Sheet E-102 / Circuit 2

Panel upgrades to 200 amps.

A lot of homes in town still run on 100 amp panels from the sixties. That was plenty for a fridge and a TV. It is not plenty for a charger, a heat pump and an induction range. A swap to 200 amps runs $3,800 to $6,500, permit included.

Book a panel checkWhat swap day looks like

Signs you need one.

  • The main breaker says 100 or 125, and you want an EV charger or a heat pump.
  • No empty spaces left, or breakers doubled up with tandems to squeeze one more in.
  • The panel door is warm, or you hear a hum when the AC kicks on.
  • Your insurer or a home inspector named the brand of panel in a report.
  • Breakers that trip when two big things run at once.

None of these mean the house is about to burn down. They mean you are out of room, and adding load to a full panel is how small problems start.

A technician in a cap pressing buttons on a grey electrical control cabinet with red, yellow and green indicator lights and a red digital meter
Photo 4: Reading the meter before a load calc. Commercial gear, same idea.

The day of the swap, hour by hour.

One long day. Plan to work from a coffee shop. Fridge food is fine closed for six hours.

  1. Crew arrives, walks the house with you, labels every circuit on the old panel.
  2. The utility pulls the meter. Power is off from here.
  3. Old panel out, new 200 amp panel and meter base in, new ground rods driven.
  4. Every circuit moved over and torqued to spec. Lunch, briefly.
  5. Our own test: polarity, grounding, every breaker on and off.
  6. Inspector signs off the service. Some towns inspect the next morning.
  7. Utility sets the meter. Power back on.
  8. You get a typed panel schedule taped inside the door.
Note 1

Utility coordination.

The utility owns the wire up to your meter. We file the service request, schedule the disconnect and reconnect, and stay on the phone so you do not have to. Lead time is usually two to four weeks, which sets the install date more than our calendar does.

Note 2

What a load calculation is.

It is the math the electrical code uses to decide how much your house can draw at once. We list every appliance, apply the code's demand factors and see what is left. It is why we can say a 200 amp panel covers a charger, a heat pump and an induction range, or that it does not.

Upgrading for a car? Pair it with an EV charger install on the same permit. Thinking about outages too? See backup power options, or ask for a panel check.