Service entrance replacement in Laval

In Laval and on the North Shore, the price of the service entrance and 200 A panel of a single-family home is in the written quote, free of charge. In Laval, the urban planning code (CDU-1, section 2072) lists replacing the service entrance among the maintenance work that doesn’t require a permit.

How much does a service entrance cost in Laval?

At STM-Électrique, that job has its price in the quote. Three things move that figure: the gap between the meter and the panel, going underground, and the condition of the wall. Your own price is written in the quote, free of charge.

Bigger than 200 amps means redoing a complete service connection, usually at 320 amps, and a well higher budget. The details: 320 or 400 amp service.

Underground, the excavation and the pole are extra. The private pole and the excavation, if we do it, are extra; you can also have it done. Hydro-Québec bills its fees separately.

Laval and the North Shore

Laval was born on August 6, 1965, from the merger of the 14 municipalities of Île Jésus. The 2021 census counts 169,785 occupied dwellings there, about 47% of them built before 1981: 24,055 in 1960 or earlier, and 55,530 from 1961 to 1980.

Our offices are in Mirabel, and our warehouse is in Laval: no part of the city is far away.

On the North Shore, several cities have their own page with us (in French): Terrebonne (in French), Blainville (in French), Saint-Jérôme (in French), Mascouche (in French), Saint-Eustache (in French), Rosemère (in French), Boisbriand (in French) and Mirabel (in French).

Your city isn’t on the list? Leave your contact details: the team will confirm whether a visit is possible.

Chomedey, Pont-Viau, Laval-des-Rapides: original installations

Fuse boxes still in service are something Adam Chirola, our master electrician, still sees in Chomedey, Pont-Viau and Laval-des-Rapides.

A house that has kept its original panel often has a mast and a meter base of the same age. We examine them during the visit, and you know before the job whether they need redoing: redoing them later would mean cutting the power a second time.

For the fuse box itself: replacing a fuse box.

Mast, meter base, cable: what is yours

Hydro-Québec supplies, installs and keeps ownership of its conductors up to the connection point, at the service attachment bracket. Everything after it is part of your installation: the bracket, the mast, the conductors coming down, the meter base and the cable to the service box.

The meter is the exception: it belongs to Hydro-Québec, and opening the meter base is reserved for it, even though the meter base is yours.

That’s why repairing a damaged mast is at your expense, by your master electrician. Part by part, see our guide mast, meter base, meter: who pays for what.

The permit in Laval

Laval’s urban planning code (CDU-1) lists, in section 2072, the maintenance work done without a permit. Replacing the service entrance is named there in full: it’s item 13 on the list, in the consolidation of June 8, 2026.

For the panel, the City also lists replacing an electrical panel in the “No permit” column of its table of interior work.

No permit doesn’t mean no rules: only an electrical contractor may do the work, and it’s a master electrician who sends the declaration of work to Hydro-Québec.

Elsewhere on the North Shore, each city has its own bylaw: we check yours before starting, and if a permit is needed, we’re the ones who apply for it.

Going from 100 to 200 amps: the service entrance follows

EV charger, heat pump, spa: with a 60 or 100 amp service, those projects quickly run into the capacity limit.

The figure “200 amps” is the capacity of the whole path, from the grid to the main breaker. A 200 A panel fed by a service entrance sized for 100 A is still a 100 A installation: that’s why you can’t just “upgrade the panel” on its own on an older house.

Which capacity to request, 200, 320 or 400 amps? The load calculation required by the Code decides. The details: 200 amp service upgrade and, beyond that, 320 or 400 amp service.

Hydro-Québec: disconnection and reconnection

All of Hydro-Québec’s forms go through us. Plan on two weeks before the day of the work, as a rule; the date is confirmed to you as soon as it’s settled.

Up to 200 amps, the standard allows the master electrician to disconnect and reconnect, with Hydro-Québec’s prior authorization and when certain conditions are met: often no need to wait for a Hydro-Québec crew. Higher than that, Hydro-Québec’s calendar sets the job’s.

The declaration of work, for its part, goes to Hydro-Québec when the installation is ready to be connected.

How it goes

Expect about six hours without electricity on the day of the work.

The power is cut at the connection point; the old installation is taken down; the new mast, meter base and cable are installed, with the grounding checked; the circuits are connected, then the power comes back.

Panel checked and labelled, documents sent to Hydro-Québec: you then receive the details of the work, which your insurer or a future buyer may ask for.

At a cottage or a house left empty for a long time: after more than twelve months disconnected, the installation must be brought up to the current standard before Hydro-Québec reconnects it.

Panel worn out too? We change it in the same job: see panel replacement in Laval.

Frequently asked questions