EmergenServe is the licensed electrical contractor Charleston homeowners and businesses call for 24/7 emergency repair, panel upgrades, EV chargers, generators, and full-service residential and commercial electrical work across the Lowcountry, on-site with same-day capability.

"Always a great experience! LaShaun is very responsive, communicative, and on time. The work was completed quickly and professionally. Highly recommend!"
We started EmergenServe out of a one-truck shop because we were tired of hearing the same story from every Charleston homeowner we met: a different electrical contractor quoted them, ghosted them, then re-quoted them at double when the breaker finally tripped for good. We built this company around the opposite habit. Pick up the phone at (843) 754-1671 and a person answers, not an answering service, not a chatbot. Give us a window and our truck pulls into your driveway inside it. The number we write on the estimate is the number on the invoice when we hand you the receipt. None of that is a tagline. It's the operating procedure that has turned us into the most-reviewed electrical contractor in Charleston, and it's the reason our schedule fills up on word of mouth alone.
We invest hard in the people who put on our shirts, because the electrical contractor at your panel is the entire experience. Every tech who rolls with us works under our active South Carolina electrical contractor license, sits through annual continuing-ed on the NEC 2026 cycle, and carries the diagnostic kit, clamp meters, thermal cameras, insulation testers, that lets us find the actual fault on the first visit instead of replacing parts until something works. That investment is why a tripping subpanel in a 1962 ranch on Maybank Highway gets the same disciplined troubleshooting as a tenant fit-out on Rivers Avenue. From residential electrical contractor service calls in West Ashley to commercial electrical contractor buildouts in the North Charleston industrial corridor, our standard does not slide.
Ten years of Lowcountry growth has stretched the grid in two directions at once, and we see both ends every week. The new construction in Cane Bay, Nexton, and Carolina Park is wired to current code for EV chargers, induction ranges, and heat-pump water heaters, but the feeders running from the substations weren't sized for streets full of two-Tesla households. Then we walk into a 1955 cottage on the upper peninsula or a brick rancher off Dorchester Road where 60-year-old cloth-insulated branch circuits are still feeding a kitchen full of modern appliances. We bridge that gap every day, from single outlet swaps to full 200-amp panel replacements and commercial new-construction wiring on multi-tenant buildings.
Charleston-based, Charleston-staffed. Our trucks roll out of a Lowcountry shop, not a national dispatch desk, and cover Mount Pleasant to Johns Island and every barrier island in between.
Lightning at 2 a.m., a tripped main during a hurricane prep, a burning-smell outlet on a holiday, our after-hours line goes to a real dispatcher who can triage and roll a truck immediately.
Outlet swap to whole-house rewire, EV charger to commercial three-phase service entrance, BAR-reviewed historic homes to brand-new builds, one number covers all of it.
Panel upgrades, recessed lighting, whole-home surge protection, EV chargers, generator interlock kits, smart switches, we live in this stuff on Lowcountry homes every day.
In a typical week we'll knock out a pre-purchase electrical inspection on a starter home in Goose Creek, wire hood interlock controls for a new restaurant on Upper King ahead of the DHEC walkthrough, run new recessed lighting and code-compliant interconnected smoke detectors through a Wild Dunes rental on Isle of Palms for a property manager who needs it inspected before the next check-in, and replace a flood-damaged subpanel in a Mount Pleasant townhome that came up short on a four-point insurance inspection. That range is what "full-service" actually looks like in the Charleston market.
Whatever the work, the front end is always the same: call (843) 754-1671 or grab a slot on the online scheduler. We confirm a window that actually works around your day, roll up in a marked truck with the right material on board, and leave you with work that will outlast the next owner. Need an electrician in Charleston County, SC, Berkeley County, or Dorchester County? We cover every municipality, unincorporated stretch, and barrier island in the tri-county.
"Electrical contractor" is a regulated term in South Carolina, it means a company licensed to design, install, and inspect electrical systems, not just a handyman with a multimeter. Here is what we hold ourselves to on every Charleston-area job, and what you should expect from any electrical contractor you hire.
We hold an active South Carolina electrical contractor license, carry general liability and workers' comp coverage that satisfies every Lowcountry GC and property manager we work with, and we'll send a current COI to your closing attorney, builder, or HOA management company the same day you ask. Hiring an unlicensed handyman is the fastest way to void a homeowners policy after a fire, it's not worth the gamble.
A real electrical contractor pulls permits in its own name and stands on the inspection. We file with the City of Charleston, Charleston County, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Berkeley County, Dorchester County, Summerville, and every smaller municipality in the tri-county. Unpermitted electrical work fails home inspections, blocks closings, and leaves homeowners holding the bag when something goes wrong years later.
Plenty of Charleston shops only do residential service calls, and plenty of others only chase commercial bid work. We do both, and we do them with the same project-managed discipline. Single dead outlet in a Hanahan rancher this morning, 400A three-phase service entrance for a Boeing-adjacent warehouse this afternoon, BAR-coordinated rewire on a downtown single tomorrow.
We design and install electrical systems for the environment they actually live in: salt-air corrosion on the barrier islands, FEMA A/VE flood-zone elevations on the peninsula, 145 mph hurricane wind loads on Isle of Palms gables, and split Dominion Energy / Berkeley Electric Co-op territory in upper Berkeley County. Generic playbooks fail down here. Local experience doesn't.
The scope of work a Charleston electrical contractor handles is wider than most homeowners realize. On the residential side that's 200-amp service and panel upgrades, Federal Pacific and Zinsco panel retirements, whole-home rewires through plaster walls and 100-year-old framing, Level 2 EV charger installs sized to the actual load calc, whole-house Generac and Kohler standby systems, whole-home surge protection, AlumiConn pigtailing for aluminum branch circuits, AFCI/GFCI code-compliance work, and pre-purchase and four-point safety inspections that insurance carriers and closing attorneys will actually accept.
On the commercial side the scope expands again, three-phase service entrance work up to 4000A, automatic transfer switch and standby generator integration, restaurant hood and Ansul interlock wiring, commercial lighting retrofits, tenant build-outs, new-construction commercial wiring, and the after-hours scheduling discipline that keeps your kitchen, sales floor, or clinic open through the upgrade. Whatever your project looks like, the right Charleston electrical contractor handles all of it under one license and one phone number.
We cover every municipality in the tri-county, Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville, North Charleston, Goose Creek, Hanahan, Moncks Corner, James Island, Johns Island, Daniel Island, and Isle of Palms, plus county-wide coverage in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties.
Whether you're restoring an 1880s single-house downtown with BAR-reviewed exterior fixtures, running a kitchen on James Island, or framing a new build out in Cane Bay, our licensed electrical contractors show up with the experience to do it right the first pass. As a full-service Charleston electrical contractor, we've been working on Lowcountry homes and businesses long enough to know what each inspector flags, which panel brands are getting denied by insurers this year, and how to wire a service entrance that survives a Category 3 wind load. No shortcuts, no second trips because somebody guessed at the load calc.
EmergenServe started in a single garage with one truck, one ladder, and one rule: treat every customer the way we'd want our own grandmother treated. That rule looks small on paper, but in practice it means somebody answers the phone every time it rings, we hit the window we promised, even when it costs us a lunch break, and we never leave a house dirtier than we found it. We've grown into a full-service Lowcountry electrical company with trucks rolling from downtown Charleston up to Moncks Corner and out to Edisto, but the rule hasn't moved. Every tech who pulls on our shirt understands it from day one: do it right, explain what you're doing in plain language, and never cut a corner you wouldn't accept on your own home. That's the only reason homeowners and shop owners keep us on speed dial year after year.
Get a QuoteThe EV wave hit Lowcountry driveways early, Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, West Ashley, and the I'On corridor are full of two-Tesla households now, and we wire two or three Level 2 chargers a week to keep up. We run a real load calc on the existing panel before we touch a circuit, because the difference between a 50-amp NEMA 14-50 and a hard-wired 60-amp circuit decides whether you'll be tripping the main every time the dryer kicks on. We've also pulled commercial Supercharger feeds for multi-family and hospitality sites. On the generator side, hurricane season is not a hypothetical down here. We install code-compliant interlock kits for portable generators, pour pads and run gas lines for whole-home Generac and Kohler standby units, and program transfer switches so the lights flicker and come back before your fridge defrosts.
Your panel is the choke point for every outlet, switch, and appliance in the house. If it's wearing a Federal Pacific, Zinsco, or Challenger label, sitting full with double-tapped breakers, or simply older than your kids, everything downstream is running on borrowed time. We don't guess at sizing, we run a full Article 220 load calculation against your actual usage, factor in the EV charger and heat pump you're planning to add next year, and spec a panel that gives you real headroom instead of a tight fit you'll outgrow before the next decade. Permit, install, and county final inspection all roll up in one price.
Lighting is the single biggest lever on how a room actually feels, and the part of the electrical scope most homeowners underspec because they buy the fixtures before they plan the layout. We map every space the way it's lived in: ambient wash for the everyday, task lighting where you actually cook or read, and accent runs that make the trim, art, and architecture do their job at night. From recessed cans laid out on a real grid above a kitchen island to dimmable wall-wash along a Charleston single-house stair hall, we wire it for the way you live in it rather than the way the showroom sketched it.
The electrical system you can't see is the one that bites. Most of the bad news we find on inspections, back-stabbed receptacles cooking themselves, double-tapped breakers, melted neutral bars, ungrounded romex jumpered into 1990s remodels, has been sitting hidden behind drywall for years. We pull panel covers, thermal-image under load, test every GFCI and AFCI, and hand you a written report with photos so you know exactly what's safe and what isn't. Pair the inspection with a Type 2 whole-home surge protector at the panel and you cut off the other major failure path: voltage spikes from lightning, Dominion Energy switching events, and big-motor cycling that quietly kill electronics one device at a time.
Most shops in the Lowcountry slap "24/7 emergency electrician" on their truck and then push every after-hours call to a third-party answering service that takes a name and promises a callback after breakfast. We don't run it that way. Our after-hours line lands with a dispatcher who has worked alongside our techs long enough to triage an emergency in real time. They'll ask what you smell, what you hear, whether the panel is warm to the back of your hand, whether breakers are sitting halfway tripped, and on the basis of those answers they will tell you to kill the main right now, isolate a single circuit, or sit tight because a truck is twenty minutes out. That conversation alone has kept dozens of Charleston-area homes from turning a wiring fault into a structure fire.
Our techs live in the neighborhoods they answer calls in. The electrician who shows up to a midnight panel fault in James Island is rolling out of a driveway twenty minutes away, not driving down from Columbia. Same goes for Mount Pleasant, Summerville, Goose Creek, and North Charleston. That proximity is not a marketing line, it shortens arrival times by half an hour on most after-hours calls, and it means the tech walking your panel already knows whether your block is on Dominion Energy or Berkeley Electric Co-op, which side of the salt-air line you sit on, and what the local inspector tends to flag.
We also follow up the next day, every time. The tech who closed the call out at 1 a.m. is the one calling the next afternoon to ask whether the temporary repair is still holding, whether anything is tripping again, and whether you're ready to talk about the underlying cause. Most overnight emergencies trace back to something we can prevent on a daytime visit: a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel that should have been retired a decade ago, an aluminum branch circuit shedding pigtails, a water heater wired without an unfused disconnect. We'll lay out the options and pricing in plain English so you can fix the actual problem instead of waiting for the next 2 a.m. failure. More on our 24-hour emergency electrician service, or call (843) 754-1671 now.
Franchise electricians work off a single playbook written for a Midwest tract home. The Lowcountry doesn't read that script, our salt air, flood plains, hurricane wind loads, BAR review boundaries, and split utility territories rewrite it on every job.
Most of the Charleston peninsula, all of the barrier islands, and a surprising amount of West Ashley and the East Cooper marsh edge sit in FEMA A or VE flood zones. Once tidal or stormwater touches a panel, an outlet box, or a length of NM cable under a crawlspace, the visible damage is the smallest part of the problem, copper terminations start corroding the moment they dry out, and trapped moisture inside conduit or device boxes cooks itself into short-circuit faults weeks after the storm cleanup truck leaves. We pull post-flood electrical assessments routinely, swap out compromised devices and conductors, and document everything for adjusters before hidden damage shows up as a fire on a sunny afternoon.
Live oaks dripping with Spanish moss are the whole reason people fall in love with the Lowcountry, and they're also the reason we replace weatherheads after every named storm. Branches resting on a service drop chew through the jacket on every gust, and a snapped limb can yank the whole service entrance straight off the gable. We coordinate with Dominion Energy (and Berkeley Electric Co-op on the upper county side) for cut-and-restore, swap the damaged SE cable, and rebuild the riser with a galvanized mast and storm-rated weatherhead that won't be the weak link next hurricane season.
Charleston's STR and long-term rental stock has exploded, and so has the regulatory scrutiny that goes with it. Duplex, triplex, and vacation rental owners are held to a tighter standard than single-family, separate metering, interconnected smoke and CO alarms, tamper-resistant receptacles in tenant spaces, GFCI on every wet location, AFCI on bedroom and living-space circuits, and unfused disconnects on every HVAC condenser. We walk multi-unit properties end to end, write up exactly what's failing, and bring it to current code so the next tenant complaint, fire marshal visit, or insurance audit doesn't land on the owner.
Lowcountry insurance carriers, especially after the last two hurricane seasons, are demanding four-point and full electrical inspections as a condition of renewal. Federal Pacific, Zinsco, Challenger, and certain Square D panels can sink a policy by themselves; ungrounded two-prong circuits, knob-and-tube remnants in older Mount Pleasant and downtown homes, and undocumented DIY add-ons close behind. We've watched real estate closings stall on a Friday because of an electrical finding nobody flagged until the buyer's inspector pulled the panel cover. We write the assessment, do the corrective work, and hand you the documentation closing attorneys and underwriters actually accept.
The way we handle a single dead outlet is the same way we handle a full commercial buildout, written estimate, permit pulled, clean jobsite, warranty in your inbox. Here is exactly what you should expect from us on day one.
Written, itemized estimates before we lift a tool. We walk the property with you, work out the actual scope, and email a quote that breaks out labor, materials, and permit fees line by line, no "miscellaneous" lump sums and no "we'll figure it out as we go." If we open a wall or pull a panel cover and find something the original walkthrough couldn't catch, we stop, photograph it, and call you before the cost moves. You will never get a surprise number on the back end. That is the single biggest reason homeowners in Charleston, North Charleston, Hanahan, and Summerville call us back project after project, they've already paid the lesson of trusting a vague bid from another contractor once.
We pull the permits and meet the inspector ourselves. Almost any electrical work past swapping a like-for-like receptacle requires a permit somewhere in the tri-county, and depending on the parcel, that "somewhere" might be the City of Charleston, Charleston County, the Town of Mount Pleasant, the City of North Charleston, Berkeley County, Dorchester County, or one of the smaller municipal permit centers. Unpermitted work voids homeowners' insurance, derails closings, and leaves you holding the bag if anything goes wrong. We file the permit, schedule the rough-in and final inspections, and stand on the jobsite to walk the inspector through. You never have to call a building department.
Clean jobsites, every visit, every time. Our trucks carry drop cloths, shoe covers, and HEPA shop vacs because the customer paying for skilled electrical work shouldn't be vacuuming drywall dust out of a sofa afterward. The rule applies whether we're swapping a single outlet installation or running a multi-week whole-home rewire through plaster walls. We bag wire clippings, sweep behind ourselves, and walk through with you before we load up.
Workmanship warranty in writing on every invoice. If a connection backs out, a device we installed quits, a fixture we supplied fails, or anything tied to our scope acts up after we leave, we come back and make it right, no service-call charge, no argument about whether it's covered. Our warranty spells out exactly what's included: every part we supplied and every labor hour to put it back the way it was promised. For Charleston-area homeowners who have already paid a contractor that disappeared the morning after the check cleared, that piece of paper is the difference between a vendor and a relationship.
Long-term relationships, not one-and-done invoices. Plenty of our regulars in Isle of Palms, Johns Island, Moncks Corner, and Daniel Island book us once a year the same way they book HVAC maintenance. We torque every breaker lug to spec, thermal-image the panel under load, test GFCI and AFCI trip times, pressure-test the smoke-CO interconnect, and write up the small stuff that hasn't failed yet. That documentation is gold when an insurance carrier comes asking, and it keeps a thousand-dollar repair from becoming a five-thousand-dollar emergency.
Permits, inspections, and licensed electricians for every Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester County community.
Practical electrical guides written by licensed Charleston electricians.
Knob-and-tube wiring, outdated panels, and coastal corrosion put historic Charleston homes at risk. Here are 15 hidden hazards every Lowcountry homeowner should know.
Hiring a Charleston electrician? Ask these 5 essential questions about licensing, local experience, pricing, warranties, and safety before you sign.
Tripping breakers, flickering lights, warm outlets? Spot the 7 signs your Charleston home's electrical system is overloaded — and how to fix it safely.
Top 10 reasons your Charleston home's lights keep tripping — from overloaded circuits to salt-air corrosion. 24/7 electrician fixes it fast.
Charleston's salt air and humidity destroy outdoor electrical components fast. Learn the 7 most common mistakes Lowcountry homeowners make and how to fix them.
Truth about electrical panel upgrades in Charleston, SC. From salt air corrosion to historic home safety — when you really need one.
Grab a no-obligation consultation or ask for a same-day on-site estimate. Our dispatch line stays staffed around the clock, including weekends, holidays, and the middle of a tropical system, because a tripped main, a dead panel, or a burning-smell outlet doesn't take a number and wait until Monday. Tell us what's going on and we'll get a Charleston electrician headed your way.
Get a QuoteFill out the form below and our team will get back to you promptly to answer any questions. If you would like to schedule now, you can take a look at our online calendar and BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT ONLINE.
Emergency Services Available 24/7