch, around $3,200. In both cases, the generator is extra. A permanent one runs on propane or natural gas, never on gasoline.
General electrical work
Outlets, light fixtures, renovation
Adding outlets or light fixtures, replacing baseboard heaters and their thermostats, installing GFCI outlets near water, redoing the wiring of a kitchen or bathroom with your contractor.
A general electrical project? Your contact details and a few questions are all it takes.
Get a quotePre-1961 housing, mostly row houses and apartment buildings
The village of Côte-Saint-Antoine was renamed Westmount in 1895. Merged with Montréal in 2002, the city became independent again on January 1, 2006. It had 19,658 residents in the 2021 census. The city stretches from Westmount Summit down to the foot of the mountain.
Of 8,595 occupied dwellings, barely 1,075 are single-detached houses. Buildings of five or more storeys hold 36.8% of them, those under five storeys 17.9%, semi-detached houses 15.6% and row houses 13.8%. Just over half of households, 53.9%, are owners. What sets Westmount apart above all is the age of its buildings.
| Construction period | Share of dwellings | What a visit looks for first |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 or earlier | 65.4% (5,615) | Fuses still in service, or knob-and-tube wiring. If there is any, we plan its replacement piece by piece, starting with the most heavily used circuits. |
| 1961 to 1980 | 22.5% (1,935) | Aluminum wiring, common in houses from 1965 to 1975. Its connections are redone with hardware designed for this metal, AlumiConn or CO/ALR devices. |
| 1981 to 2000 | 9.3% (800) | The free margin in the panel before an addition: a subpanel or an upgrade to 200 A, depending on the calculation. |
| 2001 to 2021 | 2.9% (245) | Even a recent dwelling only gets an EV charger or a spa after a load calculation. |
In a plex, each unit must have a clearly identified power supply and its own protection. After work on aluminum, we give you a report to pass on to your insurer; damaged wiring, for its part, is replaced.
Hydro Westmount, the City’s network
In Westmount, it is not Hydro-Québec that delivers the power. Hydro-Québec distributes electricity everywhere in Québec except on the territory of nine municipal networks, and Westmount is one of them. Its service, Hydro Westmount, presents itself as the City’s local electricity company: it manages and maintains the network that feeds every home and every business, and it also looks after public street lights and traffic lights.
A panel replacement leaves the house without power for half a day to a full day.
Hydro Westmount has its offices at 995 Glen Road. It publishes a real-time outage map of its network and an emergency line open 24 hours a day, at 514-989-5201. For an outage affecting the network, it is the one to contact; for a problem with your home’s installation, call us.
Electrical work without a permit, according to the City
The City of Westmount states in black and white which electrical work can be done without a building permit. According to its construction and renovation FAQ, in accordance with the by-law on permits and certificates, the following electrical work does not require a building permit beforehand:
- replacing the electrical service box serving only one residential unit;
- adding or removing electrical outlets;
- adding or removing electrical switches;
- adding or removing light fixtures.
The City specifies that this exemption in no way removes the obligation to comply with all applicable regulations, nor the obligation to check with the competent authority in case of doubt. And no permit doesn’t mean do-it-yourself work: in Québec, electrical work of any kind is reserved for electrical contractors.
A larger interior renovation, on the other hand, requires a permit issued by the Permits and Inspections Division of the Urban Planning Department, at 514-989-5219. The same goes for mechanical equipment: a heat pump, a spa or an air conditioner. For a generator, the City asks for a start-up sheet, and for any mechanical unit a technical data sheet with its dimensions and its noise level in decibels. By-laws 1303 on zoning and 1387 on noise apply, and, generally, a project affecting the exterior goes through By-law 1305 on Site Planning and Architectural Integration Programmes (SPAIP), with approval from City Council.
When our part requires a permit or a declaration of work, we take care of it for you. A generator is never installed in a garage, and Health Canada recommends placing it at least 6 metres from buildings.
How a job unfolds
Three steps, in the same order, whatever the size of the job.
You describe the project
A call or an online request is enough. If you can, note the service entrance’s amperage and the panel’s brand, and photograph the open panel, the main breaker label and the wall around it.
We come and look, then put a price on it
A master electrician inspects the installation and calculates the load if an appliance is being added. The price isn’t given over the phone, and that’s no accident: the detailed quote is sent to you 24 to 48 business hours after the assessment.
We do the work, we check it
The work strictly follows the Construction Code of Québec. We protect the premises, cut only the circuits concerned when we can, then check every circuit we touched. You pay at the end, with no deposit, by Interac, credit card, debit or cash.
If opening a wall reveals a problem, we let you know immediately, before going further. Planning to buy a property in Westmount? We can inspect the panel, the service entrance and the accessible circuits and give you our findings in writing.
Owners can also spread the cost of a project with Financeit. Financing terms are set by Financeit and may change without notice; STM-Électrique is not responsible for them.
An electrical emergency in Westmount
A panel that crackles, a smell of hot plastic, a breaker that won’t stay on: call us at 438-542-7304, day and night, seven days a week. A master electrician is dispatched as soon as the situation has been assessed over the phone.
If you can do so without putting yourself in danger, switch off the main breaker and move away. If the whole neighbourhood is in the dark, check Hydro Westmount’s outage map instead.
Learn more
Electrician in Montréal
The whole island, borough by borough, and what we do there for planned projects.
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (in French)
The borough bordering Westmount to the west: neighbourhoods, housing and work.
Replacing a fuse box (in French)
The real problem with a fuse panel, and what replacing it costs.
Frequently asked questions in Westmount
Does Hydro-Québec supply Westmount?
No. Westmount has its own municipal network, Hydro Westmount, which manages and maintains the distribution of electricity to every home and every business in the city. For a network outage, its emergency line answers 24 hours a day at 514-989-5201.
Do I need a permit to replace the service box?
According to the City, replacing a service box that serves only one residential unit does not require a building permit. The regulations still apply, and the work must be done by an electrical contractor.
Can I add outlets myself, since no permit is needed?
No. The City’s permit exemption concerns municipal paperwork, not who does the work: in Québec, electrical work of any kind is reserved for electrical contractors.
Do you come to Westmount?
Yes. Westmount is among the areas neighbouring Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce where we work, and our master electricians travel everywhere on the island of Montréal, for residential and commercial work alike.
My house is over sixty years old: does the panel need replacing?
Not necessarily. No law requires replacing a panel that works. We inspect it, tell you what we see, and provide the documentation to give your insurer.
Can I have an EV charger installed in my condo’s parking?
Yes, with the condo board, which generally has a role in access to common areas and in how consumption is allocated. We can assess the installation and prepare the quote even before the charger is delivered. In a building, one component of Écorecharge can pay up to $5,000 for the purchase and installation of an individual charger.
What does the City require for a permanent generator?
The City’s page on mechanical equipment requires, among other things, a start-up sheet for a generator and a technical data sheet showing the dimensions and the noise level in decibels. By-law 1387 on noise applies. We take care of the municipal permit if needed.
Sources · Checked on October 11, 2026
- City of Westmount: Hydro Westmount, general information (in French)
- City of Westmount: construction and renovation, work without a permit (FAQ) (in French)
- City of Westmount: mechanical equipment (in French)
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: Westmount profile (in French)
- Wikipedia: Westmount (in French)
- City of Westmount: interior renovations (Permits and Inspections Division)
- Wikipedia: Westmount (Côte-Saint-Antoine, landmarks)
- Wikipedia: Hydro-Québec (municipal distribution networks) (in French)
Get a quote: electrical work in Westmount
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Master electricians · Westmount
Electrical work in Westmount?
We assess first, calculate the load if needed, and you receive a detailed quote, free of charge, before the work begins.