Centennial Electricians and Electrical Contractors

Flowers Electric's Centennial electricians repair, upgrade and add on to the electrical systems in homes and businesses across the City of Centennial. We're a licensed and insured electrical contractor, and our shop in Aurora is a short drive north of most Centennial neighborhoods.

Centennial is a young city with older houses. It only incorporated in 2001, but Census figures put the median home here at about 1984, and roughly four in ten homes were built before 1980. That age is what drives most of our calls: panels that are full, circuits asked to carry far more than they were designed for, and, in some neighborhoods, the wiring material itself.

Homes From the 1960s and 1970s

Neighborhoods like Cherry Knolls, Southglenn, Walnut Hills and the Knolls were largely built between the early 1960s and the late 1970s, according to Arapahoe County assessor records. Willow Creek, Homestead, Foxridge and Smoky Hill followed around 1980, and Piney Creek and the eastern subdivisions mostly date from the late 1980s and 1990s.

That timeline matters because of aluminum branch wiring. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notes that homes wired between 1965 and the mid-1970s may contain it, and that aluminum-wired outlets and switches are far more likely to overheat at the connections than copper ones. Not every house from that era has it, and having it doesn't mean the house must be rewired. Here's what we do:

• Look first. We check the cable markings at the panel and at a few devices to see what you actually have.
• Fix the connections. The trouble spots are the terminations, so the usual repair is connecting copper pigtails to each aluminum conductor with connectors listed for the job.
• Plan the rest. If other problems turn up, such as warm cover plates or flickering, we deal with those before anything cosmetic.

Our repair and troubleshooting service is the place to start, and our article on signs of bad wiring lists the warning signs worth acting on.

Panels That Have Run Out of Room

A panel installed in 1972 was sized for a 1972 house. Add central air, a kitchen remodel, a hot tub and an electric vehicle, and it's easy to run out of breaker spaces, capacity or both. A panel replacement or service upgrade fixes that, and a load calculation shows if you need a bigger service or simply a better panel. Pairing the upgrade with a whole-home surge protector adds protection for every circuit at the same visit.

Xcel or CORE: Check Before a Service Upgrade

Centennial is split between two electric providers. The city lists both Xcel Energy and CORE Electric Cooperative, and its property search shows which one serves a given parcel. In general the eastern neighborhoods, including Piney Creek and Smoky Hill, are on CORE, while Southglenn, Walnut Hills, Willow Creek and the Dry Creek area are on Xcel, but the line isn't a single street, so check your bill.

The provider matters whenever the meter has to come out: a service upgrade, a meter base replacement or solar. The city's own solar checklist, for example, asks CORE customers to upload their CORE interconnection application with the permit.

Permits Through the City of Centennial

The City of Centennial Building Division, at 13133 E. Arapahoe Road, issues permits and performs inspections. It brought those services in house in 2022, and it requires a permit for any work on electrical systems. Permits are filed through the city's online self-service portal and must name a licensed electrician; inspectors can confirm who is doing the work on site.

The city currently lists the 2023 National Electrical Code. Electrical contractors register with the city by showing their Colorado contractor and master licenses, and there's no city fee for that registration.

Not Every "Centennial" Landmark Is in the City

Centennial Airport and the Inverness area both sit in unincorporated Arapahoe County, not inside city limits, so work there is permitted by the county. The Dry Creek office parks and The Streets at SouthGlenn are inside the city. For tenant finish, lighting retrofits and equipment circuits in either place, see our commercial electrical service; our article on commercial work near the Tech Center covers the office corridor to the north.

HOAs, Chargers and Solar

Many Centennial neighborhoods have an HOA or civic association. Colorado law keeps an association from banning a Level 1 or Level 2 EV charger at an owner's expense or effectively prohibiting solar, though it can set reasonable rules on placement and appearance. The city's permit doesn't replace HOA approval, so it's worth sending your association the plan while we prepare the permit.

Setting Up Service in Centennial

Call 720-390-2077 with your Centennial address and a short description of the problem or project. Estimates are free. If something is sparking, smells hot or has lost power, call any time; we take emergency calls 24/7. For smoke, fire or a downed line, call 911 first.