City Electric Service

Tony N.

We needed an electrical panel upgrade in order to have central air and solar added our home. After meeting with several electricians, we decided to go with Mike based on his reviews, honesty and professionalism.

Mike was transparent about how long the project could take from the beginning since it was partly dependent on the PG&E disconnecting and reconnecting the lines. He handled all the permitting with the city and paperwork with PGE. Everything was done on time with minimal disruption, within budget, and in accordance to the codes since we passed all inspections without any issues.

Nick F.

Sometimes it's helpful to have some long-term perspective on a job, after seeing how other contractors work to judge the quality of an engagement. City Electric was hired to do a panel upgrade shortly after we purchased our home in 2019. As I've continued to work on the house, and worked with other electricians through my job, I've come to understand City Electric did complete the job in an inspection passing manner, but they did not do a great job when compared with other electricians.

The owner Mike was a pill, and unpleasant. He was disorganized in providing a proposal and overly curt in email and on the phone. That said, I don't care much about his behavior as he is just there to collect the money.

I found two latent defects with their work. One, they cheaped out and did not use AFCI's on all the circuits that they should have. Yes the inspector passed them, but it caused me an issue later on when doing an addition, and I had to provide AFCI's for circuits that should have been upgraded, and were included in City Electric's proposal, two years after the fact. Do make sure you are overseeing City Electric's work and making sure they don't cheap out on you.

Second, in labeling the circuits following the panel upgrade, they did not take the time to truly identify many of the circuits and just came up with generic labels. More importantly, when they didn't find the terminations of two circuits, rather than ask me given I was home the whole time, they left the neutrals unconnected, leaving me to chase open neutrals when I was finishing a bathroom and workroom, and found that City Electric was at fault.

Overall, and given that Mike hasn't taken ownership of his Yelp page, I would recommend another more engaged electrician who is going to do what they say and deliver a quality job. Many folks who don't understand electrical work may not care, but they charge like a fully licensed contractor when the quality of their work is sub-par. Avoid.

Scott L.

City Electric provided excellence all the way through. They were clear and concise communicators and dispatched a highly skilled electrician to the job...I couldn't have hoped for a better experience. Thanks to Mike and Team at City Electric.

June D.

City Electric fixed a broken insulator and wire that required swift attention. Mike answered my late aft call, assessed the issue and scheduled an appt for early the next morning. His experienced electrician arrived on time and completed the work with care and efficiency. Bonus for also being very pleasant explaining the task. City has won all my future business with their responsiveness and professionalism.

Gale J.

Mike and his electrical team did a great job upgrading our electrical current so that we could install a new electric dryer. Our 30 year old gas Maytag dryer had irretrievably broken down. So we switched to electric. Over our 30 years of owning the house, we have had great service people but Mike's group is among the very best: prompt, courteous, and extremely skillful. We shall continue to use City Electrical Service for our electrical needs and highly recommend them.

Joey M.

""You know, George, you're not gonna find an electrician like that in the yellow pages. Now, I know just the guy who can do this.""
-Cosmo Kramer, Seinfeld

Da Scene: Had several little things just past my skill/comfort level electricity-wise that we've just lived with over the years... but when 1/2 of the outlet's in the kitchen went out and the sub-panel started making ""crackling"" noises... yeah, time to call in professionals. I'm a big referral guy... I'll take ""I know a guy..."" over advertising any day. Referred by 2 neighbors (one a Realtor) I didn't hesitate to call City Electric.

Da Work: 1 major subpanel job, and 3 little rewiring jobs all done in a morning, including a trip out for parts. Quality and quantity of work was a high value for final invoice.

Da Service: Pre-scheduling and communications were excellent, used pictures via txt to prep for the service day. They must be in demand, scheduled a week from initial contact, but worth the wait! The on-site technician ""Chuck"" was personable, professional and was accommodating to my ""peek over the shoulder"" demeanor... there's a fine line between homeowner hobbyist and certified electrician and Chuck was happy to educate as he delivered service. I LOVE that.

If you've been living with hallway switches that only turn on from one side or have breakers that keep tripping, don't wait... I should've called them YEARS ago!!

Wendy M.

I asked Mike to come over because the previous owner of my home had work done by him. I needed an estimate. One of the things was I asked about a panel replacement and can't believe how honest he was. He took the time to explain the panel I had, how it worked and told me that it did not need to be replaced. Anyone else would have taken the 1500 to 2K it would have cost and run. He took the time to ask questions about the other work I wanted and made some recommendations that made sense for me to think about. Thank you Mike!

bonny s.

I needed an electrician in a pinch due to home remodeling. I contacted City Electric and they responded to my voice mail within the same day and sent Jeff. Jeff was a pleasure to work with, explained what was needed to complete my electrical needs, and overall did a Great Job!! Thank you City Electric!!!

Andrew G.

Hired Mike to replace my ancient electric panel. He and Jeff did a great job. They also updated some of the outlets. All the work came out perfectly and communication was always timely which I appreciated.

S H.

Mike promptly worked my small job in to the schedule, the man (Mark?) who showed up was knowledgeable and efficient, correctly diagnosed the problem and put everything I had taken apart back together. He explained what was what to me. ""Responsive. Straightforward. Professional. Respectful."" from A L.'s review sums it up nicely. Good Electricians are extremely busy in our gentrifying, silicon-valley-spreading area. Nice to find a small firm who will handle small jobs in an old, N. Berkeley home with plenty of quirks, and do it well. Thanks!