Electrical panel upgrade cost dataset

By service size, split in two

Read the third column, not the last one. From 150 to 200 amps the service work barely moves, because it is the same mast, the same meter, the same grounding, the same permit and the same day without power at either size. That is why extra capacity is close to the cheapest thing available on a day the service is already coming apart. 400 amps is a real step: it is usually two panels and a service disconnect, and on the utility side it can mean a larger transformer.

Overhead, underground and distance

⚠️ The underground figure of $4,168 assumes a new trench, and very often there is no need for one: where the existing conduit is sound and large enough, new conductors are pulled through it, the trench line disappears and underground becomes the cheaper of the two. That is one question, answerable in five minutes by somebody standing at the meter, and it is worth asking before accepting a number.

Moving the panel

Relocating doubles the circuit work, because every branch has to reach the new position. It is sometimes not optional: a panel in a clothes closet or over a stairway is not a legal location. ⚠️ These figures cover the electrical work only. Opening and repairing the walls is excluded and on a finished house it can be the larger half.

The credit that used to apply

Nothing in this dataset is netted against any incentive. IRS, Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit states that “panelboards, sub-panelboards, branch circuits, and feeders, also qualify for the credit if they meet the National Electric Code and have a capacity of 200 amps or more. There is a limit of $600 per item”, and that the credit is allowed for property “The credit is allowed for qualifying property placed in service on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and before December 31, 2025”. Work placed in service in 2026 falls outside that window. It is worth flagging because the 200 amp threshold in that provision is still repeated as a reason to choose 200 over 150, and the reason has expired. We are not tax advisers. Retrieved 2026-08-23.

Line items

65% of the reference total comes from estimated rather than official figures. ⚠️ This dataset prices the work and nowhere describes how any of it is done: parts of a panel remain live with the main breaker off, and the service conductors stay live until the utility disconnects them.

The reasoning behind each figure

Panelboard and breakers, 100 ampestimated, ±41%

• A like-for-like replacement, which is what you buy when the old panel is failing rather than too small: a rusted enclosure, a bus bar that has been arced, or a brand nobody will supply breakers for any more.
• Nothing on the service side changes, which is why this row is a fraction of the others.

Panelboard and breakers, 150 ampestimated, ±41%

• The forgotten middle size. It costs a little less than a 200 amp assembly and, on many houses, reuses more of the existing service entrance, which is where the real money is.
• ⚠️ It also sits below the 200 amp threshold the federal tax credit used while that credit existed. That mattered until 31 December 2025 and does not any more, which is worth knowing if somebody quotes 200 amps citing a credit that has closed.

Panelboard and breakers, 200 ampestimated, ±51%

• The default for new construction and what most quotes will offer: the box on the wall, its main breaker and a full set of branch breakers.
• This is the part everyone means when they say "a new panel", and on a typical job it is well under a third of the total. The rest is the service.
• Arc-fault and ground-fault breakers cost several times what a plain one costs and are required on more circuits with each code cycle, which is a real and rising share of this line.

Panelboard assembly, 400 ampestimated, ±45%

• Usually not one panel but two 200 amp panels fed from a single meter through a service disconnect, which is why it is several times the price of a single load centre rather than twice.
• ⚠️ On the utility side this is also the size that can require a larger transformer, and that runs on their timetable rather than yours. Ask before planning around a date.

Terminating and labelling existing circuits

• Around a quarter of an hour per circuit to identify it, land it on the right breaker and label it properly, doubled when the panel moves and every circuit has to be extended.
• A panel where the circuits were never labelled is a panel that costs the next electrician an hour before they touch anything, and costs you that hour. It is worth asking for a directory as part of the job.

Service entrance conductors, 150 ampestimated, ±50%

• The heavy cable from the meter to the main breaker. Band spans aluminium at the bottom and copper at the top, and overhead against underground: buried conductors have to be rated for wet locations.

Service entrance conductors, 200 ampestimated, ±51%

• At 200 amps this cable is as thick as a finger. Around a third more per foot than the 150 amp equivalent, which on a twenty-five foot run is one of the smallest reasons to choose between the two sizes.

Service entrance conductors, 400 ampestimated, ±44%

• Roughly double the 200 amp cable per foot, and heavy enough that pulling it is a two-person job. This is where the jump to 400 amps stops being a small premium and becomes a different installation.

Mast and weatherhead, or conduit and trench fittingsestimated, ±63%

• Overhead: a rigid steel mast through the roof or up the wall, its weatherhead, and the bracket the utility pulls against. It is a structural component and it is bolted through framing.
• Underground: conduit, bushings, an LB fitting and the sweep out of the ground. Cheaper in material and more expensive in labour if anything has to be dug.

Meter socketestimated, ±51%

• A 100 amp socket is not rated for a 200 amp service, so it is replaced with the rest. The utility has to be there to pull and reset the meter, which is why this job is scheduled around them rather than the other way round.
• Some utilities supply the socket and some require a specific model. That is worth asking before anyone buys one.

Grounding electrodes and bondingestimated, ±49%

• Ground rods, the electrode conductor, and bonding jumpers on the water and gas pipework. Cheap, invisible, and the part of the installation that decides what happens during a fault or a nearby lightning strike.
• Older houses often ground to a metal water pipe that has since been partly replaced in plastic, which quietly breaks the path. That is found during this work and it is a real reason the line exists.

Service work: mast, meter, conductors and utility coordination

• Fourteen hours on an overhead replacement and eighteen underground, plus the waiting that comes with the utility disconnecting and reconnecting.
• ⚠️ That waiting is not padding. The power comes off for the day, the utility arrives inside a window rather than at a time, and the inspection has to happen before they will reconnect. A whole-day outage is the normal shape of this job and it is worth planning for.

Trenching for a new underground serviceestimated, ±49%

• Only when the existing underground conduit is too small or damaged and a new run has to be dug. Where the conduit is sound and big enough, new conductors are pulled through it and this line does not exist at all.
• Priced per foot and it is the single widest variable on this page: through a lawn it is cheap, under a driveway it is not.
• ⚠️ Before any digging, the national call-before-you-dig service exists for exactly this and it is free. Hitting a gas line is not a cost overrun.

Generator interlock kit and inletestimated, ±44%

• A mechanical plate that makes it physically impossible to close the main breaker and the generator breaker at the same time, plus the inlet on the outside wall.
• The cheapest legitimate way to run a house from a portable generator, and the moment the panel is open is by far the cheapest moment to fit it. It is worth deciding now rather than paying for a second visit.
• ⚠️ It exists to stop backfeeding the grid, which is what kills utility line workers. That is the whole reason it is a mechanical interlock rather than a rule.

Fitting the interlock and inlet

• Three hours: the plate, the breaker, the inlet on the wall and the cable between them.

Electrical permit and inspectionestimated, ±56%

• Not optional in practice and not just paperwork: in most places the utility will not reconnect the service until an inspector has passed it. The permit is on the critical path of the job, not beside it.
• Fees are set by each jurisdiction with no national schedule, hence a band.

Not included in this dataset

Rewiring the house

A new panel does not renew what is behind the walls. Knob-and-tube, ungrounded two-wire circuits and aluminium branch wiring all stay exactly as they were, and all three are separate and much larger jobs.

A load calculation

Deciding what service size a house actually needs is a calculation under the National Electrical Code, which is licensed material this site does not reproduce or derive from. What is priced here is the work, not the design.

Utility-side charges

Some utilities charge for a service upgrade, a larger transformer or a new drop, and some do not. It is set by their tariff, it varies enormously, and it is worth one phone call before getting quotes.

Repairing drywall and finishes

Moving a panel means opening walls to extend circuits. The electrical work is priced here; making the wall good again is not.

Any federal, state or utility incentive

Nothing here is netted against anything. The federal credit that covered panels of 200 amps or more closed to property placed in service after 31 December 2025.

Solar, battery or EV charger equipment

Frequently the reason for the upgrade, and separate work. The car charger is priced on its own page.