John R.
“Carlos and Aiden were prompt, polite, and an awesome duo. They knocked out a tough day replacing an ancient panel.”
John R.
Subpanel replacement
Overhead service cable replacement in Santa Cruz County
Weatherhead, mast, and service-entrance conductors on the house side. PG&E owns the drop from the pole — we handle everything from the weatherhead down and coordinate their reconnect.
4.9 stars, 162 reviews on Google — See the reviews behind this rating (opens in a new tab)BBB Accredited · A+ (opens in a new tab)CSLB #C10-109723720-year workmanship guaranteePG&E disconnect + reconnect coordinatedPermit + inspection handled
What this is
Overhead service has two owners, and the dividing line is the whole point of this page. PG&E owns the drop — the conductors running from their pole to your house. You own everything from where those conductors land: the point of attachment, the weatherhead, the mast, the service-entrance conductors down the wall, and the combination meter main they terminate in. When that house-side hardware fails, it is an electrician's job rather than a utility repair. PG&E will disconnect so we can work and reconnect when we are done, and that is the extent of their involvement.
What actually fails is predictable. Salt air on the coast eats galvanized mast and fittings from the outside in, and it does it faster than the rest of the house ages. Weatherheads crack and let water track down inside the conduit to the terminations below. Service-entrance conductor insulation goes brittle and splits after decades of sun. A mast that the drop has pulled sideways over the years leans, loosens at the roof flashing, and starts leaking. And in a winter storm, a limb comes down and bends a mast or tears a point of attachment out of a wall. Any of these can get the service tagged as unsafe the next time PG&E is on site for something else.
One thing to be straight about. If your main panel is also being replaced, this is not a separate purchase. A main panel job in our area is a full electrical service rebuild — weatherhead, mast, service-entrance conductors, combination meter main, and grounding, quoted as one scope. There is no cheaper version where you buy just the service cable instead of the panel job. This page is for the other situation: the panel is sound and staying, and the overhead service entrance above it is what needs work. If it turns out both need attention, we will say so at the inspection and quote it as the one job it actually is. Details are on the 200A panel upgrade page.
Because the mast, the conductors, and the terminations all get sized to the service, replacing them is the natural moment to settle whether the service should be bigger. Doing the mast twice is the expensive path. Run the Panel Load Calculator for a first read on capacity, or let a tech settle it at the free inspection. Any time a service is opened up, the grounding electrode system gets checked too — see grounding and bonding for why every downstream circuit depends on it. Corroded masts on 1940s Westside houses with a side yard barely wider than a ladder are exactly the awkward, access-constrained work a lot of shops would rather skip, and it is what we are built for.
When you need this
- The mast is leaning, rusted through at the roof line, or pulling away from the wall
- PG&E has refused to reconnect at your weatherhead, or tagged the service entrance as unsafe after an outage or a meter visit
- A storm or a fallen limb brought the drop down and damaged the mast or the point of attachment
- Service-entrance conductor insulation is cracked or brittle, or there is bare copper showing where it enters the weatherhead
- Water is tracking down the mast into the meter enclosure, or there is rust staining below the weatherhead
- You're a few blocks off the water on the Westside, in Seabright, or in Rio del Mar and the galvanized service hardware has corroded well ahead of the rest of the house
04What's included
Exactly what we handle — and the two things you handle.
Sunrise provides
- New weatherhead and rigid mast, sized and braced for the service and for the pull the drop puts on it
- New service-entrance conductors from the weatherhead down to the combination meter main
- New point-of-attachment hardware, and the roof or wall penetration flashed and sealed against water
- Grounding and bonding checked and brought to current California code — the part of a service that everything downstream depends on
- Corrosion-resistant hardware selections where the house sits in a coastal exposure zone
- PG&E disconnect and reconnect coordinated, so the service is safely de-energized while we work
- Building permit pulled with the city or County building department and inspection coordinated — in the quote, not an add-on
Warranty: 20-year workmanship warranty, transferable to the next owner — see warranty terms · Permits: pulled + inspection coordinated by us, built into the quote · Cleanup: Old mast, weatherhead, conductors, and hardware hauled away. Roof and wall penetrations flashed and sealed. Drop cloths anywhere we work inside. We generally patch the stucco at the old penetration ourselves.
You provide
- Access to the side of the house where the mast and meter are, and to the roof if the point of attachment is up there
- A plan for the no-power window — refrigerator, freezer, medical equipment, and anything you work from
- A heads-up about anything sharing that wall we should not disturb, like a satellite dish, a coax drop, or solar conduit
05How it works
Start to finish, with real times.
1Scheduled with you
Free on-site inspection
A tech looks at the mast, weatherhead, conductors, point of attachment, and the meter enclosure below, and checks whether the panel behind it is staying or going. You get a written report and a real quote either way, with no pressure to commit.
2Set by the building department and PG&E, not by us
Permit and PG&E scheduling
We pull the permit with the city or County building department and book the PG&E disconnect. The utility side sets this calendar, not us, so we give you the date as soon as we have it.
3Scheduled around PG&E's disconnect and reconnect
Day of work
PG&E de-energizes before we start. The old mast and weatherhead come off, the new mast is set and braced, new service-entrance conductors are pulled and terminated, penetrations are flashed and sealed, and grounding is verified. The building-department inspection and the PG&E reconnect follow the work — the inspector and the utility set that timing, not us.
4Before we leave, once the inspector has signed off
Inspection and walkthrough
We walk the finished service with you, point out what changed and why, hand over the permit number and the inspection sign-off, and register the 20-year warranty.
06Pricing transparency
Every quote is free. The range depends too much on your home to fake it.
Almost nothing about this job is priced off the length of cable. What moves the number is height and access — a single-story mast on an open side yard and a two-story mast reached over a hillside deck are not the same job — plus how much of the service is genuinely being renewed and what the coastal exposure calls for in hardware. The one decision worth making before you sign anything is amperage. The mast, the conductors, and the terminations are all sized to the service, so if a larger service is anywhere in your next few years, building it once at the larger size beats paying for the same access twice. Run the Panel Load Calculator for a first read, or settle it at the free inspection. And if the panel below is also at end of life, the honest answer is one full service rebuild rather than two separate visits.
What it costs
Quotes are free. The variance on this work is too wide for an honest range — book a free inspection and we’ll give you a real number for your specific home, in writing.
What moves the number
Mast height, and whether the point of attachment is at the wall, the eave, or through the roof · Single story versus two story, and how a ladder or lift actually reaches that wall · Roof penetration and flashing work where the mast passes through, versus a clean wall-mounted run · Service-entrance conductor length and size, which follows the amperage the service is being built to · Coastal corrosion-zone hardware — a house a few blocks off the water gets different fittings than one in the valley · Hillside access and side-yard clearance, which is a genuine constraint on a lot of county lots · Permit fees, which differ between the County and the four incorporated cities · Whether PG&E identifies work on their side of the point of attachment, which shifts the scheduleNo hidden fees. Every quote is free and detailed.
What customers say · panels
162 reviews on Google
Read all reviews Carrie
“Thank you to the Sunrise Electrical Contracting team for updating the new main electrical system on my mom's home after the storm damaged the power lines and home equipment this winter… They replaced Main Service Upgrade Overhead, and added a Sub-Panel Install/Replacement Outdoors… the team of Branden, Jimmy, Ian, and Tylor worked long hours during the storm for a few days to get us up and running again before the next storm arrived.”
Carrie
Storm-damage main service upgrade
Kit B.
“I can't begin to describe how much Branden and Sunrise helped us out of a pinch. We had a serious electrical issue in our panel, and his team were on it. Worked quickly with the city and with PG&E to address the issue, and came in thousands of dollars under competitors' quotes. Hands-down, the best electrical company in Santa Cruz County!”
Kit B.
Emergency panel repair
09Frequently asked questions
7 questions. Real answers.
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
Where does PG&E's responsibility end and mine begin?
PG&E owns the service drop — the conductors from their pole to your house. The point of attachment on your building, the weatherhead, the mast, the service-entrance conductors, and the combination meter main are all yours. We work on your side of that line, and we coordinate PG&E's disconnect and reconnect around it so the service is safely de-energized while we are on it.
A storm brought my drop down. Who do I call first?
PG&E, for anything on the ground or arcing — a downed conductor is a utility emergency and not something to approach. Once the area is safe, call us for the house-side damage, because PG&E will not reattach to a mast that has been pulled loose or a weatherhead that has been torn open. Someone answers our phone around the clock and reaches the on-call electrician; see emergency. If you smell burning or see sparking at the meter, cut power at the main if you can do that safely, then call — what to do about a burning smell covers the rest.
Can I just replace the cable and keep the old mast?
Sometimes, but not often. The mast, the weatherhead, and the conductors age together and they are exposed to the same salt and sun. If the mast is genuinely sound and only the conductors are failing, we will say so and quote it that way. What we will not do is put new conductors into a mast that is corroded through, because you would be paying for the same access twice.
Do I have to upgrade to 200A while you're up there?
No. A like-for-like service is a legitimate choice and we will quote it that way. But the mast and conductors are sized to the amperage, so if an EV charger or a heat pump is in your next few years, upsizing now is cheaper than a second mast later. When do I need 200A service walks through the decision honestly, including the cases where the answer is no.
How long will the power be off?
The service is off from the moment PG&E disconnects until they reconnect after the inspection sign-off. We are not going to put a figure on that here, because the honest answer depends on the mast, the access, and PG&E's own schedule that day — and a number on a web page is not a number you can plan around. What we do instead is give you the window in writing before the work day, so you can sort out the refrigerator, the freezer, and anything you work from.
Is a permit really required for this?
Yes — work on the service entrance is permitted work, and the inspection sign-off is what the PG&E reconnect keys off. We pull it with the city building department in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley, or Watsonville, and with the County everywhere else in the county. What to expect from permits and inspection covers how the visit actually goes.
How long is the warranty?
20-year workmanship warranty on the mast, conductors, and terminations we install, transferable to the next homeowner. See warranty terms for the full coverage details.
10Even if Sunrise isn't the answer
Here’s the honest path — wherever it leads.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Outside Santa Cruz County?
Look for a CSLB-licensed C-10 contractor near you and verify the licence at cslb.ca.gov. Ask for general liability and workers-comp proof, and ask how they intend to handle the utility disconnect — service-entrance work that skips the permit and the reconnect coordination is a corner being cut. Ask for references from service-entrance work in the last year.
Browse our field guidesNot sure how bad it is?
Corroded masts and cracked weatherheads are hard to judge from the ground, and the parts that fail first are the parts you cannot see. Our panel and service guides cover what to look for, free to read, no email wall.
Read the panel guidesWant a second opinion?
If another contractor has told you the mast has to go, a free on-site inspection gets you a written second read at no cost. You keep the report either way, and sometimes the answer is that it can wait.
Schedule a free inspection12Service areas
We do this work everywhere in Santa Cruz County.
From Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
13One more thing
Ready for a real number on your service entrance?
Free on-site inspection, a written quote, and a 20-year guarantee on the work. No pressure to book anything on the spot.