York County, Maine
Licensed, insured electrical work for Wells homes and businesses, with the owner on every job.
Wells stretches along the coast from Moody Beach at the Ogunquit line past Wells Beach and Drakes Island to the Kennebunk line, and reaches inland across Route 1 and the Maine Turnpike toward Sanford and North Berwick. About 11,700 people live here year-round, and the summer population is far larger. The town's homes range from beach cottages and mobile homes to new subdivisions. Goodnow Electric, a licensed Maine master electrician based in Westbrook, handles panels, generators, EV chargers, wiring and lighting for Wells homeowners.
Wells has grown quickly. According to the Census, about 39 percent of its homes were built in 2000 or later and 17 percent since 2010, giving it a median year built of 1989. Only about 8 percent predate 1940. The town also has two large groups of homes with particular electrical needs. About 14 percent of homes are mobile homes, often fed from a pedestal or pole service and still running on their original panels. And about 4,200 of the town's roughly 9,600 housing units, around 43 percent, are held for seasonal use, which means beach cottages and second homes that may sit empty all winter. About 90 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied, and two-thirds of the housing is single-family detached.
Fuel oil heats about 55 percent of occupied homes in Wells, propane about 22 percent, electricity about 12 percent and wood about 6 percent, according to Census estimates. Utility gas barely registers at about 1 percent, so propane is the practical fuel for most standby generators. The large share of oil heat means many Wells households are candidates for heat pumps, which add 240-volt circuits and winter load. The town lists six public EV charging sites, including Town Hall, Wells Harbor and the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, and the Amtrak Downeaster stops at the Wells Regional Transportation Center.
Depending on the address, power in Wells comes from Central Maine Power or from Kennebunk Light & Power District, which lists Wells in its service area, so check your bill to see which utility to call. On the shore, the storms of January 10 and 13, 2024 caused more than $110 million in dune and beach damage across coastal York County, and Wells Beach was among the hardest hit. About 7,600 cubic yards of sand the storms pushed into Wells Harbor was scheduled to be dredged in early 2026 and used to rebuild the beach. Inland, trees on long rural roads are the usual cause of outages.
Settled in 1643 and incorporated in 1653, Wells was the third town in Maine. Its first permanent mills stood on the Webhannet River in 1640 and 1641, and that river still drains the town, running behind the barrier beaches of Wells and Drakes Island into Wells Harbor. The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and the Wells Reserve at Laudholm protect much of the salt marsh. Moody Beach, a private beach with about 100 homes, gave its name to a 1989 court ruling on shoreline rights. Ogunquit, once a village of Wells, was set off in 1980.
Electrical work in Wells is permitted and inspected at the state level. The town's Code Enforcement page lists the Maine State Electrical Inspector as the contact for electrical inspections and offers an electrical certification form among its permit documents. Code Enforcement handles shoreland zoning, floodplain management, flood permits and elevation certificates, all of which affect where generators, panels and outdoor equipment can go near the beaches and marshes. Statewide, the Electricians' Examining Board adopted the 2026 National Electrical Code for installations begun on or after July 1, 2026.
Commercial, solar, smart home and new construction work are covered on our full list of electrical services.
Close to Wells, we also work in Ogunquit, Kennebunk, North Berwick, Sanford, York, and South Berwick. Every town we serve is listed on our service area page.
Before you call, it can help to read whole-house vs. portable generators for Maine homes, why LED lighting upgrades pay back fastest, and electrical planning for a new home in Southern Maine.
More resources: answers to common electrical questions, our generator sizing guide, and electrical tips and guides for Maine homeowners.
“We had a major issue happen near Easter, we called multiple people, this company was right on ball calling us back. He is amazing, instead of making us feel insecure he assured us that we was in right direction, took time out of his own day to answer us after hours and even called back for a follow…”
Patricia Ranks • July 2026 • Google Review
Tell us what you need done and where; a licensed electrician will reply with a written quote.
