TWO DIFFERENT JOBS, TWO DIFFERENT PRICES
Panel replacement — roughly $1,600–$2,000. A new panel on your existing service. Right when the panel itself is the problem — it is old, it is full, it is a fuse box, or it is damaged — but the service feeding it is sound.
Full 200A service upgrade — roughly $2,799–$3,499. Everything from the utility's connection in: the service cable, the mast, the meter base, the conduit and the panel. Right when the house needs more power, not just a better panel.
Most customers who are choosing between the two take the full upgrade. The extra buys capacity that lasts — and doing it later, separately, costs more than doing it now.
Both prices cover everything needed to meet code, including the mast, meter base and conduit if those have to be replaced — we do not quote low and then add the parts that were always going to be needed. The ESA permit and inspection is a separate $199, and the estimator shows it on its own line so you can see exactly what each part costs.
WHY PEOPLE UPGRADE
- EV chargers, especially 48A on a 100A service
- Heat pumps — a large new continuous load
- A second legal rental unit — part of getting it approved
- Finishing a basement, or an addition
- Fuse panels and old 100A panels at their limit
DO YOU NEED MORE POWER, OR JUST MORE ROOM?
Out of slots — the panel is full, the service is fine. Cheap to fix: extra slots $99–$199, or a sub-panel $999–$1,199.
Out of capacity — the service cannot carry what the house draws. Free slots do not help.
We do a load calculation to tell the difference — the same one ESA expects to see.
FEDERAL PACIFIC AND FUSE PANELS
If your panel is a Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, it is worth a conversation whatever your capacity situation. Independent testing has found these breakers failing to trip when they should — and a breaker that does not trip is the one thing standing between a fault and a fire. Many insurers will not write a policy on a house that still has one.
Fuse panels are the same conversation. Not unsafe in themselves, but at the end of their service life, with no capacity to spare, and increasingly uninsurable.
WHAT HAPPENS ON THE DAY
- We pull the ESA permit before any work starts.
- We coordinate the disconnect with your utility — every city and town has its own, with its own rules. You do not deal with any of them.
- The utility disconnects.
- We replace the panel, and the mast, meter base and conduit if they cannot carry 200A.
- An ESA inspector attends and inspects.
- On passing, ESA authorises the reconnect and the utility reconnects.
- You receive the ESA certificate.
Most jobs take 4 to 10 hours, daytime on a working weekday, with the power off for much of it. We tell you which end of that range your job sits at before we start.
UTILITY CHARGES
Your utility may or may not charge for the disconnect and reconnect. That charge is between you and them, not part of our price. We help to handle the coordination. One stop — you deal with us, not the utility.
⚡ LIMITED-TIME OFFER — UPGRADE + EV CHARGER, 10% OFF
Doing both at once takes 10% off the total. One permit, one inspection, one day without power. Offer ends
Self-estimate the whole jobWHY A LICENSED CONTRACTOR
A service upgrade is the highest-consequence electrical work in a house. It must be notified to ESA, inspected and certified.
ECRA/ESA licensed contractor #7015891. Permit, inspection and certificate are in the price. Two years' warranty on all our work.