Service
Storm damage electrical repair
When a storm tears the service off a house, the work is split between the utility and your electrician, and the order matters.
Written by HyreElectrical Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Storm damage electrical repair starts with safety: stay away from downed lines and call 911 and the utility.
When a tree pulls the meter or mast off the house, the utility cuts power, a licensed electrician repairs the homeowner-owned parts (mast, meter base, service-entrance cable), the work is inspected, and then the utility reconnects. Ownership lines vary by utility.
Do this first
Treat every downed line as live. Stay well away, keep others away, and call 911 and the utility. Do not touch the meter, mast or panel. Do not run a generator indoors or in a garage.
Who owns what
Utilities usually own the line to the house and the meter. Homeowners usually own the mast or weatherhead, the meter base and the service-entrance cable. Check your utility’s rules; they vary.
That is why a utility crew may not reconnect a house until an electrician repairs the mast and the inspector signs off.
What the electrician does
Makes the site safe, replaces the mast, weatherhead, meter base or service cable, checks the panel and grounding, and arranges the inspection. Flooded equipment follows water damaged wiring rules.
Many jurisdictions offer expedited storm permits.
Generators after a storm
Never back-feed a house through an outlet. Ready.gov says generators run outdoors at least 20 feet from windows, doors and attached garages. Connecting one to house wiring needs a transfer switch or interlock installed by an electrician. See generator installation.
Time and what changes the price
Scope, storm demand on electricians and inspectors, and utility crews set the timeline.
Price drivers: mast and meter base replacement, service cable length, panel damage, and permit. Insurance often covers storm damage; ask for a written report. No price ranges are published here until we hold enough sourced, dated quotes; see cost guides.
Insurance notes
Photograph damage before work starts. Ask the electrician for an itemized invoice that separates storm damage from upgrades. Check the license on your state board before anyone starts: how to check an electrician license.
What a fair written quote lists
Ask for:
Questions
Who fixes a meter pulled off the house?
Will the utility reconnect without an inspection?
Is storm damage covered by insurance?
Can I use a generator meanwhile?
Written and audited by
HyreElectrical Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model code, the federal safety notice, the municipal fee sheet or the utility tariff ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise or warrant electrical work. Authorship is organizational: this desk, not a named persona.
- 16
- original research studies published
- 5
- states with verified license records
- 16,369
- electrical companies in those records
- 74%
- of the store is Florida — disclosed first, not footnoted
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Code statements come from NFPA 70 as the model code. Safety statements come from CPSC. Permit fees come from the city or county fee sheet. Utility charges come from the filed tariff. We do not cite a blog that cites a source; we open the source.
- Our contractor store is five states, and 74% of it is Florida. Any figure built on that store is titled to those states and names the concentration in the first screen. It is not a national sample of electricians.
- Load calculations on this site are a published simplification in the shape of NEC 220.82 — first 10 kVA at 100%, remainder at 40%, HVAC at 100%, EVSE at 125%. They are labeled as not a stamped calculation. A licensed electrician using the adopted edition does that work.
- No national price for a panel upgrade is shipped. Labor rates, the adopted code edition, whether the utility is involved, and the state of the existing wiring move the invoice too far for a roundup to help. The cost pages publish named permit fees and the variables that move the price instead.
- We do not perform electrical work, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
HyreElectrical is a publisher. It does not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work, holds no electrical license, and matching is still being built, so an inquiry is not a service call.
This page is general information, not a diagnosis or a quote. Code rules vary by the NEC edition your state or city adopted and its local amendments.