Electrical Panel Upgrade in Los Angeles

How much does an electrical panel upgrade cost in Los Angeles?

An electrical panel upgrade in Los Angeles costs $2,500 to $5,500 for a standard 200-amp panel, the typical range for the Los Angeles market. Bigger 400-amp service runs $6,000 to $10,000 or more, while a subpanel adds $1,200 to $2,500. Permits are extra, usually $150 to $400. Your final price depends on panel location, wire condition, and what your utility service needs.

The spread comes down to site conditions. A panel sitting next to the meter with clean copper feeders lands at the low end. Meanwhile, a Sherman Oaks home that needs a new mast, fresh ground rods, and stucco repair climbs toward $5,500, and the city permit adds $150 to $400 on top.

A+ Electric & Plumbing, a licensed electrician and plumber serving Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, quotes the whole job in writing: panel, breakers, grounding, permit, and patching. The price you approve before we start is the price on the invoice, no surprises.

Electrical panel replacement cost in LA, typical range for the Los Angeles market

These are typical Los Angeles ranges for orientation, not a quote. Every job is priced by its own conditions, so your exact number comes from a free on-site look. Get a free estimate in minutes, or call (818) 421-5290.

Do I need a permit for a panel upgrade in Los Angeles?

Yes. Every panel upgrade in the City of Los Angeles needs a permit from LADBS (the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety). And the finished work must pass inspection. Permits typically run $150 to $400. Burbank and Glendale run their own building departments, so the process differs slightly there. We pull the permit, meet the inspector, and coordinate the power shutoff for you.

Here is how it works in practice. We file the permit, and you can verify requirements and fees yourself on the LADBS website. We also book the service disconnect with LADWP, because the utility must drop power at the meter before the old panel comes out and restore it after the swap.

Skipping the permit backfires later. Unpermitted panel work surfaces in buyer inspections, stalls escrows, and gives an insurer a reason to fight a claim. That is the one corner we never cut on an electrical panel upgrade in Los Angeles. So the permit line sits in every written quote.

Is my Federal Pacific or Zinsco box a fire risk?

Yes, both brands have documented failure problems. Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco breakers can fail to trip during an overload. That means the wire keeps heating instead of the power shutting off. Many insurers now refuse or surcharge coverage on homes with these panels. If your Valley home was built in the 1960s or 1970s, there is a real chance one is on your wall.

This is documented, not rumor. Independent testing over the years found Stab-Lok breakers failing to trip far more often than they should. And Zinsco breakers can weld themselves to the bus bar while the panel keeps feeding a shorted circuit.

These panels shipped by the thousands into Valley tract homes. So if your house in Northridge, Van Nuys, or Woodland Hills went up between 1960 and 1975, check the label on the panel door before you assume you are fine.

There is no reason to panic tonight. But there is a clock: the breakers age every year. And every insurance renewal is another chance to get flagged. Federal Pacific panel replacement is a standard 200-amp swap in the same $2,500 to $5,500. And if your home still has its original wiring, we can scope whole-house rewiring in the same visit.

How do I know if my electrical panel needs an upgrade?

Look for six signs: screw-in fuses, 100-amp service carrying modern loads, a panel that feels warm, breakers that trip weekly, flickering lights when the AC kicks on. And no empty slots for new circuits. Any one of them is worth a free look. Two or more usually means the panel is working past its design. And an upgrade is the fix, not another band-aid.

• Screw-in fuses instead of breakers: fused service usually dates the panel to before 1960, long before central AC entered the load math.
• 100-amp service with modern loads: an EV charger, electric dryer, and AC together can max out a 100-amp panel on a hot Valley afternoon.
• A warm panel door, buzzing, or a faint burning smell: heat means a loose or failing connection inside.
• Breakers that trip every week: constant tripping is the panel telling you the circuits are overloaded, not that one breaker is bad.
• No open slots: if adding one circuit means tandem breakers and creative wiring, the panel is full.
• Lights that dim when big appliances start: voltage drop under load points to an undersized service.

Not sure which sign you are seeing? Start with a free estimate, and browse the full range of electrical work we handle across the Valley. An electrical panel upgrade in Los Angeles is our most common big-ticket job. But sometimes the honest fix is a single new circuit.

Do I need a panel upgrade for an EV charger?

Often, yes, if your home still has 100-amp service. A Level 2 charger draws 32 to 48 amps on its own, which is nearly half of a 100-amp panel's capacity. So first we run a load calculation, a code-required tally of everything your home draws. If the math works, we simply add the circuit. If not, a 200-amp electrical panel upgrade makes room.

Here is the load calculation in plain terms. The electrical code assigns wattage to your square footage, fixed appliances, and AC, then applies demand factors, because not everything runs at once. The result tells us, on paper and to code, how many amps your home actually needs.

Encino and Tarzana ranch homes from the 1950s often still run 100-amp service. So an EV charger panel upgrade is the common path: a new 200-amp panel plus a dedicated 240-volt circuit. After the upgrade, the charger circuit itself adds $800 to $2,000.

Also worth checking before you buy hardware: LADWP has run rebate programs for home EV chargers. And the rules change. So look at current offers before we size the circuit.

How long does the job take from start to inspection?

An electrical panel upgrade in Los Angeles takes 1 full day on site, plus a city inspection afterward. The power is usually off 4 to 8 hours while we remove the old panel, set the new one, and reconnect every circuit. Then LADBS inspects the work, and in most cases you cook dinner on your own stove that same night.

The long pole is scheduling, not labor. Once the permit is issued and the utility disconnect is booked, the physical swap is a 1-day job for a 2-person crew. A 400-amp service upgrade, which runs $6,000 to $10,000 and up, can stretch to 2 days when the meter section and service entrance change too.

Plan the day loosely around the outage. We confirm the shutoff window before we start. So you can work from a coffee shop in Studio City or North Hollywood and come home to a labeled, energized panel.

What happens during a panel upgrade?

A panel upgrade follows six fixed steps: estimate, permit, safe shutdown, the swap itself, testing, and city inspection. You will know the schedule before we start, including the exact power-off window. Here is the sequence for a typical 200 amp panel upgrade in a Los Angeles home, with realistic durations for each step.

1. Free estimate and load calculationabout 1 hour

   We count your circuits, run the code load calculation, check the meter and grounding, and hand you a written price. Nothing starts until you approve it.

2. Permit and utility schedulingtypically 2 to 5 business days

   We file with LADBS, or with the Burbank or Glendale building department, then book the utility disconnect so everything lands on one work day.

3. Power off and old panel out1 to 2 hours

   The utility drops service at the meter. We remove the old panel, inspect every wire end, and prep the wall opening for the new can.

4. New panel in, every circuit landed4 to 6 hours

   We mount the new 200-amp panel, land and torque every conductor, install breakers sized to each circuit. And bring the grounding up to current code.

5. Power on, test, and labelabout 1 hour

   Once service is reconnected, we test every circuit, verify GFCI and AFCI protection, and fill out the panel directory so anyone can read it.

6. City inspection and sign-off15 to 30 minutes, on a later day

   The inspector reviews the work and signs the permit. We meet them on site and handle any notes the same week, at no extra charge.

Should I repair or replace my electrical panel?

Repair the panel when it is a modern brand with one failed part. And replace it when the brand is obsolete, the service is under 200 amps, or heat and corrosion have spread. A repair on a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel is money spent on borrowed time, because replacement breakers for those brands are scarce, expensive, and no safer than the originals.

Repair or replace: how we call it

These are typical Los Angeles ranges for orientation, not a quote. Every job is priced by its own conditions, so your exact number comes from a free on-site look. Get a free estimate in minutes, or call (818) 421-5290.

When a repair is the right call, we make it and leave. When it is not, we show you why on your own equipment, in plain terms, and you get the upgrade quote in writing before anything starts.

Should I check my pipes while the walls are open?

Yes, it is the cheapest inspection you will ever get. A panel upgrade already has us at your home with the site opened up. And homes built before 1960 often carry galvanized steel pipe that is rusting shut from the inside. Because we hold both classifications, the same visit can tell you whether your plumbing has 5 years left or 25.

This is the point of one company with two trades: one call, one schedule, one invoice, and no electrician blaming a plumber for the hole in the wall. If the pipes are on their way out, we can plan whole-house copper or PEX repiping around the same project instead of opening walls twice.

The same logic runs the other way. If you are already repiping a 1950s Valley house, that is the moment to retire the Zinsco panel too, because the walls are open and the crews are already scheduled. Call (818) 421-5290, or get a free estimate for either trade, or both.

Frequently asked questions