ENMAX service connections

CCT 01The wires company and the retailer

Alberta splits electricity into two businesses. The wires owner delivers power; the retailer sells the energy. In Calgary, ENMAX Power's distribution tariff is charged to every electricity customer in its service area regardless of provider, and the Alberta Utilities Commission approves it.¹ You can buy the energy from any retailer. When a new site is created, allow up to 48 hours for its new Site ID to become available to all retailers.²

The split explains a common confusion on new builds and major renovations. Energization of a new or upgraded site is requested through the retailer, and the site must first be approved by the electrical inspection authority, following the ENMAX metering standard.² So the order is: inspection, then a retailer enrolment on the Site ID, then energization. A missing Site ID or a missing inspection is the usual reason a finished house sits without power.

The default energy price is a separate matter again. ENMAX's Rate of Last Resort is 12.06 ¢/kWh, fixed through 2026, and it excludes billing and delivery charges,³ which is where the distribution tariff sits.

CCT 02Who owns what between the pole and the panel

The customer must provide, own and install a CSA-approved meter socket or meter enclosure, plus any other structures ENMAX says it needs to provide meter services.⁴ In practice your electrician supplies and installs the meter base, the mast or underground service entrance on your side, and the panel. ENMAX owns the meter and its own conductors.

The meter itself is off limits to contractors. ENMAX restricts electrical contractors from handling meters and cutting secondary supply connections.⁵ That is why a panel or meter base change always involves an ENMAX crew: someone has to pull the meter and cut the service conductors before the old equipment can come out, and it cannot be your electrician.

CCT 03A service upgrade, step by step

ENMAX's temporary disconnect/reconnect request covers replacing, rewiring or upgrading a main panel, meter socket or mast, which makes it the normal path for a service upgrade.⁶ The sequence your electrician should run:

1. Load calculation and permit. The electrician confirms the new service size and takes out a City electrical permit. See 100 A vs 200 A service and the permits guide.
2. ENMAX request. The disconnect/reconnect request goes in with at least 3 business days' notice.⁶
3. Disconnect. ENMAX de-energizes the site on the booked day. A customer-requested temporary de-energization carries no fee.⁷
4. The work. The electrician replaces the meter base, mast and panel and reconnects the branch circuits.
5. Inspection. Before ENMAX reconnects, it may need an electrical permit number and a completed inspection, or an emailed authorization from the City of Calgary Electrical Inspections department.⁶
6. Reconnect. ENMAX re-energizes the site and sets the meter. Re-energization after a customer-requested temporary disconnect is $166.00 per hour.⁷

Two things stretch the day: an inspection that has not happened, and equipment that fails ENMAX's check. Ask the electrician how the inspection is timed against the reconnect, and plan the house for a day without power, which matters in a Calgary January. More on the job itself: panel and service upgrades.

CCT 04New services, temporary power and CT metering

New construction runs the same logic with more steps. The site must pass inspection to the ENMAX metering standard before energization.² If the first energization attempt fails because of deficiencies in the customer's equipment, unsafe conditions or code non-compliance, ENMAX charges $90.00 for the extra trip, billed to the enrolling retailer.⁸

Service size changes the metering. All ENMAX services rated over 200 A must submit a CT request form and complete a CT meter installation checklist.² For residential service connections of 400 A or more, the customer must also supply the service cables.⁹

Construction power has its own rules. Every temporary construction service in Calgary, regardless of size, needs an HRC fused disconnect switch ahead of the meter.⁵ ENMAX may refuse to invest in a service connection it expects to be used for 2 years or less, and require the customer to pay the facilities, installation and removal cost less reusable material.¹⁰ See new and custom home wiring and commercial new construction.

CCT 05ENMAX charges for 2026

ENMAX's fee schedule is part of its AUC-approved distribution tariff and is effective January 1, 2026. These are the charges most likely to show up around electrical work. Re-check them each January.

Sources for each row: the free disconnect and the $166 re-energization charge,⁸ permanent removal,⁸ the $90 extra trip,⁸ meter upgrades at $128 or $258 an hour,⁸ off-hours work at $352 an hour,⁸ meter tests at $230 or $294,⁸ non-standard meters at $165,⁸ and primary-metered inspections at $228 an hour.⁸ The off-hours rate is the one that surprises people: an evening or weekend reconnect you ask for is billed at that rate.

CCT 06Investment levels: what ENMAX pays toward new load

ENMAX does not publish a flat price for a residential service upgrade. When it modifies its facilities for a changed service, the customer pays (A − B) + C − D + E + F: the cost of removing the old facilities less their salvage value, plus the installation cost, less ENMAX's investment in the new load, plus 20% operation and maintenance on optional facilities and any other costs.¹⁰ ENMAX gives a written estimate showing the cost, its investment and your contribution, broken down by component when the estimated cost is over $25,000 and ENMAX manages the work.¹⁰

The "D" in that formula is the investment level. For 2026:

• Residential (D100): $3,168 per service toward new load; the customer contributes the actual cost above that.⁹
• Residential underground feeder upgrade: $159 per linear metre.⁹
• Small commercial (D200): $14,675 per meter.⁹
• Medium and large commercial (D300/D310): $367 per kVA of minimum contract demand on a 15-year agreement, $245 on 10 years or $122 on 5 years, up to 80% of anticipated maximum demand.⁹

Treat these as credits against ENMAX's side of the job, never as the price of an upgrade. The electrician's side (permit, meter base, mast, panel, labour) is a separate cost; panel and service upgrade cost explains what drives it.

CCT 07Capacity checks, infill and towns outside Calgary

ENMAX does not check or confirm electrical capacity when it reviews a circulated development permit, so inner-city infill projects should confirm capacity with ENMAX early.⁵ A development permit in hand says nothing about whether the transformer on the lane can carry two new houses with EV chargers and heat pumps. The same applies to commercial fit-outs that add large loads; see power distribution and switchgear.

Outside the city, the wires owner may not be ENMAX. Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere, Okotoks and Rocky View County each have their own permit authority, and the utility serving a property there has its own disconnect process and tariff. Confirm both before you book. Solar owners have an extra ENMAX step, a micro-generation notice, covered on solar PV and batteries.