Electrical Panel Upgrades in Biddeford, Maine

Biddeford's housing is decades older than that of suburbs like Gorham or Windham. The median home in the city was built around 1952, and about 41 percent of homes date from before 1940, according to the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey. The city grew around the Laconia and Pepperell textile mills, which at one time employed as many as 12,000 people, and much of its older housing dates from those years. Houses of that age usually received electricity after they were built, and many still run on 60-amp or 100-amp services, fuse boxes, or later panels from Federal Pacific, Zinsco or Challenger. Those services were never sized for electric heat, a modern kitchen and an electric car at the same time.

Multi-family buildings are the heart of Biddeford's housing. About 34 percent of homes are in buildings of two to four units, roughly double the share in neighboring Saco, and only about 41 percent are single-family detached houses. Roughly half of households rent. A typical two- or three-family building has a meter and panel for each apartment, plus a house panel for common lighting or a shared boiler, all fed through one set of service conductors. Upgrading one apartment without looking at the meter bank and service entrance can overload the whole building. With about 64 percent of homes still heating with oil, a landlord who converts units to heat pumps needs a building-wide load plan.

Permits for this work come from Biddeford's own Code Enforcement Office, which has an electrical inspector on staff, and inspections must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance. The office also runs apartment inspections and registrations, so work in rental buildings is often coordinated with those. Goodnow Electric pulls the city permit, schedules the inspection, and coordinates the Central Maine Power disconnect and reconnect when meters or service entrance equipment change. In a multi-unit building, that planning keeps tenants without power for as short a time as possible. Every project starts with a load calculation and a free written estimate, and the owner is on site for the work.