The breaker box on your basement wall is the single most-overlooked piece of safety equipment in the house. Electric panel service covers everything from a routine breaker swap to a full main panel replacement, and most homes built before 1990 are running on hardware that no longer meets today’s loads. EV chargers, heat pumps, induction ranges, and home offices have changed what a panel needs to do.
What Electric Panel Service Means
The phrase covers four common jobs done by licensed electricians:
- Service entrance upgrade — increasing capacity from 100 amp to 200 amp (or 200 to 400)
- Panel replacement — swapping the box itself, often because of recalled brands
- Subpanel installation — adding a smaller panel for a garage, addition, or workshop
- Breaker and grounding repairs — replacing failed breakers, adding AFCI/GFCI protection, fixing bonding
The work always involves coordination with the utility, who has to disconnect service at the meter, and with your local building department, which inspects the finished install before power gets restored.
Signs Your Panel Needs Service
Some warning signs are obvious, others quiet. Watch for:
- Breakers that trip every time you run two appliances together
- Warm or discolored breaker faces
- A burning plastic smell at the panel
- Lights that dim when the AC kicks on
- Reliance on extension cords because outlets are too few
- Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, Zinsco, or Sylvania panels (known recalls)
- Fuses instead of breakers
Insurance carriers increasingly refuse to write or renew policies on FPE and Zinsco panels because of documented fire risk. If you got a non-renewal letter mentioning your panel, that is the trigger to replace it.
100 Amp vs 200 Amp vs 400 Amp
Most homes built before 1985 came with 100-amp service, sometimes 60-amp on smaller older homes. Modern code calls for 200-amp service in most new construction. Here is the practical translation:
- 60-100 amp: handles lights, gas heat, gas range, gas dryer, and a single AC condenser. Tight already.
- 200 amp: handles everything above plus electric range, electric dryer, EV charger, and heat pump simultaneously.
- 400 amp: for large homes (4,000+ sq ft), workshops, or houses with multiple EVs and a hot tub.
If you are planning to add a Level 2 EV charger, a heat pump, or central AC and currently have 100 amp service, the upgrade pays for itself in avoided headaches.
Cost of Panel Service
National averages from licensed contractors as of 2026:
- Single breaker replacement: $150 to $300 installed
- AFCI or GFCI breaker swap: $80 to $200 each
- Subpanel install: $1,200 to $2,500
- 200-amp panel replacement (same location): $2,500 to $4,500
- 100-to-200 amp service upgrade with new meter: $3,500 to $6,500
- 400-amp service: $7,000 to $12,000
Cost drives include trenching to the meter, mast height, distance to the utility tie-in, and whether the local utility charges for the disconnect/reconnect. Expect a permit fee of $80 to $250 on top.
What the Job Looks Like Day Of
Typical 200-amp panel swap timeline: utility disconnect at 8 AM, electrician removes old panel and meter base by 10 AM, mounts new equipment and reconnects all home circuits by 2 PM, inspector signs off between 3 and 4 PM, utility reconnects by 5 PM. You will be without power for the full day. Plan for refrigerator coolers, no remote work, and pets boarded if it is hot or cold.
Quality electric panel service includes labeling every breaker, torque-checking each connection (this is now required by NEC code), and grounding upgrades — usually two ground rods and bonding to the cold water main and any gas line.
Choosing an Electrician
Get three written quotes. Verify the contractor holds a state license (search your state’s licensing board) and carries general liability and workers’ comp. Ask which panel brand they will install — Square D QO, Eaton CH, and Siemens are the three I recommend for residential. Avoid bargain panels you have never heard of; breaker availability matters in 10 years.
Confirm the quote includes the permit, all required AFCI/GFCI breakers (code requires AFCI on most circuits in newer jurisdictions), and final inspection. A “we will pull a permit” line item should be in writing.
What to Do Yourself, What to Leave Alone
Homeowners can safely reset a tripped breaker, label circuits with a partner flipping breakers and walking the house, and test GFCI outlets monthly. Anything that requires opening the panel cover — replacing a breaker, adding a circuit, troubleshooting a hot bus bar — should go to a licensed pro. The cost difference is small; the consequence of a mistake is enormous.
Pulling a Permit Yourself
In most jurisdictions, a homeowner can pull an electrical permit on their own primary residence even if the work is being performed by a licensed contractor — and in some states, a homeowner can pull a permit and do the work themselves on their own home if they pass the inspection. The catch is that doing your own panel swap is genuinely dangerous; the bus bars are live until the utility cuts power at the meter, and arc-flash burns from a slipped tool are immediate and severe. If you have never bent a piece of conduit or torqued a breaker terminal to spec, hire it out.
The permit itself ranges from $80 to $400 depending on the city. The inspection is included in that fee. You will need to provide a single-line drawing showing the new panel size, conductor gauge, breaker schedule, and grounding/bonding details. Most home centers and online suppliers will draw this for you when you buy the panel.
Whole-House Surge Protection
While the panel is open is the right time to add a Type 2 surge protective device. A quality SPD (Eaton CHSPT2ULTRA, Siemens FS140, Square D HEPD80) costs $80 to $200 and bolts directly to a two-pole breaker slot in the panel. It clamps voltage transients from lightning, utility switching, and large motor cycling — the kind of damage that fries every electronic device in the house in a single event. Combined with point-of-use protection at TVs and computers, the layered approach handles 95% of surge scenarios.
Adding the SPD during a planned electric panel service replacement adds about $150 to the labor since the panel is already open. Adding it later as a standalone job runs $300 to $500 because the panel has to be opened, de-energized, and re-energized just for the SPD install.
