Main Electrical Panel

What's with this metal box with switches in my garage?


The main electrical panel is the heart of your home's electrical system, and your distribution point for all the electric circuits in your home. It's so important, that we guarantee your electrical panel and main service replacement project will be completed on or before the date we promised. We guarantee our workmanship for a period of 3 years. If your panel or service gives you any trouble at any time during that period, we will repair the problem free of charge. We guarantee that all materials used will be as specified and up to the code in your area. And, we guarantee to protect the condition of your home.

What is a Main Electrical Panel?


As you add electrical appliances and circuits, you increase the demand on your power panel. Depending on when your home was built and how much electricity you use, your power panel may need to be replaced or a sub-panel added to keep up with demand.

All of the power for your home comes through this panel from the utility company, to the exit wires that split off and service different parts of the house. These exit wires are called branch circuits or branch wire circuits. Service wire lugs connect the power from the utility through the electric meter to the electrical panel, and are highly dangerous points that should never be touched. The main electrical panel is the central distribution point for all branch circuits of the house.

Branch circuits are connected to the service panel via circuit breakers. The circuit breakers have no purpose other than safety, since they immediately cut off electricity to branch circuits in the event of overload. You can access these circuit breakers and turn them on and off to restrict power to a particular circuit in your home.

The service wire lugs connect the power from the utility to your home and contain intense, concentrated power. It is impossible to turn off the power to the service wire lugs. Main service is continually on, except in the event of an overall power failure, or if you make a special request with the utility company to shut off power from the street.

Unlike branch wire circuits, which are just a portion of the entire electrical service to the house, the service wire lugs represent every single amount of electricity coming into the house. If your home has a screw-in fuse panel, an obsolete panel, or even worse, has lost its UL listing due to a faulty main breaker or circuit breaker—you may have to consider a new electrical panel for your home. Installing a new electrical panel in your home will increase your safety and peace of mind knowing that the heart of your electrical system is working properly for you and your home.

Components of main electrical panels include; the housing unit, panel door, circuit breakers, hot bus bars, neutral bar, ground wire and a ground bar. Changing out or upgrading your electrical service is a job for an experienced electrician.

Call our experienced electricians at Mister Sparky, and we'll go over your options with you.

Our Difference

How do you know a company cares about the quality of their work? They stand behind it - that's how. At Mister Sparky, the warranties and guarantees are industry leading because of our experienced technicians and the high quality parts we use. Our technicians are friendly, clean, polite, drug-free and experienced--and our techniques are state-of-the-art, guaranteed!

Learn More About Our Difference

A Family Of Home Services:

Strong partnerships and a national support system.