Whole house surge protectors are a must to have. You have options on how to install them; 1 method is in the panel like advertised here, the other is before the panel at the meter, which is the method I have used in my last 5 houses. You get these through the utlity company for a small fee billed to your electric bill. It also comes with an insurance package to reimburse for damage, but the more important reasons I use at the meter surge protectors is it can save your wiring inside your panel and since you are leasing the unit from the electric company, they will come out and check on it or replace it for free if damaged (15 year warranty) and then replace it before the 15 year warranty runs out to start a new warranty. Surge protectors installed in the panel are the responsibility of the home owner after the initial install or maybe after a short warranty period. Pikes electric can elaborate on house calls or repair costs.
Many years ago we had a meter surge protector from our electric company and a crew dropped a tree over a set of high power transmission lines that caused many of our neighbors electrical boxes to start smoking and some had their microwaves, furnaces, and appliances fail because of this surge. We had no issue except the utility came out and replaced the surge protector at the meter. Surges can be caused by many different occurrences not just by lightning.
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