Service
Electrical panel upgrade: when you actually need one
The decision is a load calculation, a hazard-era product, damage, or a utility service change. Age, by itself, is not a reason.
Written by HyreElectrical Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
When you actually need one — and when you do not
Four reasons to replace a panel. A long list of reasons that are not those four. Age appears in neither column on its own.
You likely need the work
The calculated load exceeds the rating. A licensed electrician runs the adopted edition of NFPA 70, Article 220, against the nameplates in the house. If that number does not fit the panel or the service, the equipment is undersized for what the house is asking of it. That is the decision. Our electrical load calculator is a neighbourhood check in that shape. It is not a stamped load calculation.
The product is a hazard-era design — Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, or a Zinsco / Sylvania-Zinsco panel. Those are named products with a published record. They are not a synonym for “old.” Identification and what to do with a Stab-Lok live on replacing a Federal Pacific panel.
The panel is damaged — heat marks, rusted bus, flood, fire, a breaker that will not hold. Those are condition findings. They are diagnosed on site, not from a closed-door photograph. Burning, sparking or a breaker that will not stay reset is a stop, not a shopping list, and it belongs in the triage on the electrical repair page before it belongs in a panel quote.
The utility service itself is changing — a larger drop, a relocated meter, overhead converted to underground, a service the utility will no longer support in its current form. That job has a second party on the calendar, and their bill is not the electrician’s.
You likely do not
Cosmetic. A scuffed cover, faded directory, or a panel that “looks dated” in a listing photograph is not a load problem and is not a hazard-era product. Paint is not a service upgrade.
“The inspector said it’s old.” Age is a construction-era clue, useful for knowing which products were on the market. It is not a calculation and it is not a defect. Ask which finding — load, listing, damage, or a named product — the comment was actually about.
Wanting 200 A because that is what new houses get. 200 A is a common answer. It is not the only service size, and it is sometimes more than the calculation supports. Occasionally it is less. 150 A exists; 320 A and 400 A are a different job.
A single small 120-volt circuit when the calculation still has spare demand and the panel still has a listed space. That is an add-a-circuit conversation until someone opens the cover and finds otherwise.
HyreElectrical does not replace the panel
HyreElectrical is an information site and a matching project. It does not pull permits, land service conductors, set or remove meters, or size equipment. Nothing on this page is a stamped load calculation, a quote, or a reason to open a live panel. Service work is licensed work.
We hold verified contractor records in five states — Florida, Utah, Nevada, California and Texas. Of 16,369 companies counted on 5 September 2026, 12,114 — 74% — are in Florida. That is a fact about our store, not a census of the trade, and not a promise we can match every zip code. Matching is still being built. Submitting the enquiry form is not a service call.
The load calculation is the decision
A service and a panel are rated in amperes. What the house asks of them is a calculated number, not a vibe from the cover. NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, is the model. Article 220 is where dwelling-unit load is calculated. Your city or county adopts an edition of that model and may amend it. This page does not declare your house illegal.
The optional calculation for a dwelling unit — the shape published as 220.82 in current editions — is the one most residential conversations actually use. In outline, and this is a simplification, not a reproduction of the article: general lighting at 3 VA per square foot; a 4,500 VA allowance for the small-appliance and laundry circuits; fastened-in-place appliances at nameplate; then 100% of the first 10 kVA of that general pile and 40% of the remainder; then the largest heating or cooling load at 100%; then EV supply equipment treated as a continuous load at 125%. The optional method is for a dwelling served by a single 120/240-volt or 208Y/120-volt, 3-wire service rated 100 A or greater. Other occupancies, and services below that floor, are a different calculation.
That 100 A floor is not a marketing default. Model-code section 230.79(C) requires the service disconnecting means on a one-family dwelling to be rated not less than 100 A, 3-wire. A 60 A service on an older house may have been legal when it was installed; it is below the current one-family floor. That still does not make every 100 A panel a 200 A job. 100 A is the minimum for a new one-family service, not a sentence of obsolescence.
An existing house has a second optional path in the same article: the previous twelve months of measured demand, taken at 125%. Electricians use it when the utility can produce the record. It is not a substitute for nameplates on a house that is about to add a heat pump and a charger. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, writing in the Journal of Building Engineering in 2026, estimated that a meter-based reading of that headroom is often larger than the summing method — which is the point of 220.87 existing. The summing method is conservative on purpose.
The same paper estimated that 31% of U.S. single-family homes have panels rated 100 A or smaller (29% at 100 A, 2% below), that 55% sit at 200 A, and that 3% sit above 200 A. Those are stock estimates, not a reason your house is fine or condemned. They are here so “everyone is on 200 A now” can be checked against a national-lab figure rather than against a van door.
Our load calculator follows that optional-calculation shape. It is labelled on the tool itself as not a stamped load calc. A jurisdiction-adopted edition, the actual nameplates, and a licence are what get a calculation onto a permit set.
A worked example, on the published simplification
HyreElectrical calculation, from the same arithmetic the load calculator ships, on the tool’s own default nameplates: 2,000 sq ft, 8,000 VA range, 5,000 VA dryer, 4,500 VA water heater, 6,000 VA HVAC, no EV. General load is 28,000 VA. First 10 kVA at 100% plus 40% of the remaining 18,000 VA is 17,200 VA; HVAC at 100% brings the total to 23,200 VA, or 96.7 A at 240 V.
On those inputs a 100 A service is close, not automatically condemned. Add a 32 A EV charger at 125% continuous and the same arithmetic produces 136.7 A — over 100 A, under 150 A, and not yet a 200 A sentence. Swap the 32 A charger for a 48 A unit (a 60 A class circuit at 125%) and it produces 156.7 A — over 150 A, under 200 A. Change the nameplates and the sentence changes. That is the point of running the numbers before anyone orders a 200 A load centre.
This is an illustration of the published simplification. It is not the calculation an electrician stamps, and it is not a reason to open the panel yourself.
Hazard-era products are a different reason
“Old” and “Federal Pacific / Zinsco” are not the same sentence. A 40-year-old panel of a currently listed design, with a healthy bus, spare spaces and a calculation that fits, is old. A Stab-Lok is a named product with a federal investigation behind it. Treating every pre-1990 cover as a Stab-Lok is how people replace the wrong panel and leave the dangerous one in place.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission closed its investigation of Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok residential circuit breakers on 3 March 1983. Commission testing had confirmed that sampled breakers failed certain UL calibration tests. The Commission closed the matter because the data then available did not establish that the breakers posed a serious risk of injury, and staff said it had insufficient data to accept or refute the manufacturer’s position. A 2011 revision of that release tells electricians, homeowners, inspectors and real-estate agents to read it carefully: the Commission closed without making a determination as to the safety of FPE circuit breakers. That is the federal record. It is not a clean bill, and it is not a recall.
Zinsco, including panels sold as Sylvania-Zinsco, is a different product with a different connection geometry. We are not aware of a CPSC recall of Zinsco residential panels. Inspectors and some insurers flag both families anyway. The flag is a reason to have a licensed electrician identify the equipment and say what the calculation and the condition actually require — not a reason to use “old panel” as a synonym for either brand.
A hazard-era finding can produce a same-amp interior replacement. It can also land on a service change if the calculation, the utility, or the adopted emergency-disconnect rule requires one. Those are stacked decisions, not one. Identification, the failure mechanism, and what replacement actually involves for Stab-Lok equipment are the job of the Federal Pacific replacement page. This page will not duplicate that work. Aluminium branch wiring, which CPSC has published on separately and which is a wiring method rather than a panel brand, is a rewire conversation when it is in the walls. Swapping the load centre does not remediate aluminium branch connections. One thing a replacement can bring with it, in a jurisdiction on a recent code edition, is a whole-home surge device — the model-code section that requires it applies again when service equipment is replaced.
Amps and spaces fail independently
A 200 A panel can be full. A 100 A panel can have empty slots and still fail a load calculation. Those are two shortages, and they have different repairs. Marketing that treats “panel upgrade” as one product is how a spaces problem gets sold as a service change, and how a service that is already too small gets a subpanel instead of a larger drop.
Every new circuit needs a space. A dedicated 240-volt breaker usually wants two adjacent spaces. Tandem (twin) breakers are not a free doubling of every slot — only in panels and positions listed for them. Two conductors under a lug listed for one is a double-tap: a defect, not a spare. Counting from a closed-door photograph misses both.
The 2026 LBNL / National Renewable Energy Laboratory paper estimated that 22% of all U.S. single-family panels have zero breaker spaces remaining, including about 20% of 200 A panels. Homes with larger panels tend to have more spare slots, which is what you would expect from a physically larger bus — and still, one in five 200 A interiors in that estimate is full. An energy-management system can cap current. It does not create a slot. A subpanel can add slots. It does not add service capacity.
When the service still has spare demand and the panel is out of listed spaces, a subpanel adds spaces, or a same-amp interior with more spaces replaces the full bus. If the calculation already overshoots the service, a subpanel rearranges the furniture in a room that is too small. Count spaces on the panel space checker; run amps on the load calculator; do not let one answer stand in for the other.
The shortage, and the job it actually is
| What is short | What is not | The job |
|---|---|---|
| Calculated load over the service or panel rating | Empty slots on the bus | Service and/or panel upgrade. The utility is usually involved. |
| No listed spaces, tandems already in play, or a double-tap | Spare demand on the calculation | Subpanel, or a new interior with more spaces, at the same amp rating. |
| A named hazard-era product (FPE Stab-Lok; Zinsco / Sylvania-Zinsco) | Mere age of a listed design | Replace the load centre. Same amps is a possible outcome. See the FPE page. |
| Heat, rust, flood, fire, a breaker that will not hold | A scuffed cover | Replace the damaged equipment. Size still follows the calculation. |
| Utility dropping, relocating or converting the service | A customer-side circuit you wanted to add | Service change. Second bill, second calendar. |
Amps, spaces, product family, condition and the utility service are five different findings. A quote that names only “panel upgrade” has not chosen among them.
A licensed electrician looking at the installation makes the call. This table is a map of the conversation, not a diagnosis.
Four jobs that get sold as one upgrade
A bid that says “panel upgrade” without choosing among these is not yet a scope. They cost differently because they involve the utility differently, and because the enclosure on the wall is not always the enclosure the adopted code now wants.
- Interior-only replacement (same amps)
- The load centre is swapped — bus, breakers, often the enclosure — and the service rating does not change. Hazard-era replacement and damage replacement often look like this. The utility may still need to pull and reseat the meter. The drop, the lateral and the transformer may not move.
- Service change (ampacity change)
- The incoming service is resized. The utility is a party. The meter socket, mast or lateral, and often the transformer, move with it. This is a different job from replacing the box on the wall, even when both happen on the same day.
- Meter-main / combination service equipment
- A meter socket and a main breaker in one outdoor enclosure, sometimes with branch breakers in the same can (a combination service-entrance device). Where the adopted NEC edition requires an outdoor emergency disconnect (230.85), a service change often lands on this shape rather than an indoor main-breaker panel alone.
- Subpanel only
- The service and the main panel stay. A second load centre is added for spaces or a detached structure. Cheaper than a service upgrade when the constraint is spaces, not amps. Count spaces before treating a full 200 A panel as a service problem.
100 A, 150 A, 200 A and 320–400 A are distinct jobs
Contractor marketing treats “upgrade to 200 amp” as the name of the trade. The work is more various than that. 100 A, 150 A, 200 A and 320–400 A are not four prices for the same afternoon. They are different equipment, different utility involvement, and — on a real calculation — different answers.
100 A. Still a legal one-family floor under model-code 230.79(C), and still a large share of the stock: the 2026 LBNL / NREL estimate put 29% of U.S. single-family homes at 100 A, with another 2% below. A 100 A service that passes the adopted Article 220 method, with listed spaces remaining and a currently listed interior, is not a 200 A job because a neighbour has one. A 100 A service that fails the calculation by twenty or thirty amperes is not automatically a 200 A job either — 150 A exists. A 60 A or 100 A service that the utility will no longer support in its current form is a service change regardless of the calculation, because the second party on the calendar has said so.
150 A. It is a catalogue size, not a compromise. Square D Homeline, Eaton BR and Siemens still list 150 A main-breaker load centres. On a calculation that lands in the teens or thirties above 100 A — the 136.7 A illustration on this page, for example — 150 A is sometimes the honest rating. It is less common as a default than 200 A, which is a fact about what gets stocked and what gets quoted, not about what the article requires. Pacific Gas and Electric’s residential underground-service construction standard (Document 063927, Rev. 27, 4 September 2025) bands utility-side equipment as 100–125 A and 200–225 A; 150 A sits on the customer side of that conversation as a panel rating the utility may or may not treat as its own next step. Ask. Do not assume 150 A is “not a real size” because the quote only knew 200.
200 A. The usual landing for a house that is adding a heat pump, a range, a dryer and a charger and whose calculation supports it. Usual is not automatic. A 200 A interior with no spare spaces is still a spaces problem. A 200 A service that the utility is converting from overhead to underground is still a utility job, even if the ampacity does not change. 200 A is the size most people have heard. It is not a diagnosis.
320 A and 400 A. PG&E Document 063927 lists 320 A and 400 A alongside 100–125 A and 200–225 A as residential service-equipment ratings on an upgrade path. What people call a “400-amp service” is commonly a Class 320 meter — 320 A continuous — often feeding two 200 A panels, each with its own main. The 320 A continuous rating is the meter and socket’s continuous-duty figure; 400 A is the non-continuous / calculated-load figure the same equipment is used for. That pairing is why the two numbers appear together on quotes. A single 400 A main-breaker residential load centre is uncommon hardware; the usual shape is a Class 320 meter-main with two 200 A disconnects, or a 400 A meter-main feeding two interiors. That is a different day of work from swapping a 100 A load centre in a garage, a different utility conversation, and a different second bill.
Austin Energy’s published CIAC schedule, last reviewed 26 February 2026, prices the difference in the open: a residential overhead 200 A meter, up to 75 feet of service wire, is $400.00; a residential overhead 320 A meter, up to 55 feet, is also $400.00; underground 200 A up to 150 feet is $800.00; underground 320 A up to 150 feet is $1,600.00. Those are Austin Energy’s figures for Austin Energy territory. They are here so “320 A is just a bigger 200 A” can be read against a utility that bothers to price them as different rows.
If a quote only knows 100-to-200, ask which of the above it actually is, and whether the utility has been asked.
Four ratings, four conversations
| Rating | What it usually is | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| 100 A | One-family floor under model 230.79(C). LBNL/NREL 2026: 29% of U.S. single-family homes at 100 A, 2% below. Keep-and-calculate is a real outcome. | Not “obsolete.” Not automatically a 200 A job because a listing photo looks dated. |
| 150 A | A listed main-breaker size. Honest landing when the calculation sits above 100 A and below 150 A. | Not a contractor’s way of saying “we could not get 200 A stock.” Not absent from the catalogues. |
| 200 A | The common new-house and common-upgrade rating. PG&E 063927 bands utility equipment at 200–225 A on the upgrade path. | Not the only answer. A full 200 A bus is a spaces problem. A 200 A service the utility is converting is still a utility job. |
| 320–400 A | Commonly a Class 320 meter (320 A continuous) feeding two 200 A panels. PG&E lists 320 A and 400 A as distinct residential ratings. | Not a slightly larger 200 A afternoon. Not a single indoor 400 A load centre in most houses. |
Ratings as jobs, not as a price ladder. The calculation, the listed spaces, the product family and the utility’s service standard choose among them.
HyreElectrical analysis of model-code 230.79(C), LBNL/NREL 2026 stock estimates, PG&E Document 063927 Rev. 27 (4 September 2025), and manufacturer catalogues as of retrieval. Not a diagnosis of your house.
Interior-only replacement is not a service change
The phrase “panel upgrade” hides a fork that decides the calendar, the second bill, and often the enclosure. One side of the fork never asks the utility to resize anything. The other side cannot proceed until the utility has a work order.
Interior-only means the load centre on the customer side of the meter is replaced at the same ampacity. The bus, the breakers and often the can come out; a listed interior of the same rating goes in. Hazard-era replacement, flood or fire damage, a rusted bus, and a full 200 A panel that still has spare demand are the usual reasons. The utility may still have to pull the meter so the incoming lugs can be landed dead, and it will reseat the meter after inspection. Pulling a meter is not a service change. Florida Power & Light’s Electric Service Standards, and FPL’s tariff language on who may set or remove meters, are typical of the industry: only authorised agents of the company, or persons authorised by law, set or remove meters. Book the pull. Do not treat it as optional, and do not treat it as proof the drop is being resized.
A service change resizes or relocates what the utility delivers: a larger drop or lateral, a new meter socket, a converted overhead-to-underground run, a transformer contribution, a relocated point of attachment. The electrician’s scope then includes the customer-owned service-entrance conductors, the mast or the underground raceway on the customer side, grounding and bonding to the adopted edition, and usually a new meter socket or meter-main the utility will accept. The utility’s scope is everything it owns, on its tariff, on its calendar. Conflating the two is how a same-amp interior quote and a 100-to-200 underground conversion get compared as if they were the same line item.
Seattle City Light’s DPP 500 (effective 25 June 2025) writes the fork in tariff language. A rewire with no increase in service size is listed at $0.00 amp fee. A new 200 A, 120/240 V single-phase service has an amp fee of $6.36 per amp against a 200 A credit — which arithmetic, on SCL’s own example, is also $0.00 — plus a standard service charge of $1,436.00 overhead or $5,273.00 underground. The amp fee is not the whole bill; the standard charge is. The point for this page is the distinction SCL bothers to print: same-size rewire and new or upsized service are different rows.
Ask, at estimate, which side of the fork the bid is on. “Panel upgrade” is not an answer. Same amps, new interior, utility meter pull only — or a service change, with a named utility work order. If the electrician cannot say, the quote is not yet a scope. The cost page is where the two invoices are itemised; this page only needs you to refuse to add them together in your head.
Meter-main, combination equipment, and the outdoor disconnect
A meter socket is not a panel. A meter-main is not a combination service-entrance device. An indoor main-breaker load centre is not an emergency disconnect. Those four enclosures get used interchangeably in quotes, and they are not interchangeable on the wall.
Meter socket. The enclosure the utility’s meter plugs into. The customer typically owns the socket; the utility owns the meter. A socket with no overcurrent device is not the service disconnect. Conductors on the load side of a meter-only socket are still service conductors until they land on a disconnect.
Meter-main. A meter socket and a main breaker (or a pair of mains) in one enclosure, almost always outdoors, almost always a NEMA 3R can. The main is the service disconnect. From there, four-wire feeders run to an indoor load centre, or branch circuits leave the same can if the interior is built for them. This is the shape a great many service changes now take, because the adopted code often wants the disconnect outdoors.
Combination service-entrance device (CSED / combo). Meter, main, and a row of branch-circuit breakers in one outdoor enclosure. A combo can be the whole service equipment for a small house or a garage. It is still a meter-main; it is also the panel. Indoor load centres remain common on larger houses, fed from a meter-main that does not itself hold the branch breakers. “Combo” in a quote should mean this can, not “whatever we stock.”
The 2020 National Electrical Code added section 230.85 for one- and two-family dwellings: all service conductors shall terminate in disconnecting means having a short-circuit current rating equal to or greater than the available fault current, installed in a readily accessible outdoor location. If more than one disconnect is provided, they shall be grouped. Each disconnect is one of three listed types, and each has a required marking: a service disconnect marked “EMERGENCY DISCONNECT, SERVICE DISCONNECT”; a meter disconnect installed per 230.82(3) marked “EMERGENCY DISCONNECT, METER DISCONNECT, NOT SERVICE EQUIPMENT”; or another listed disconnect on the supply side of the service disconnect, suitable for use as service equipment, marked “EMERGENCY DISCONNECT, NOT SERVICE EQUIPMENT.” The 2020 text is the model. The 2023 edition added a replacement rule — where service equipment is replaced, the section applies, with an exception for replacing only the meter socket, service-entrance conductors, or related raceways and fittings.
Whether 230.85 applies to your house is the edition your jurisdiction adopted, plus local amendments, plus whether this job is a service-equipment replacement or an interior-only swap that leaves the service equipment in place. Florida’s statewide adoption, on the IAEI table checked 5 September 2026, is the 2020 NEC; the 2023 Florida Building Code that references it took effect 31 December 2023. Marion County’s building official, writing after that date, said the outdoor emergency disconnect had not been consistently enforced on service changes, and pointed to the 2023 NEC’s replacement language as the correction. Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections FAQ PB_037 (published 22 May 2026) treats 230.85 as triggered by new service installations and existing service upgrades — “replacing a 100-amp service with a 200-amp service” is the example it gives — and not by every interior device swap. Those are two named offices reading the same model section. Your building department is the authority.
Practical consequence: a “panel upgrade” that is actually a service change, in a 2020-or-later NEC jurisdiction, is often a meter-main on the exterior and a new indoor load centre, not a new box in the utility room with the meter left where it was. Who owns the mast, where the meter may sit, and which meter-main SKUs the utility will energise are utility rules, not preferences. A bid that prices an indoor 200 A Homeline and is silent on 230.85, in a jurisdiction that has adopted it, has not finished the scope.
Two bills: the electrician, then often the utility
A panel upgrade that stays on the customer side of the meter is one invoice. A service upgrade that changes the drop, the lateral, the transformer or the meter socket is two. Conflating them is why a “panel” number turns into a surprise.
The electrician’s bill covers the load centre, the customer-side conductors, grounding and bonding, the breakers, making-good of finishes, the permit they pull, and their labour. What moves that number — access, the length of the run, whether the enclosure can be reused, whether a subpanel is in the scope, whether the adopted code wants a meter-main — belongs on the cost page and in the project-cost calculator, which will not invent a national average either. Type the bid.
The utility’s bill is a different instrument: contribution in aid of construction, excess of a tariff allowance, a charge to replace an overhead lateral with underground, a fee to relocate a meter. It is assessed under that utility’s filed tariff, not under the electrician’s estimate. This site has a research topic on those charges that rests on a source we have not confirmed is retrievable, so this page does not publish a national utility-fee average and does not claim findings from that study. ELE-66 is CHECK-blocked. What follows is four named utilities, quoted from their own pages, retrieved 5 September 2026. Do not average them.
Pacific Gas and Electric. Electric Rule 15, Sheet 9 (Cal. P.U.C. Sheet 57207-E, Advice 7158-E, effective 28 February 2024) sets the residential allowance for distribution-line extensions, service extensions, or a combination, at $3,255.00 per meter or residential dwelling unit. Rule 16 applies that allowance to the service facilities first; any excess of estimated installed cost over the allowance is the applicant’s to pay, in advance of the work. Plug-in-EV charging costs above the residential allowance are treated, in the same sheet, as common facility costs paid by PG&E — a narrower carve-out, not a general waiver. Mixed-fuel new construction lost the electric line-extension allowance from 1 July 2024.
Austin Energy. For residential services that do not need a design, the utility’s contribution-in-aid-of-construction schedule (page last reviewed 26 February 2026) charges $400.00 for overhead service with a standard 200 A meter, up to 75 feet of service wire; $800.00 for underground service with a standard 200 A meter, up to 150 feet; $400.00 for overhead 320 A, up to 55 feet; $1,600.00 for underground 320 A, up to 150 feet; and $200.00 for a standard single-phase meter up to 320 A where the service wire is already provided. Specialty metering is actual cost. Where an Austin Energy design is required, meter and service-wire charges fold into the line-extension total. Austin Energy, under City Council Resolution 20140612-057, collects the estimated cost of line extensions from the applicant, with an affordable-housing exemption. That is Austin’s rule, not a national one.
Seattle City Light. DPP 500, effective 25 June 2025, publishes standard service charges of $1,436.00 for 0–200 A overhead single-phase and $5,273.00 for 0–200 A underground single-phase. A separate amp fee of $6.36 per amp, with a 200 A credit on 120/240 V single-phase, applies when requested amps exceed the credit; SCL’s own worked example of a new 200 A, 120/240 V single-phase service produces a $0.00 amp fee. A rewire with no increase in service size is listed at $0.00 amp fee. The amp fee is separate from the standard charge. Do not quote the $0.00 amp-fee example as “Seattle is free.”
Florida Power & Light. Twenty-Sixth Revised Sheet 4.020, effective 1 January 2026, is a different document: $12.00 to connect initial service, $8.00 to connect an existing account, $4.00 to reconnect after non-payment. Those are account-connection charges. They are not the contribution for upgraded facilities, which FPL’s tariff treats under a separate section implementing Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.064. FPL’s Electric Service Standards also state that only authorised agents of the company, or persons authorised by law, set or remove meters. A homeowner who has been quoted “the FPL fee” should ask which tariff sheet the number came from.
Ask the electrician, at estimate, whether the utility has been notified and what that second bill has historically been in this territory. Their answer will be local. A blog average will not.
Four utilities, their own numbers
| Utility | What the figure is | Amount | What it is not |
|---|---|---|---|
| PG&E | Rule 15/16 residential allowance, applied to service facilities first | $3,255.00 per meter | Not the invoice. Costs above the allowance are the applicant’s. |
| Austin Energy | Residential overhead 200 A CIAC, ≤75 ft of service wire, no design required | $400.00 | Not an electrician’s price; not a 400 A job. |
| Austin Energy | Residential underground 200 A CIAC, ≤150 ft, no design required | $800.00 | Not a national underground average. |
| Austin Energy | Residential underground 320 A CIAC, ≤150 ft | $1,600.00 | Austin Energy’s 320 A row, not a 200 A row. |
| Seattle City Light | Standard 0–200 A overhead single-phase service charge (DPP 500) | $1,436.00 | Amp fee is extra if requested amps exceed the credit. |
| Seattle City Light | Standard 0–200 A underground single-phase service charge | $5,273.00 | A rewire with no size increase is listed at $0 amp fee. |
| Florida Power & Light | Connection of initial service / existing account / reconnect after non-payment (Sheet 4.020) | $12.00 / $8.00 / $4.00 | Account-connection charges, not CIAC for upgraded facilities. |
Quoted from each utility’s tariff, CIAC schedule or miscellaneous-charge sheet, retrieved 5 September 2026.
A fifth utility would not make this a national table. ELE-66 remains unpublished. Do not average these rows. HyreElectrical does not perform electrical work and does not invoice either bill.
Process, permit and inspection
Three parties, in order. The utility’s calendar is usually the long pole when the service itself moves.
- 01 Calculate, then look
Nameplates and the adopted Article 220 method first. Then the cover comes off — spaces, tandems, double-taps, brand, condition, whether the service equipment is indoor or already a meter-main. Do not open a live panel yourself to fill in a form. Live service work is licensed work.
- 02 A written scope that names the job
Interior-only at the same amps; 100 A, 150 A, 200 A or 320–400 A as the landing; subpanel; meter-main or indoor load centre; service upgrade; or some stack of those. Who repairs drywall. What happens if the run is longer than it looked. A single line that says “panel upgrade” is not a scope.
- 03 Permit, pulled by the electrician
Panel replacement and service changes are permitted work in the jurisdictions this page sampled. Like-for-like device swaps often are not. The building department is the authority. Vagueness about who pulls the permit is a warning sign, not a negotiation tactic.
- 04 Utility notification, if the meter or the service moves
A meter pull, a new socket, a larger drop or an underground conversion is the utility’s work on the utility’s calendar. FPL’s tariff, as one example, forbids anyone but its agents or persons authorised by law from setting or removing meters. Book this before you book the outage. Interior-only still often needs the pull; a service change needs a work order.
- 05 Outage, work, inspection, reconnect
The house goes dark for the window the scope requires. The inspector is a second qualified person looking at the work, including 230.85 markings where that section applies. The utility reseats the meter after a pass, not after a text saying it is done. Rework is a second outage. What a long unplanned outage costs a household, from EIA duration data, is the outage cost tool.
Permit fees are local. Here are four that we opened.
| Jurisdiction | Published line | Amount | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade County, Florida | Minimum fee for electrical permits | $227.90 | 5 September 2026 |
| Miami-Dade County | G067 — repair or upgrade of an existing electrical service | $7.26 per 100 A | 5 September 2026 |
| Miami-Dade County | G045 — panel board, switchboard, control panel | $32.21 per board | 5 September 2026 |
| Miami-Dade County | G142 ELEX — change-out of current electrical panel (homesteaded residential hardening) | $28.63 per board | 5 September 2026 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | Residential electrical permit, base fee (SLC Code 18.36.100) | $59.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Salt Lake City | Service change or alteration (18.36.100) | $40.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Salt Lake City | Service change with 1 or 2 new circuits (18.36.100) | $40.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Houston, Texas | Meter loop and service, up to and including 50 kW (CE-1057 / 2026 schedule) | $94.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Houston | Administrative fee for issuing each permit | $33.56 | 5 September 2026 |
| Houston | Minimum fee on any electrical permit | $91.06 | 5 September 2026 |
| Seattle, Washington | New or altered electrical service, 150 to 200 A (Table D-15, plans not required) | $292.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Seattle | Administrative fee (Table D-15) | $55.48 | 5 September 2026 |
| Seattle | New or altered electrical service, up to 125 A | $146.00 | 5 September 2026 |
| Seattle | Minimum fee, standard OTC electrical permit | $105.12 | 5 September 2026 |
Miami-Dade Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, Electrical Fee Sheet, form 123_01-5 dated 7/26. Salt Lake City Consolidated Fee Schedule, amended 16 June 2026 by Ordinance 2026-29. City of Houston Permitting Center CE-1057, revised January 2026, and the 2026 Building Code Enforcement permit fee schedule. Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections 2026 Fee Subtitle, Table D-15 for SMC 22.900D.150. These are published lines, not quotes for your house.
HyreElectrical analysis: on a 200 A service upgrade, Miami-Dade’s G067 line is $14.52 and the panel-board line is $32.21 — both below the $227.90 minimum, so the minimum governs unless other category lines apply. Salt Lake City’s published service-change line is $40.00, with a $59.00 residential base fee listed separately. Houston’s meter-loop ≤50 kW line plus administrative fee sums to $127.56; a 200 A, 240 V service is 48 kW, so it sits in that band. Seattle’s 150–200 A service line plus administrative fee sums to $347.48. The same job category is constructed differently four cities apart. That spread is why this page will not ship a national permit fee. Your building department is the authority; the electrician who pulls the permit should be able to name the fee.
Electrification is a common trigger. Load management is a real alternative.
A Level 2 charger, a heat-pump air handler, an electric water heater and an induction range are four large 240-volt loads. Any one of them can be the first time a 100 A service is asked a question it cannot answer. That is why electrification and panel work show up in the same sentence. It is not why every charger install is a service upgrade.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center draws the charging split that starts many of these conversations: Level 1 uses a standard 120-volt outlet; Level 2 needs a dedicated 240-volt circuit. Under the model NEC, EV charging is a continuous load, so the branch circuit is sized at 125% of the equipment current. A 32 A charger is a 40 A class. A 48 A charger is a 60 A class. That multiplier is why a charger that “only draws 32 amps” still moves a 100 A calculation.
Run the new 240-volt demand against spare amps you already have — from a stamped calculation, or from the load calculator as a conversation — on the electrification-readiness tool. It is not a restamp of 220.82. The EV charger readiness check and the EV charger installation page pick up the circuit itself.
Where the adopted code includes the energy-management provisions (in the 2023 NEC, 220.70 and Article 750; later editions reorganise the same idea), a listed energy-management system can limit current to a maximum ampere setpoint, and that setpoint is what then goes into the load calculation. The charger throttles when the house is already drawing hard. That can keep a calculation inside an existing service. NEC 625.42 has permitted an automatic load-management system to set the EVSE contribution to a service or feeder since the 2017 edition; 2023 named the equipment an EMS and added the whole-service setpoint; 2026 renamed the overload-control path a Power Control System. Which text applies is the edition your jurisdiction adopted.
It is not available in every jurisdiction — Silicon Valley Clean Energy’s 2024 service-optimisation guide for building officials noted that California had not yet adopted 220.70 at the time of publication; California’s 2025 Electrical Code, based on the 2023 NEC, took effect 1 January 2026, which is a different sentence from the 2024 guide. Florida, on the IAEI table checked 5 September 2026, is still on the 2020 NEC, which has the 625.42 automatic-load-management sentence and does not have 220.70. It is not a free pass to pile unlimited nameplate load onto a 100 A bus, and it does not create a breaker space. The alternative, including when it fails, is load management for EV charging.
A sales pitch that jumps from “you are getting a car” to “you need 200 A” without a calculation, and without considering a listed energy-management system where the adopted code allows one, has skipped the decision this page is for.
How to hire, and how to check the licence
- Ask for the number, then check the issuing board
Not the van door and not a marketplace badge. Florida’s Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board issues certified EC licences that are statewide and registered licences that are local. California’s Contractors State License Board issues C-10 (Electrical). Texas licenses electricians through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — master, journeyman and electrical contractor are different credentials. Utah uses DOPL; Nevada’s State Contractors Board classifies electrical as C-2. Our licence lookup points at those registers. Re-check on the date you hire.
- The class has to cover the job
A valid licence for the wrong scope is still the wrong licence. Service equipment, a meter socket and a utility coordination are not the same skill as swapping a receptacle. Ask whether they pull permits for service changes in this jurisdiction, not whether they “do panels.”
- Insurance is a certificate with an expiry date
General liability, and workers’ compensation where they have employees. An assurance is not a certificate.
- The estimate names the job in the table above
Interior-only or service change; 100, 150, 200 or 320–400 A; meter-main or indoor load centre; who notifies the utility; who pulls the permit; what happens if the panel is full or the run is longer. Three quotes that do not share that scope cannot be compared on price. Put each bid through the project-cost calculator as its own set of lines.
- HyreElectrical will not be the contractor
We do not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work. Matching is still being built. Submitting an enquiry is not a service call, and no electrician receives your details unless you agree.
Where we actually have records
HyreElectrical is an information site and a matching project. It is not an electrical contractor, and it does not have a service radius. What we do have is a contractor store we counted on 5 September 2026: 16,369 companies across 5 states — Florida 12,114, Utah 1,489, Nevada 1,066, California 903, Texas 839. 74% of those companies are in Florida. The other 45 states are not in this store. Nothing here is a national directory of electricians, and a page that used these counts as one would be misusing them.
If you are in those five states, the useful next step is a licensed electrician who already pulls permits in your jurisdiction, checked against the board that issued the licence. If you are not, the same hiring questions apply and our store has nothing extra to add. The enquiry form is how matching, as it is built, will know which records are relevant.
HyreElectrical contractor store, counted 5 September 2026 from company-state records. A research sample in five states, not a census of the trade.
Tools and pages that continue this decision
Method and limitations
- Load-calculation shape
Described from NFPA 70, Article 220, as a model code, retrieved 5 September 2026 from NFPA’s NEC development page. The optional-calculation outline (first 10 kVA at 100%, remainder at 40%, HVAC at 100%, EVSE at 125%) matches the simplification already shipped on this site’s load calculator. It is not a reprint of the article. Confirm the edition your jurisdiction adopted. 230.79(C) is cited as the model one-family 100 A floor, not as a local determination.
- Hazard-era characterisation
Federal Pacific: CPSC news release 83-008, originally 3 March 1983, revised 18 February 2011. Zinsco: no CPSC recall located. Aluminium branch wiring is cited to CPSC Publication 516 and is out of scope for a panel-only job. The child FPE page owns identification and replacement detail.
- Stock estimates
LBNL / National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Journal of Building Engineering vol. 120 (2026): 31% of U.S. single-family homes at 100 A or smaller (29% at 100 A, 2% below); 55% at 200 A; 3% above; 22% of all panels with zero spare breaker spaces. Cited as a stock estimate, not as a diagnosis of any house.
- Permit fees
Four named jurisdictions, opened on 5 September 2026: Miami-Dade Electrical Fee Sheet (form 123_01-5, 7/26); Salt Lake City Consolidated Fee Schedule (amended 16 June 2026, Ord. 2026-29); Houston Permitting Center CE-1057 and 2026 electrical fee schedule; Seattle SDCI 2026 Fee Subtitle Table D-15. They are not a sample of the United States and they are not your fee.
- Utility charges
PG&E Electric Rule 15 Sheet 9, Cal. P.U.C. 57207-E, effective 28 February 2024, for the $3,255.00 residential allowance; Rule 16 for how that allowance is applied. Austin Energy CIAC page, last reviewed 26 February 2026. Seattle City Light DPP 500, effective 25 June 2025. FPL Twenty-Sixth Revised Sheet 4.020, effective 1 January 2026, for account-connection charges, which are not CIAC. A dedicated study of utility service-upgrade charges is planned on a source we have not confirmed is retrievable; nothing from that study is used here.
- The contractor store
16,369 companies in 5 states, counted 5 September 2026 from company-state records. 74% Florida. Not a national sample. Not a recommendation of any named firm.
- Not a stamp, not a quote, not DIY
Nothing on this page is a load calculation an electrician stamps, a price for your house, or an instruction to open a live panel. Service work is licensed work. HyreElectrical does not perform it.
Questions
When do I actually need an electrical panel upgrade?
Is a 100-amp panel enough?
What is the difference between a panel replacement and a service upgrade?
What is a meter-main, and is it the same as a combo panel?
Why would anyone install 150-amp service instead of 200?
Is a 400-amp service the same as 320 amp?
Can I add a subpanel instead of upgrading?
Does an EV charger mean I need a 200-amp panel?
How much does a panel upgrade cost?
Do I need a permit to replace an electrical panel?
How long does a panel upgrade take?
Does a Federal Pacific panel have to be replaced as a 200-amp upgrade?
Can I replace my own electrical panel?
Does HyreElectrical replace electrical panels?
Written and audited by
HyreElectrical Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model code, the federal safety notice, the municipal fee sheet or the utility tariff ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it. Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise or warrant electrical work. Authorship is organisational: this desk, not a named persona.
- 10
- long-form launch pages in this layout
- 5
- states with verified licence records
- 16,369
- electrical companies in those records
- 74%
- of the store is Florida — disclosed first, not footnoted
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Code statements come from NFPA 70 as the model code. Safety statements come from CPSC. Permit fees come from the city or county fee sheet. Utility charges come from the filed tariff. We do not cite a blog that cites a source; we open the source.
- Our contractor store is five states, and 74% of it is Florida. Any figure built on that store is titled to those states and names the concentration in the first screen. It is not a national sample of electricians.
- Load calculations on this site are a published simplification in the shape of NEC 220.82 — first 10 kVA at 100%, remainder at 40%, HVAC at 100%, EVSE at 125%. They are labelled as not a stamped calculation. A licensed electrician using the adopted edition does that work.
- No national price for a panel upgrade is shipped. Labour rates, the adopted code edition, whether the utility is involved, and the state of the existing wiring move the invoice too far for a roundup to help. Cost intent lives on the cost page; this page explains the decision.
- We do not perform electrical work, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favourable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Data as of 5 September 2026. Authorship on this site is organisational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
- NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NEC) — standard development , Cited as the model code. Article 220 is the dwelling-unit load calculation. 230.79(C) is the model one-family 100 A service floor. 230.85 is the outdoor emergency-disconnect requirement added in 2020. The optional-calculation shape used on this site is a simplification, not a reproduction of the article. Confirm the edition your jurisdiction adopted. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- CPSC — Commission Closes Investigation Of FPE Circuit Breakers (Release 83-008) , Originally 3 March 1983; revised 18 February 2011. Confirmed UL calibration failures; closed without establishing a serious risk of injury and without determining the safety of FPE breakers. The revision tells trades and consumers to read that closure carefully. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- CPSC Publication 516 — Repairing Aluminum Wiring , Aluminium branch wiring is a wiring method, not a panel brand. CPSC’s accepted permanent repairs are complete copper replacement, COPALUM pigtailing, or AlumiConn where COPALUM is not available. Swapping a load centre does not remediate branch connections. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Murphy, Liu, Less et al. — Characterizing electrical panel capacity, breaker space, and loads in U.S. single-family homes , Journal of Building Engineering vol. 120 (2026). LBNL and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Estimated 31% of U.S. single-family homes at 100 A or smaller (29% at 100 A, 2% below), 55% at 200 A, 3% above; 22% of all panels with zero spare breaker spaces. Cited as a stock estimate, not a diagnosis. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Miami-Dade County — Electrical Fee Sheet , Form 123_01-5, dated 7/26. Minimum electrical-permit fee $227.90. G067 existing-service repair or upgrade $7.26 per 100 A. G045 panel board $32.21 per board. G142 ELEX homesteaded panel change-out $28.63 per board. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Salt Lake City — Consolidated Fee Schedule , Amended 16 June 2026 by Ordinance 2026-29. Residential electrical permits: base fee $59; service change or alteration $40; service change with 1 or 2 new circuits $40 (SLC Code 18.36.100). Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- City of Houston Permitting Center — Electrical Building Permit Application CE-1057 and 2026 fee schedule , CE-1057 revised January 2026. Meter loop and service up to and including 50 kW $94.00; administrative fee $33.56; minimum permit fee $91.06. A 200 A, 240 V service is 48 kW and sits in the ≤50 kW band. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections — 2026 Fee Subtitle, Table D-15 , SMC 22.900D.150, electrical permit fees when plans are not required. New or altered electrical service 150 to 200 A $292.00; up to 125 A $146.00; administrative fee $55.48; standard OTC electrical-permit minimum $105.12. 2026 SDCI base fee $292. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Pacific Gas and Electric — Electric Rule 15, Distribution Line Extensions , Sheet 9, Cal. P.U.C. Sheet 57207-E, Advice 7158-E, effective 28 February 2024. Residential allowance $3,255 per meter or dwelling unit for distribution-line extensions, service extensions, or a combination. PEV charging costs above that allowance treated as common facility costs. Mixed-fuel new construction lost the electric line-extension allowance from 1 July 2024. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Pacific Gas and Electric — Electric Rule 16, Service Extensions , The residential allowance determined under Rule 15 is applied first to the service facilities; any excess is applied to the distribution line extension. Excess of estimated installed cost over the allowance is the applicant’s to pay. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Pacific Gas and Electric — Document 063927 Rev. 27, residential underground electric services 0–600 V , Dated 4 September 2025. Table of existing versus new service-equipment ratings on an upgrade path lists 100–125 A, 200–225 A, 320 A and 400 A. Cited only for the existence of those residential ratings, not as a price. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Austin Energy — Meter and Service Wire Charges (CIAC) , Page last reviewed 26 February 2026. Residential overhead 200 A, ≤75 ft, $400; overhead 320 A, ≤55 ft, $400; underground 200 A, ≤150 ft, $800; underground 320 A, ≤150 ft, $1,600; standard single-phase meter up to 320 A where service wire is already provided, $200. Applies where an Austin Energy design is not required. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Seattle City Light — DPP 500, Service Installations , Effective 25 June 2025. Standard charges: 0–200 A overhead single-phase $1,436; 0–200 A underground single-phase $5,273. Amp fee $6.36/A on 120/240 V single-phase with a 200 A credit; SCL’s worked example of a new 200 A 120/240 V single-phase service produces a $0 amp fee. Rewire with no increase in service size listed at $0 amp fee. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Florida Power & Light — Electric Tariff, miscellaneous service charges , Twenty-Sixth Revised Sheet No. 4.020, effective 1 January 2026. Connection of initial service $12; connection of existing service $8; reconnection after non-payment $4. Account-connection charges, not contribution-in-aid-of-construction for upgraded facilities. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Florida Electrical Contractors’ Licensing Board , Certified electrical contractor (EC) licences are statewide; registered licences are limited to the local jurisdictions that issued a competency card. The board is the issuing authority in Florida, which holds 74% of this site’s contractor records. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center — charging electric vehicles at home , Level 1 uses a standard 120-volt outlet; Level 2 needs a dedicated 240-volt circuit. Cited for the distinction, not for a panel-upgrade rule. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Silicon Valley Clean Energy — Electric Service Optimization Guide for Building Officials , 2024. Describes NEC 2023 220.70 energy-management setpoints and Article 750, and notes that 220.70 had not yet been adopted in California at the time of publication. Cited for the existence of the EMS path and for the adoption caveat, not as a California code. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification — 230.85 installation requirements , Board of Electricians document dated 11 February 2025, reprinting 2020 NEC 230.85 and discussing meter-main versus separate disconnect configurations. Cited for the three listed disconnect types and required markings, not as New Hampshire’s adoption calendar. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- City of Philadelphia L&I — PB_037, emergency disconnect FAQ , Published 22 May 2026. Treats 2020 NEC 230.85 as triggered by new service installations and existing service upgrades (example: replacing a 100 A service with a 200 A service), with stated exceptions. A named office’s reading, not a national rule. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- Federal Trade Commission — hiring a contractor , Get itemised estimates in writing. Allowances are placeholders. This page treats a single-line “panel upgrade” number as an incomplete scope for the same reason. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
- HyreElectrical contractor store , 16,369 electrical companies in 5 verified states (FL 12,114, UT 1,489, NV 1,066, CA 903, TX 839), counted from company-state records on 5 September 2026. 74% Florida. A research sample, not a national census and not a recommendation of any firm. Retrieved 2026-09-05.
The calculation, then a licensed electrician
Run the numbers so a “you need 200 A” sentence has something to be compared against. Then find a licensed electrician who already pulls permits in your jurisdiction. HyreElectrical does not do the work.
HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work. This page is general information, not a stamped load calculation, not a quote, not legal advice and not an instruction to open a live panel. Matching is still being built; an enquiry is not a service call. Permit fees and utility charges are those of the named jurisdictions on the retrieval dates above and are not your price.