Electrical Panel Upgrades in Los Angeles
Tripping breakers, a full panel, or no room for the charger you just ordered? We upgrade LA homes to 200-amp and 400-amp service — permitted, coordinated with your utility, and usually done in a single day.
Licensed and permitted. We handle LADWP and Southern California Edison coordination.
Signs your panel is out of room
If you recognise two or more of these, an upgrade is very likely the right call.
Breakers that trip regularly
Especially when the AC starts or the dryer and oven run together. The panel is telling you it is at its limit.
A panel with no space left
Every slot filled, or double-tapped breakers squeezing two circuits into one. There is nowhere to add anything.
You are adding a big load
An EV charger, heat pump, induction range or hot tub. These are the loads that most often force the question.
100-amp service or less
Common in LA homes built before the 1990s. Adequate for a gas-appliance house, tight for a modern one.
A Zinsco or Federal Pacific panel
These need replacing on safety grounds regardless of capacity. More on that below.
Warmth, buzzing or scorch marks
Heat or discolouration at the panel is not normal. Call about this one today rather than reading further.
What a panel upgrade includes
A service upgrade is more than swapping a box on a wall. Everything between the utility's connection and your breakers gets replaced and brought to current code.
When quotes differ, it is nearly always because one includes items on this list and the other does not. Ask what is excluded.
- ✓ Load calculation sized to your home and what you plan to add
- ✓ Permit pulled and inspection scheduled
- ✓ Utility coordination for the disconnect and reconnect
- ✓ New panel, service entrance conductors, meter socket and mast
- ✓ Grounding and bonding brought to current code
- ✓ Breakers including AFCI and GFCI protection where required
- ✓ Whole-home surge protection available
- ✓ Labelled directory so every circuit is identifiable
Zinsco and Federal Pacific panels
Los Angeles has a great many of both, given the era of much of its housing. These are the two panel types we recommend replacing regardless of how much capacity you need.
Federal Pacific (Stab-Lok)
Long-documented reports of breakers failing to trip during overloads and short circuits. Breakers are usually marked Stab-Lok, and home inspectors flag them routinely.
Zinsco / Sylvania
A similar history, plus bus bar designs prone to overheating where the breakers connect. Often branded Zinsco, GTE-Sylvania or Sylvania, frequently with coloured breaker handles.
The concern with both is simple enough to state: a breaker exists to trip. When that cannot be relied on, the wiring behind your walls is unprotected, and you have no way of knowing until there is a fault.
Not sure which you have? Photograph the inside of the panel door and send it over. We will tell you what it is at no charge.
Why our quote may differ from the last one
Before quoting, we run a load calculation — the method the electrical code defines for working out what a home actually demands. It accounts for your floor area, appliances, heating and cooling, and everything you are planning to add.
It matters because panel size is a poor guide to what you need. The calculation is also what the inspector checks, so getting it right up front is what keeps the job moving.
What the big appliances draw
| Appliance | Typical draw |
|---|---|
| Level 2 EV charger | 32–48A |
| Heat pump (whole home) | 15–40A |
| Induction range | 30–50A |
| Electric dryer | 30A |
| Heat pump water heater | 15–30A |
These are not simply added together — the calculation accounts for the fact that they rarely all run at once. Which is why the honest answer to "will 200 amps be enough?" is that we will tell you once we have run it.
How it runs
- 1
Quote and load calculation
We look at your panel, your plans and your home, and give you a fixed price.
- 2
Permit and utility scheduling
We pull the permit and book the utility disconnect. This is the part that sets your timeline.
- 3
Installation day
Power off for several hours. New panel, service entrance, meter socket, mast and grounding all installed.
- 4
Inspection and power back on
The inspector signs off, the utility reconnects, and you are running on the new service.
Upgrading for something specific?
We do the electrical work and the equipment that runs on it. Sizing the service once around everything you plan to add costs far less than doing it twice.
Planning what goes on the new service
If the upgrade is the first step in a bigger plan, these are worth reading before you choose equipment.
Zinsco and Federal Pacific Panels: What LA Homeowners Should Know
Two panel types where the breakers may not trip when they should. Here is how to identify yours.
Read the article →EV Charger Wire Sizing: What Goes Wrong When It Is Done Cheaply
An EV charger runs at full current for hours. That is what melts undersized wiring — and there are recalls proving it.
Read the article →What Does It Cost to Charge an EV at Home in Los Angeles?
When you charge matters more than how much you charge. Here is how LADWP pricing actually works.
Read the article →Panel Upgrade FAQs
How much does an electrical panel upgrade cost in Los Angeles?
Scope drives it more than anything. Whether the service entrance, meter socket and mast are being replaced, how much grounding work current code requires, where the panel sits, and whether your utility wants an overhead to underground conversion all move the figure substantially.
How long does a panel upgrade take?
The work itself is typically a single day, with your power off for several hours while the utility disconnects and reconnects the service. Permitting and getting the utility scheduled is the longer part of the timeline, and it varies between LADWP and Southern California Edison.
Do I need 200 amp or 400 amp service?
Most single-family homes adding a heat pump, water heater and one EV charger land comfortably at 200 amps. Four hundred amp service is generally for large homes, several EV chargers, an accessory dwelling unit, or properties carrying substantial workshop, well or pool loads.
How do I know if I have a Zinsco or Federal Pacific panel?
Check the label inside the panel door or the breaker faces. Federal Pacific breakers are usually marked Stab-Lok. Zinsco panels often carry Zinsco, GTE-Sylvania or Sylvania branding, frequently with distinctive coloured breaker handles. Send us a photograph and we will identify it for you.
Are Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels really dangerous?
Both carry long-documented histories of breakers failing to trip under fault conditions, which is the single thing a breaker exists to do. Home inspectors routinely flag them and some insurers ask about them. We recommend replacement rather than adding circuits to either.
Does a panel upgrade need a permit in Los Angeles?
Yes, and we pull it as part of the job. Service changes require a permit and inspection plus utility coordination. Unpermitted service work causes genuine problems when you sell the house, and can complicate an insurance claim if anything ever goes wrong.
Will my power be off during the upgrade?
Yes, for several hours on the day while the utility disconnects and the new service is installed and inspected. We schedule it so the outage lands in one working day, and we will tell you the expected window in advance so you can plan around it.
Can one upgrade cover an EV charger, heat pump and water heater?
That is exactly what we would recommend. Sizing the service once around everything you intend to add is far cheaper than discovering capacity limits appliance by appliance. Tell us the whole plan even if you are installing it over several years.
Do you install the panel and the equipment that needs it?
Yes. We handle the electrical work, the heating and cooling equipment and the water heating, which means one company sizes the service and installs everything that runs on it. That removes the usual arguments about whose scope a problem belongs to.
Get a fixed price on your panel upgrade
Send us a photo of your panel and tell us what you are adding. That is enough for us to get started.
Sources
The code requirements and thresholds on this page come from the following. All are public — check them yourself.
NHTSA
Vehicle safety recall databaseCampaigns 23V842 (Audi), 23V841 (Porsche) and 16E091 (Tesla), cited in the wire sizing article.