Utility Company Coordination: Why Your Project Is Stuck in Electrical Review
Introduction
Securing utility service approval is one of the most critical—and often frustrating—steps in any construction or renovation project. When your electrical drawings are submitted to the utility company for review, they’re vetted for compliance with safety, load, and interconnection requirements. Unfortunately, delays in “Utility Company Coordination Electrical Review” can derail your schedule, inflate costs, and strain your budget. In this post, we’ll explore why projects get stuck in electrical review and how you can proactively navigate utility coordination. By understanding common pitfalls and adopting best practices, you’ll expedite approvals, keep your timeline on track, and avoid unexpected change orders.
Objective: Educate project managers, electrical contractors, and developers on the reasons for utility review delays and practical steps to accelerate approvals.
Target Audience: General contractors, electrical engineers, facility managers, architects, and developers embarking on new construction or renovation projects.
Desired Action: Encourage readers to implement a structured utility coordination process early, engage utility liaisons, and partner with experienced electrical design firms—such as GDI Engineering Design’s Electrical Services—to minimize review time.
1. Incomplete or Inaccurate Electrical Plans
Why It Happens
Utility companies require precise, code-compliant electrical drawings. However, many design teams submit plans lacking critical details: conductor sizing, transformer specifications, service equipment ratings, and overcurrent protection settings. Without accurate one-line diagrams, load calculations, and equipment schedules, utility reviewers must send extensive comments asking for clarifications or corrections.
Consequences
- Review “Punch List” of Comments: Missing data triggers utility RFI’s (Requests for Information) that can add two to four weeks to plan check.
- Multiple Resubmissions: Each resubmission restarts the review clock, compounding delays.
- Permit and Inspection Delays: Without utility approval, electrical permits cannot be issued, freezing subsequent mechanical and plumbing inspections.
How to Avoid It
- Perform Thorough Load Calculations: Use NEC Article 220 and local utility guidelines to size service conductors and transformers accurately. Include diversity factors, motor starting currents, and future expansion allowances.
- Prepare a Clear One-Line Diagram: Show service equipment, protective devices, transformation steps, grounding, and metering locations. Label conductor sizes, voltage ratings, and equipment short-circuit current ratings.
- Include Utility-Specific Requirements: Research the utility’s engineering standards (e.g., voltage drop limits, grounding methods). Many utilities publish design guides—download them early and cross-check your drawings.
- Coordinate Early with Utility Engineers: Before finalizing construction documents, schedule a pre-review meeting with utility representatives. This helps identify missing elements and clarifies local preferences for metering and interconnection equipment.
By submitting complete, utility-friendly electrical plans, you reduce the back-and-forth and speed up initial approval.
2. Failing to Engage the Utility Early
Why It Happens
Many project teams treat utility coordination as a late-stage task—often after architectural plans are 90% complete. This “wait-and-see” approach assumes that utilities will rubber-stamp most projects. In reality, each utility has unique requirements for service application forms, easements, panel schedules, and transformer locations. Delaying engagement leaves little time to satisfy these demands.
Consequences
- Extended Lead Times: Utility companies may quote transformer delivery times of 12–16 weeks. If you haven’t secured a transformer order early, equipment lead times slip into critical path.
- Site Plan Modifications: Missing easements or clearance requirements for pad-mounted transformers force rework on civil drawings, shifting site layout and paving schedules.
- Costly Change Orders: Discovering required civil or structural modifications at the eleventh hour often translates into unbudgeted expenses.
How to Avoid It
- Initiate a Utility Service Application Early: Submit your service request (often called a New Service Application or Service Enhancement Request) concurrent with schematic design. This begins the utility’s internal process and flags potential cost implications.
- Assign a Dedicated Utility Liaison: Designate an engineer or project manager to shepherd permit packets, track utility deadlines, and maintain regular communication with the utility’s engineering team.
- Understand Utility Timelines: Many utilities publish standard review and construction intervals (for example, 30 days for initial study, 45 days for transformer design, 90 days for construction). Embed these milestones into your project schedule from day one.
- Plan for Equipment Lead Times: Identify required switchgear, transformers, meters, and pad-mounted equipment. Order long-lead items—especially custom or high-voltage gear—as soon as utility approval is reasonably certain.
Engaging utilities early prevents last-minute surprises and aligns design development with utility timelines.
3. Underestimating Utility Engineering Requirements
Why It Happens
Utility engineers don’t just check line sizes and transformer capacities—they verify system impacts, protective device coordination, arc-flash studies, and fault-current levels. Many design teams submit plans without a full understanding of these engineering requirements, mistakenly believing that basic load calculations suffice.
Consequences
- Protective Device Coordination Revisions: If the utility determines that your proposed fuses or breakers will not isolate faults quickly enough, they’ll request new coordination curves—an RFI that can take weeks to resolve.
- Insufficient Arc-Flash Analysis: Utilities often require proof that your equipment labels meet NFPA 70E standards. Lacking a certified arc-flash study forces on-site relabeling and potential re-inspection.
- Fault-Current Shortcomings: If utility interconnection studies reveal higher fault levels than your equipment’s interrupting rating, you must upgrade switchgear or protective devices to meet IEEE and NEC standards.
How to Avoid It
- Complete a Utility Coordination Study: Hire an electrical engineer to perform a detailed short-circuit and protective device coordination study per IEEE 242 and IEEE 399. Provide the resulting curves to the utility with your submittal.
- Label Equipment for Arc-Flash Compliance: Include NFPA 70E-compliant labels showing incident energy and nominal clearing times. Utilities expect clear signage on switchboards and transformers.
- Reference Utility’s Standard Transformer Spec: Most utilities have preferred transformer manufacturers and tap settings. Designing around these standards simplifies the utility’s internal review.
- Include Easement and Clearance Diagrams: Utility engineers will check that your transformer and pad-mounted switchgear meet local setback and aisle requirements. Provide accurate civil site plans showing dedicated equipment pads.
By anticipating detailed engineering checks, you submit a “complete package” and minimize utility review comments.
4. Mismanaging Permit and Inspection Dependencies
Why It Happens
Utility approval isn’t an isolated event—it’s intertwined with municipal electrical permits, site grading approvals, and fire department sign-offs. Some teams treat these tasks sequentially when, in fact, many jurisdictions allow concurrent reviews. Failing to leverage parallel workflows extends the overall critical path.
Consequences
- Stalled Permits: Some building departments refuse to issue an electrical permit until the utility issues a “Permission to Energize” letter. If you don’t understand this dependency, you may pass project milestones without moving the permit forward.
- Parking Lot Delays: Civil crews await transformer pad and conduit trench approvals; without permits, they can’t mobilize, delaying site utilities and paving schedules.
- Re‐inspections and Rechecks: If inspectors arrive before the utility meter base is in place, they can’t sign off on the rough electrical. This adds re‐inspection fees and extra days on the schedule.
How to Avoid It
- Map Out Dependencies Early: Create a detailed permit matrix showing which approvals are needed before others. For instance, electrical permit → Utility Permission to Energize → Fire Alarm Permit. Identify which reviews can run in parallel.
- Coordinate Pre-Inspection Meetings: Schedule an on-site meeting with the building official, utility inspector, and fire department to clarify inspection sequencing. Document agreed checklists and timelines.
- Provide “Ready for Inspection” Packages: Prepare complete submittal binders for field inspectors, including utility pre-approval letters, one-line diagrams, equipment datasheets, and code calculations. This reduces on-site RFI’s and helps inspectors check off requirements quickly.
- Track Inspection Windows: Many utilities have limited inspection slots—coordinate these with your electrical contractor’s schedule to avoid waiting weeks for the next available appointment.
Managing permit and inspection dependencies proactively keeps your project on schedule and avoids bottlenecks at the intersection of municipal and utility reviews.
5. Underestimating Communication and Follow-Up
Why It Happens
Many teams assume that once the electrical drawings are submitted, “that’s it”—the utility will handle the rest. In reality, utility staffs are busy, service territories can be vast, and review deadlines often slip if no one follows up. Without consistent communication, your project falls off the utility engineer’s radar.
Consequences
- Silence Equals Delay: Without periodic check-ins, the utility’s review can drag indefinitely—often 45 to 90 days with no feedback until you ask for status.
- Missed Critical Comments: When utilities send comments via mail or email, they may end up in spam folders or lost in a crowded inbox. Late discovery of a simple missing detail can require a full set reprint and resubmission.
- Pressure on Field Crews: Last-minute comments can force contractors on site to tear out work and redo conduits or transformer pads, adding premium labor and material costs.
How to Avoid It
- Assign a Single Point of Contact (SPOC): Designate one person—often the project electrician or a utility liaison—to track submittal status, respond to comments, and schedule follow-ups. This prevents miscommunication.
- Set Up a Submission Log: Use a shared spreadsheet or project management software (e.g., Procore, BIM 360) to record submittal dates, reviewer names, comment logs, and next steps. Update it weekly and share with the entire team.
- Schedule Regular Check-In Calls: Every two weeks, call the utility’s electrical engineering department to confirm they’ve received your package, ask for clarifications on any comments, and verify expected approval dates.
- Maintain a Clear Email Trail: When the utility sends comments, respond with a single, consolidated email that tracks each comment and indicates how you resolved it. Confirm receipt of your response to close the loop.
Proactive, consistent communication ensures your project remains a priority in the utility’s queue and drastically reduces “lost” or overlooked review items.
Conclusion
Getting stuck in “Utility Company Coordination Electrical Review” is a common pain point—one that happens because of incomplete plans, delayed submittals, engineering oversights, permitting misalignments, and poor follow-up. Fortunately, you can avoid these delays by adopting a structured approach:
- Prepare complete, utility-friendly electrical drawings with accurate load calculations, one-line diagrams, and protective device coordination.
- Engage the utility early, submit service applications during schematic design, and track long lead times for transformers and switchgear.
- Anticipate detailed engineering requirements, including arc-flash labels, fault-current studies, and grounding diagrams, to eliminate late-stage RFI’s.
- Manage permit and inspection dependencies by mapping out which approvals run in parallel and coordinating pre-inspection checklists with all stakeholders.
- Communicate relentlessly, assign a single point of contact, maintain a submission log, and schedule regular status calls with the utility’s engineering team.
By implementing these best practices, you’ll minimize review cycles, keep your critical path on schedule, and reduce costly change orders. If your project demands expert utility coordination—and you want to regain control of your schedule—consider partnering with GDI Engineering Design’s Electrical Services. Our experienced utility liaisons and electrical engineers streamline the entire process, from initial submittal through final approval, ensuring your project isn’t “stuck in electrical review.”
Internal Links
- Learn about our complete Electrical Engineering Services for seamless utility coordination.
- See how we’ve managed utility approvals in our Medical Office Case Study.
External Links
- Review the National Electrical Code (NEC) load calculation guidelines: NFPA Article 220.
- Explore utility coordination best practices from the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA): NECA Utility Coordination Guide.
