We are working on a new house somewhere in west Illinois. For the last month or so we have been doing the rough-in wiring: putting in receptacle boxes, fan boxes, switch boxes, etc.
This house is getting a 400 Amp service so yesterday I hung two 200 Amp panels. Today I put up the meter base on the outside of the house. Tomorrow we get to pull the service wires from the meter to the panels.
This will be 2 runs of 110 feet of #00 copper SER (service entry cable). The picture at the top is of a cross section. The whole cable is 1-1/2" in diameter.
The supply house brought us the wire today on two spools.
The boss said these two rolls were $1200. Each.
I'm not sure if Illinois requires copper service wire or if it's just the municipalities where we've been working.
St Louis allows you to use aluminum which is much cheaper and lighter.
Tomorrow I'm going to have to build a base so we can unspool this cable and pull it into the basement.
It promises to be a fun day!