SRP vs. APS: How a Service Upgrade Works

First: which utility are you on?

Look at the top of your electric bill. The city name won't tell you. SRP and APS territory is interleaved across Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Peoria and Fountain Hills, and two houses on the same street can be on different utilities. Broadly, SRP covers most of the East Valley (Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert) and APS covers much of Phoenix and the West Valley, but the bill is the only reliable answer.

What both utilities have in common

SRP and APS both treat a service upgrade as a change in existing service, and both require an application before the work, with the service size and load information. Both own the meter and the conductors feeding it, so both have to disconnect the power for us to work and reconnect it afterward. And both expect the new equipment to meet their own written specifications, which sit on top of the electrical code your city enforces.

SRP: what's different

• SRP publishes a pre-approved list of residential service equipment up to 400A (the 320A continuous “CL320” class). Using listed equipment keeps review simple.
• Shop drawings go to SRP for any 320A equipment not on the pre-approved list, and for every service rated 400A and above.
• The meter location has to be approved by SRP. Moving a meter is a bigger conversation than replacing one in place.

APS: what's different

• When a job replaces or relocates the meter, APS requires its own inspection and approval before re-energizing, in addition to the city's inspection.
• APS also approves the meter location in advance, and wants load information with the request.
• APS publishes its equipment rules in its Electric Service Requirements Manual; we build to it.

The sequence, start to finish

• Site visit, load calculation, written estimate
• Application to the utility (and shop drawings or engineered plans when the size calls for it)
• Permit from your city or town
• Utility disconnect scheduled
• Work day: old service out, new meter and panel in, circuits re-landed and labeled
• City inspection (plus APS's own inspection on APS jobs where the meter changes)
• Utility reconnect and re-energize

What causes delays

Utility scheduling is the one piece nobody controls, and it's the most common cause of a simple job dragging. Bigger services take longer because they carry more review: 400A plans, shop drawings, and sometimes utility work on their side of the meter. We file early, and we give you a date once the utility confirms it, not a guess before.

What the homeowner has to do

• Tell us which utility is on your bill (or send a photo of it)
• Clear access to the meter and panel: gates unlocked, dogs inside, storage moved
• Plan for the power-off day: fridge, medical equipment, pets, working from home
• Tell us now about anything coming in the next few years (EV, pool, casita, AC)

Everything else is ours: the application, the permit, the utility coordination, the inspection. For the full four-party breakdown, see who does what in a Phoenix service upgrade.