Electrical panel upgrade cost in Orange County

What an electrical panel upgrade costs

We found no published figure for Orange County alone. The range above is from a 2022 study done for California utilities by NV5 and Redwood Energy, whose electricians worked in PG&E and SDG&E territory, in Northern California and the San Diego area. Treat it as the nearest published figure, not a local one. Nationally, the research group Pecan Street put panel upgrades at $1,000 to $5,000 in 2021.

When the job also involves the utility's equipment, trenching, a sub-panel, new breakers or long wire runs, the cost climbs well past the panel itself. The study put the all-in total, across the utility charge, the panel and other customer costs, at roughly $2,000 to $30,000 or more. Moving a panel or converting an overhead service to underground ran about $3,000 to $10,000 on its own, and permit fees in the cities it looked at were $130 to $170.

When you need a 100 to 200 amp panel upgrade

• Adding an EV charger. A Level 2 charger is a large, steady load that an older panel may not have room for.
• Switching gas appliances to electric. A heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump water heater, an induction range or an electric dryer each add load. Rebates for that equipment are in our Orange County rebates guide.
• Going solar or adding a battery. Some installs require a 200-amp panel or a specific bus rating. Our solar and battery guide covers the rest.
• Building an ADU. A second unit adds significant demand and often needs more service capacity. Our garage conversion vs ADU guide compares the two routes.
• An aging or overloaded panel. Older 100-amp panels can run short for a modern home. The warning signs are below.

Ask for a load calculation before you commit. SCE itself says load management, energy-efficient equipment or design changes may let you add new loads without increasing your service size, which can spare you the utility-side work and its wait.

Signs you may need a panel upgrade

The National Fire Protection Association says to call a qualified electrician if you have:

• Breakers that trip or fuses that blow often
• Flickering or dimming lights
• Discolored or warm wall outlets
• A burning or rubbery smell from an appliance
• A tingle when you touch an appliance, or sparks from an outlet

These point to a problem worth a visit, not always to a new panel. Leave the panel cover on and let the electrician open it.

How an SCE service upgrade works

1. The request goes in online through SCE's Building, Renovation, and Project Planning Portal, which lists panel upgrades for an existing service. Ask your electrician whether they will file it for you. File it early: Garden Grove's online permit for a service upgrade asks for the Edison service request number.
2. SCE says it reviews an application in an average of 10 business days, 45 at most, and the clock starts once it calls the application complete.
3. For main panel upgrades, SCE targets an average of 30 business days, 45 at most, for the work fully under its control. Permits and anything you or your electrician owe come on top.

In Anaheim the utility is the city's own. You call Anaheim Public Utilities at 714-765-6847 for a meter spot inspection; an inspector calls back within 2 to 3 business days with a meter spot report, which must be on site at the city's inspection. The city then inspects twice: service meter and final.

Help paying for it

• SCE Charge Ready Home. Up to $4,200 for a panel upgrade plus an EV outlet, or up to $1,000 for the outlet alone if your panel is already 200 amps. It is for income-qualified households and residents of disadvantaged communities. Apply at evhome.sce.com.
• SCE Common Facility Cost Treatment Program. A four-year pilot that puts up to $10,000 toward SCE's utility-side costs for a single-family home. It is narrow: you need a panel under 100 amps going to no more than 200, to be in a low-income or equity electrification program, to be replacing gas appliances with heat pumps and electrifying at least two of heating, water heating, cooking and drying, and to have ruled out alternatives to upsizing.

Permits, code and licensing

A panel or service upgrade needs a permit and an inspection. Permits applied for since January 1, 2026 fall under the 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24), whose electrical part is California's version of the National Electrical Code. Because the job needs a permit, California's small-job exception for unlicensed workers does not apply at any price: hire a C-10 electrical contractor and check the license with the CSLB (Contractors State License Board). A permitted, inspected upgrade leaves a clean record that protects you at resale and with your insurer. The limit on the down payment is in our deposit rules guide.

Some cities move it fast. Fountain Valley lists a 200-amp panel upgrade among its expedited permits, and Santa Ana issues residential service meter upgrades the same day over the counter. What other cities say is in the table below, and our Orange County permits guide covers other common jobs.

What is different in Orange County homes

• Older houses. The 2024 Census survey puts about 19 percent of the county's homes in the 1960s and about 22 percent in the 1970s, so roughly four in ten were wired before EV chargers, heat pumps and home batteries existed (more in how old Orange County homes are). InterNACHI, a home inspectors' association, gives a service panel about 60 years, so panels from early in that era are reaching it.
• Aluminum wiring. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says homes built before 1965 are unlikely to have aluminum branch circuit wiring, but wiring installed between 1965 and the mid 1970s may be aluminum. A survey done for the CPSC found homes built before 1972 and wired with aluminum were 55 times more likely than copper-wired homes to have a connection at an outlet reach fire hazard conditions, and the CPSC warns that failing connections seldom give warning signs.

Panel upgrade permit fees by city

The city's fee for the permit itself, from its own fee schedule. Plan review, when a city asks for it, is charged on top.

• Anaheim: $126, with a $167 minimum permit fee (city panel upgrade page).
• Fountain Valley: $85.20 for a panel upgrade up to 250 amps, plus a $21.30 issuance fee (2026-27 fee schedule).
• Huntington Beach: $1.15 per amp of service ($49 minimum), so $230 for 200 amps, plus a $41 processing charge and a 6% automation fee (fee schedule).
• Newport Beach: $61 for a service change up to 200 amps (2026-27 fee schedule).
• Garden Grove, Irvine and Santa Ana: we could not find a fee for this job on the city's site. Ask the permit counter, linked in the table below.

Permits and home age by city

What each city's own pages say about panel and electrical work, with a link to where applications go. Where a city's page does not name the work, we say so rather than guess.

City pages: Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, Garden Grove, or all Orange County cities.

Questions to ask the electrician

On top of the usual checks in is my contractor's quote fair?:

• Will you do a load calculation, and could load management avoid a service upgrade?
• What service size are you proposing, and does the panel stay where it is or move?
• Who pulls the city permit, and who files the request with SCE or Anaheim Public Utilities?
• Are utility-side work, trenching, a sub-panel and wiring repairs listed as their own lines?
• If the house is from 1965 to the mid 1970s, will you check the branch wiring for aluminum while the panel is open?
• How long will the power be off, and on which days?

Frequently asked questions

OakTend is not a contractor and does not set or guarantee prices.