What a Panel Upgrade Is
Your electrical panel is the gray metal box — usually in the basement, garage, or utility room — where power enters your home and splits into circuits. A panel upgrade replaces that box with a modern one: more capacity, safer breakers, room to grow. Most upgrades take a home from 60 or 100 amps to 200 amps.
Typical Cost Range
Published guides generally quote $1,500 to $4,000 for a standard panel upgrade in our area, with complex jobs (relocating the panel, upgrading the service line from the street, or heavy-up work) running higher. If the panel upgrade is part of a whole-house rewire, it is usually priced into the total job rather than billed separately.
Signs You Need One
- Your panel is a fuse box, not breakers.
- Breakers trip whenever two appliances run at once.
- You have a recalled panel brand (certain Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels are documented hazards — we check during inspection).
- The panel is full — no open slots for new circuits.
- You're adding an EV charger, a heat pump, an induction range, or a home addition.
- Lights dim when the AC or microwave kicks on.
Do You Need 200 Amps?
Not every home does. A small condo with gas heat may be fine at 100 amps. But if you are electrifying anything — EV charger, heat pump, induction cooking — or planning an addition or ADU, 200 amps gives you headroom. We size the panel to your actual loads, not to the biggest number we can sell you.
What's Included in the Price
A proper panel upgrade quote covers: the new panel and breakers, the service cable from the meter to the panel, grounding system updates (ground rods and water-pipe bonding, which old installs often lack), permit fees, the city inspection, and labeling every circuit clearly. If the quote is just "new panel" with a single price and no detail, ask what's missing — the grounding work alone is a common corner cut.
When the Power Company Gets Involved
Sometimes the panel isn't the only thing that's undersized — the overhead or underground service line from the street is too. Upgrading that line means coordinating with the power company: they disconnect service, we do our work, they reconnect and install the new meter. This adds days of scheduling but usually not much cost to you. We handle the coordination; you just need to know the power will be off for the better part of one day.
Permits and the Power Company
If the service line from the street also needs upgrading, the power company coordinates the disconnect and reconnect — we handle that scheduling. The power is off for part of one day, usually.Not sure what you have? Call (301) 679-9193. We will look at your panel, tell you its age and capacity, and give you a written price — free.