Electrical Services Ottawa is an electrical contractor serving Ottawa and the communities around it, from Kanata and Stittsville in the west to Orleans and Cumberland in the east. We install, upgrade, and repair the electrical systems that houses, condos, offices, and retail spaces run on – panels, wiring, lighting, and the circuits behind them. Homeowners call us for panel upgrades, EV chargers, rewiring, and everyday faults; businesses call us for fit-outs, lighting, and maintenance. Whatever the property, the pattern is the same: look first, quote in writing, then do the work properly.
Most of our work touches the service equipment and branch wiring that determine what a property can safely run. That means 100-amp to 200-amp service upgrades coordinated with Hydro Ottawa, combination AFCI and GFCI protection where the Ontario Electrical Safety Code calls for it, tamper-resistant receptacles, dedicated circuits for kitchens, laundry, and workshops, Level 2 EV charging on a properly load-calculated panel, and surge protection installed at the panel itself. Where a job requires it, the work is notified to the Electrical Safety Authority, so there's a permit and an inspection record attached to your property – something insurers and future buyers increasingly ask for.
That’s part of our crew – the electricians who actually show up at your panel, not a call centre and a subcontractor. The goal is simple: an electrical system you don’t have to think about – capacity for how you actually live and work now, wiring that passes the next inspection, and a written record of what was done. Tell us what’s going on, and we’ll tell you what it takes to fix it properly.
Century homes in Centretown and Sandy Hill, postwar bungalows in Alta Vista, new builds in Barrhaven and Findlay Creek – we know what each era's wiring looks like behind the walls before we open them.
Work that requires it is notified to the Electrical Safety Authority and done to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code – no shortcuts on permits, no work your insurer won't recognize.
We find the actual fault before we price the fix, so you pay for the repair you need – not the one that's easiest to sell.
If a breaker, outlet, or fixture can be safely repaired, we say so. Replacement gets recommended when it's the right call, not as the default answer.
Scope, price, and timing on paper before the work starts – and a walkthrough of what was done when it's finished.
The same electricians handle houses, condos, offices, and retail space – useful when a problem doesn't care which one it's in.
The calls we get most often from Ottawa homeowners.
No power, tripped main, burning smell
Fast response for outages, tripped mains, and anything that smells like it shouldn't.
General home electrical work
Repairs, upgrades, and new circuits for houses across Ottawa.
100A to 200A and beyond
Bringing an undersized or aging panel up to what the house actually needs.
Level 2 home charging
A dedicated circuit and Level 2 charger, sized to your panel's real capacity.
Standby power with a transfer switch
Backup power that kicks in automatically when Hydro Ottawa doesn't.
Whole-home and partial rewires
Replacing old or unsafe wiring behind the walls, room by room or floor by floor.
Electrical work for offices, retail, and light-industrial space – scheduled around your business hours, not ours.
Offices, retail, light industrial
Service calls, repairs, and planned electrical work that keeps a business running instead of dark.
Retrofits, sensors, group relamping
Keeping commercial lighting bright, efficient, and up to code without disrupting trade.
New circuits for leased space
Circuits, subpanels, and device rough-in when a leased unit becomes your storefront or office.
Capacity for real equipment loads
Panel and service upgrades sized for the equipment your business actually runs.
Most Ottawa electrician visits start with a service-call fee in the $100-$200 range for the first hour, which covers on-site diagnosis – straightforward repairs are often finished inside that visit. Bigger projects run in bands: panel upgrades typically land between $2,500 and $5,000 for a standard 100-amp-to-200-amp change, climbing toward $10,000 or more when the service mast, meter base, or feed also needs work. EV charger installations range from about $800 on a panel with spare capacity to $7,500 when a panel upgrade or load-management device comes with the job, and generator installations run from roughly $1,000 for a portable-with-transfer-switch setup to $15,000 for whole-home standby power.
Labour is usually the biggest share of an electrical quote, with materials – breakers, copper wire, devices, fixtures – second, and the ESA permit and inspection a small fixed slice. What moves an estimate up or down: access to the panel and wiring runs, how much drywall has to be opened and patched, the condition of what's already in the wall, and whether Hydro Ottawa needs to disconnect service for the work. Every job gets an in-person look and a written quote first, so the number you approve is the number you pay.
Real 2026 Ottawa-area ranges, not fixed packages – your exact quote depends on your panel, wiring, and site access, confirmed after we take a look.
$100-$200 first hour
On-site diagnosis
Written quote before any repair
$2,500-$10,000+
100A to 200A service
ESA permit & Hydro Ottawa coordination handled
$800-$7,500
Existing panel capacity or upgrade
ESA-permitted install
Tell us what's going on and roughly what you need done.
We look at the panel, wiring, or issue in person before quoting anything major.
A clear quote before any work starts – no surprise line items.
We handle the ESA notification where the job requires one, then do the work.
Panel capacity is a math question, not a guess: a smaller home with gas heat can be fine on 100 amps, while an EV charger, hot tub, or electric heating usually pushes a house toward 200-amp service – a load calculation tells you which side you're on before you spend anything. For EV charging, a hardwired Level 2 unit is the standard, but a load-management device can sometimes defer a full panel upgrade. For lighting, the choices that matter day to day are trim style and colour temperature – warmer light around 2700K for living space, cooler 3500-4000K where you work.
Press the test button on GFCI outlets a few times a year and replace any that won't trip or reset. Smoke and CO alarms carry a replace-by date – most units age out around ten years regardless of battery changes. Treat warm cover plates, buzzing breakers, and outlets that grip plugs loosely as calls, not quirks. And if you're buying an older Ottawa home, a panel inspection up front is the cheapest electrical work you'll ever commission.
Homes built before the 1950s in Centretown, Sandy Hill, Old Ottawa South, and Hintonburg often still carry knob-and-tube wiring, and many 1960s-70s suburbs were wired with aluminum branch circuits. Both were fine for their era: knob-and-tube is ungrounded with insulation that turns brittle, and aluminum expands and oxidizes at terminations until connections loosen and heat up. Watch for two-prong outlets, ceramic knobs visible in basement ceilings, flickering, warm cover plates, or an insurer asking pointed questions. The fix runs from targeted remediation – approved connectors and pigtails at every aluminum termination – to a staged full rewire, always ESA-notified.
A lot of Ottawa housing was electrified for 1970s loads and now carries EVs, hot tubs, finished basements, induction ranges, and air conditioning. The result is a 60-amp or 100-amp service – sometimes still on fuses – running a 2026 household. The signs are familiar: breakers that trip during normal life, a panel with no free slots and tandem breakers in every position, lights that dip when big appliances start. The fix starts with a load calculation, and where the numbers say so, a 200-amp service upgrade with the Hydro Ottawa disconnect and ESA inspection handled as part of the job.
Ottawa’s freezing rain, summer storms, and events like the 2022 derecho are hard on the equipment where your house meets the grid. Falling limbs and ice bend service masts and pull cables loose, and the outages that follow send surges through sensitive electronics when power returns. After a bad storm, look for a leaning mast, a drooping overhead cable, a main breaker that tripped during the outage, or devices that failed right after it. We inspect the mast, meter base, and panel, coordinate any utility-side work with Hydro Ottawa, and can add a panel-mounted surge protective device so the next storm costs you less.
We work across Ottawa's core neighbourhoods and the surrounding suburbs and towns, including Kanata, Orleans, Barrhaven, Nepean, Stittsville, Gloucester, Manotick, Vanier, Alta Vista, Riverside South, Carp, Richmond, Findlay Creek, Blackburn Hamlet, Westboro, Cumberland, Greely, Metcalfe, Osgoode, and Rockcliffe Park – along with the older core neighbourhoods like the Glebe, Sandy Hill, and Centretown.
Fast, professional, and very knowledgeable. The electrician arrived on time, explained the work clearly, and completed everything safely. I would gladly recommend Electrical Services Ottawa.
Excellent service from start to finish. They quickly identified the electrical issue, provided an upfront estimate, and left the work area spotless.
We needed several outlets and light fixtures installed. The work was neat, efficient, and completed exactly as promised. A dependable choice for electrical services in Ottawa.
The team responded quickly when we had an urgent electrical problem. They made the necessary repair and took the time to answer all our questions. Very professional.
Great experience overall. The electrician was courteous, punctual, and careful throughout the job. The pricing was fair, and the quality of the work was excellent.
Yes. We work on houses, condos, and commercial spaces – offices, retail, and light industrial – across Ottawa.
Most work that touches the panel, adds a circuit, or changes wiring needs to be notified to the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). We handle that notification as part of the job when it applies.
Call and describe what's happening – a dead panel, a burning smell, sparking – and we'll give you a realistic timeframe based on where you are and what's going on.
Yes. Call or use the contact form and we'll quote the work before anything starts.
Depends on the house. Knob-and-tube and aluminum branch wiring show up in a lot of Ottawa's older neighbourhoods and can affect home insurance. We can inspect and tell you honestly whether it needs attention.
Yes – that's one of the most common panel-upgrade jobs we do. We check your existing panel's real capacity before quoting anything.
Yes, year-round. Outdoor or exterior work is scheduled around weather, but panel, indoor, and emergency work continues through the winter.
On August 31, 2026, national news and finance outlets carried the announcement covering how Electrical Services Ottawa works across a century of Ottawa wiring standards, with ESA permits and written quotes on every job.
Reported that every job touching the panel, adding a circuit or changing wiring is notified to the Electrical Safety Authority – the permit and inspection record that protects a homeowner's insurance and resale position.
Covered the wiring eras behind Ottawa walls – knob-and-tube in Centretown, Sandy Hill and Hintonburg, 1960s-70s aluminum branch circuits, and 60- and 100-amp services now carrying EVs and hot tubs.
Detailed the diagnostic approach: find the actual fault before pricing the repair, keep a breaker or fixture when it can safely be kept, and hold the quoted price unless something new is signed off.