Your electrical panel is the one piece of equipment in the house that every other circuit depends on. When it's sized right and in good condition, you never think about it. When it isn't, you get nuisance trips, dimming lights, and in the worst cases, heat and arcing behind a steel door in your hallway. Here's how to tell where yours stands.
A 100 amp service was the standard for a long time and still runs a modest, gas-heavy home fine. But the modern all-electric household — electric range, electric water heater, heat pump, EV charger, shop tools, a couple of window units in the summer — adds up quickly. Today, 200 amp is the practical default for most single-family homes, and it's what we recommend when the meter loop is being replaced anyway.
The right answer comes from a load calculation, not a guess. We size it based on your square footage, appliances, heating and cooling equipment, and what you're planning to add in the next few years. Upgrading once, correctly, is a lot cheaper than upgrading twice.
The most expensive panel upgrade is the one you do at 150 amps because it "seemed like enough," then redo two years later when the EV and the shop show up.
Some older panel brands have documented histories of breakers that fail to trip under fault conditions — Federal Pacific Electric "Stab-Lok," Zinsco and Sylvania-Zinsco, and certain Challenger panels are the ones we run into most in homes around the ArkLaTex. If you have one, that's worth a conversation. Some insurance carriers ask about them, and replacement is generally the recommended fix rather than swapping individual breakers.
A full service upgrade is more than swapping a box. Depending on the scope, it can include a new panel and breakers, a new meter base, new service entrance conductors and mast, updated grounding and bonding (ground rods and water-line bond), AFCI/GFCI protection where code requires it, labeling every circuit, a city permit, an inspection, and a coordinated disconnect and reconnect with the utility.
Plan on the power being off for a chunk of the day. We schedule it so the house is back on the same day in the large majority of jobs, and we handle the permit and inspection coordination for you.
Price depends on amperage, whether the meter loop and mast are being replaced, how the panel is mounted, and what the inspector requires to bring the service current. That's why we look at it in person and give you a flat-rate price in writing before any work starts — no hourly meter running while you wonder. Our standard service call is $89, diagnostics are a separate flat-rate line item, and financing is available on larger projects. Amp Club members pay no dispatch fee.
A service upgrade is permitted, inspected, utility-coordinated work. LiveWire was founded and is led by a second-generation master electrician, with master-licensed leadership and state-licensed techs, licensed in Texas (#53366) and Arkansas (#M-9844). Our crew trains every week on code, best practices, customer satisfaction, and safety evaluations — and every tech is drug-tested and background-checked before he ever pulls into your driveway.
We'll evaluate your service, run the load calculation, and give you a straight answer and a flat-rate price.
Schedule a panel evaluation