A new commercial electric service in South Florida is a joint project. The utility designs and builds its side, your electrical contractor builds yours, and nothing is energized until the building department has inspected your service. FPL says planning a new project can take a few months and asks builders to contact it early. So the application should go in as soon as the load and site plan are firm, not when the building is ready for power.
This guide covers the sequence for a new commercial service or a service upgrade: who your utility is, what FPL's process asks for, what has to be ready on your side, and which parts of the timeline a GC or owner actually controls. For the equipment side (service entrance, switchgear, three-phase distribution), see our page on commercial service and switchgear.
First, confirm who your utility is
Most of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach is served by FPL, but not all of it. Some South Florida cities run their own electric utilities, each with its own service standards, application process and engineering staff:
- Homestead: HPS Energy is the city's municipal electric utility. It builds and maintains the poles, wires, transformers and streetlights in its service area.
- Lake Worth Beach: the city provides electric and water service and asks applicants to confirm they are inside its utility service area.
- Fort Pierce: further north, Fort Pierce Utilities Authority provides municipal electric service.
- The Lower Keys: Keys Energy Services, owned by the City of Key West and governed by an elected Utility Board, serves from Key West to the Seven Mile Bridge.
If the site is in or near one of these territories, confirm the provider before the electrical engineer designs the service. Meter equipment, transformer arrangements and application steps differ between utilities. The rest of this guide uses FPL's process because it covers most of the region.
FPL's process for a new commercial service
FPL handles builder and developer requests through its Project Portal, where you apply, track the project and communicate with FPL. According to FPL's description of how it works, the sequence runs like this:
- Apply. Submit a project application through the portal.
- Project manager assigned. FPL says a project manager is assigned within two days of the application.
- Planning and design. You and FPL plan the scope, and FPL completes the design of its facilities.
- Pre-construction. Agreements are finalized and the job site is checked for readiness.
- Easements. FPL requires easements for electrical lines and equipment on private property, executed and recorded before construction starts.
- Site readiness approval. An FPL project manager must approve the site before FPL builds, including confirming the meter installation and a clear cable route.
- Construction. FPL builds its part of the work.
- Inspection. An inspection by the local authority is required for all new electric service installations before FPL energizes.
What the commercial application asks for
FPL's project type page lists, for commercial projects, site plans, electrical specifications, unit sizes, A/C tonnage, voltage requirements, transformer types, lighting plans, easements and permits. In practice that means your engineer's load information has to be real, not a placeholder. The utility designs its transformer and service around what you tell it.
What has to be ready on your side
FPL's Electric Service Standards (the August 2026 edition at the time of writing) spell out the customer's side. A few points drive most commercial schedules:
- Talk to FPL before buying gear. The standards say contact with FPL should be made before equipment is purchased and installed, to confirm service availability and FPL's designated point of delivery.
- You own the service equipment. The customer provides, installs, owns and maintains the service entrance conductors, service equipment and metering equipment cabinets. FPL provides the meter.
- FPL designates the meter location, and meter enclosures must be on FPL's approved list.
- Available fault current on request. FPL will tell the customer the available short-circuit current on request. The engineer needs this to rate the gear.
- FPL approval is not an inspection. The standards are explicit: FPL's approval does not substitute for inspection and approval by the local electrical inspection authority.
Transformer pads and vaults
Where FPL places a pad-mounted transformer on your property, its service standards set typical requirements. These include placing the transformer at least 15 feet from doors and windows (5 feet absolute minimum, with approval for anything between), no pads inside parking garages or other structures, truck access for maintenance, 20 feet of vertical clearance above the pad, a pad location not subject to flooding, and at least 10 feet from LP gas tanks. Vaults in FEMA flood zones A or V below base flood elevation carry additional coastal design criteria. The same standards note that where local ordinances require meters at or above base flood elevation, the customer must provide ready access to the meter.
These requirements shape the site plan. A transformer that has to move late because it is too close to a storefront door, or sits in a low corner of the lot, is an avoidable way to push back the service date.
Why the timeline is long, and what the GC controls
Nobody can promise a utility date. The utility has its own design queue, material supply and crews, and any scope change resets part of the process. FPL's own guidance warns that changes to the scope or schedule may jeopardize the agreed in-service date. What the GC and owner do control:
- When the application goes in. Early, with firm load data, beats late with perfect data.
- A settled site plan showing the transformer pad, meter location and conduit route that meet the utility's standards the first time.
- Easement paperwork, which needs the owner's signature and recording. It is easy to leave until someone asks.
- Customer-side construction: pad, conduits and service equipment built to the utility's specifications and ready when the utility's crew arrives.
- Inspection readiness, so the building department's approval is not the last thing standing between a finished installation and power.
- Not changing the load after the utility has designed around it.
For how the service fits into the overall build sequence, see commercial new construction electrical services.
Temporary power
Temporary construction power is its own request. FPL's seasonal (temporary service) project type covers construction sites, sales trailers and seasonal businesses. It asks for temporary electrical load diagrams and construction schedules, and FPL warns that there can be cases where temporary service is not available. Its service standards also require approved meter enclosures for temporary services. If the permanent service is months away, plan temporary power (utility or generator) as a line item from the start, not a problem to solve when the trades arrive.
Upgrading an existing service
A service upgrade on an occupied building adds one more constraint: the outage. FPL notes that upgrading FPL equipment requires a power outage while the new equipment is installed, and its disconnect/reconnect appointments must not exceed four hours. Its service standards add that a new service entrance must be inspected and approved by local authorities before service is restored. The switchover window is set by the utility, and the inspection has to fit inside the plan. Our guide to working without closing the business covers how that window is planned.
If you are not sure whether the building needs switchgear or a panelboard at the service, our explainer on what switchgear is covers the difference.
Getting the service started
The most useful thing you can do this week is get a firm load number and a site plan in front of the utility. KRW Electric (Florida license EC13012832) builds the customer side of commercial services across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. That includes service equipment, switchgear, conduit and utility coordination with the engineer of record. See commercial service and switchgear, then send us the details, or call (305) 359-7312.
Reviewed by Kyle White, KRW Electric Company LLC — licensed electrical contractor EC13012832.
