Main panel upgrades and service upgrades.
100 amp to 200 amp service, panels with nowhere left to land a breaker, and the recalled panels still sitting on Oklahoma houses. Standard 200 amp upgrade starts at $3,250.
Get an Electrical QuoteA main panel upgrade - an MPU - replaces the breaker panel, and usually the meter socket, service entrance conductors and grounding along with it, so the house has more capacity and current-code protection. On a lot of older Oklahoma homes it is the job that has to happen before anything else can: solar, a battery, a standby generator, an EV charger, a heat pump or a second air conditioner.
It is also the job most often quoted badly, because the panel is only part of it. If the meter can is corroded, the mast is undersized, the grounding electrode was never bonded, or the service conductors will not carry 200 amps, replacing the box alone fixes nothing you can point at.
A real number to anchor on
A standard 200 amp panel upgrade on a normal house runs about $3,250 with us. That is one of our own jobs, not a national average - and it includes the meter socket, service mast and service conductors, plus us pulling the permit and coordinating the utility disconnect and reconnect. We install Eaton panels as our standard brand. It is a starting point, not a quote; the site survey and load calculation set the real number.
When a panel needs replacing
It is full
No open spaces, tandem breakers everywhere, two conductors under one lug. Every future project starts with a fight for space.
A failure-prone brand
Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, Zinsco, Sylvania-Zinsco and Challenger panels have a documented history of breakers that do not trip on a fault. Inspectors and carriers flag them.
100 amp service, 2026 house
Central air, an electric range, a hot tub or an EV charger added over thirty years to a service that was sized for none of them.
Heat, noise or scorching
Warm breakers, a buzzing panel, discoloration or a burning smell. That is a call today, not a project for the spring.
Solar, battery or generator going in
Interconnection needs a bus rating, a main breaker size and a legal spot for the backfeed breaker. Some panels simply cannot host it.
Corrosion or storm damage
A rusted outdoor panel, a bent mast, a weatherhead pulled loose, a meter socket working away from the wall.
What the $3,250 anchor price includes
- A load calculation, so the service size is a number and not a guess
- A new Eaton panel, new breakers, and every circuit re-terminated and labeled
- Meter socket, service mast or riser and weatherhead - included, not an add-on
- Service entrance conductors sized for the new service
- Grounding electrode and bonding, including water and gas bonding
- AFCI and GFCI protection where current code requires it on the circuits being served
- A legible circuit directory - the thing every future electrician needs and never gets
- The permit and the utility disconnect and reconnect, both handled by us
How the job runs
Survey and load calculation
We look at the panel, the meter, the mast and the grounding, then run the calculation and quote the whole service - not just the box.
Permit and utility scheduling
We pull the permit and coordinate the utility pulling and resetting the meter. This is the part that sets the date.
Swap day
Power off, old panel out, new Eaton panel and service gear in, circuits terminated and labeled, grounding and bonding corrected.
Inspection and reconnect
Inspection, meter reset, power back on, and a walkthrough of what changed and what it now supports.
The quiet prerequisite.
Half the reason homeowners call us about a panel is that something else is blocked behind it. If that is you, the panel is worth doing once, correctly, with the next three projects already in the load calculation instead of one at a time.
Common questions
How much does a panel upgrade cost?
A concrete example from our own work: a standard 200 amp panel upgrade on a normal house runs about $3,250. That price includes the meter socket, service mast and service conductors, not just the box - and it includes us pulling the permit and coordinating the utility disconnect and reconnect. Yours moves from there based on the panel's condition, the mast, the grounding, and anything storm-related layered on top. You get the real number on the site survey, not a range that changes later.
How long is my power off during a panel upgrade?
Plan on being without power for a good part of one working day. The panel comes out, the new one goes in, the grounding and every circuit gets terminated, and the utility has to pull and reset the meter around that work. It is a scheduled job, not a same-day call.
Do I actually need 200 amp service?
It depends on a load calculation, not on a rule of thumb. Square footage, heating and cooling type, range, water heater, well pump, hot tub, EV charger and any planned solar or battery all go into it. Plenty of houses are fine at 100 amp until something big gets added - which is usually the phone call.
What panel brand do you install?
Eaton is our standard. It is what we quote unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise, so parts and future service are not a mystery ten years from now.
Is a Federal Pacific or Zinsco panel really a problem?
Those panels have a documented history of breakers that fail to trip on a fault. Having one is not itself an active code violation on an existing house, but home inspectors and insurance carriers flag them, and replacement is the only real fix. If your panel says Federal Pacific, Stab-Lok, Zinsco, Sylvania-Zinsco or Challenger, it is worth a look.
Will insurance pay for a panel upgrade?
Not for age, capacity or an obsolete brand - that is a homeowner expense. Storm damage to the service mast, weatherhead, service conductors or meter socket is a different question, and that part can belong on a claim.
Do I need a panel upgrade before solar or a battery?
Sometimes. It comes down to the bus rating, the main breaker size and whether there is a legal place to land the backfeed breaker. We check that on the site survey rather than after the panels are ordered.
Do you pull the permit and handle the utility?
Yes. We pull the electrical permit ourselves and coordinate the utility disconnect and reconnect, and that is included in the $3,250 anchor price above, not billed as an extra.
What are the warning signs I should not wait on?
A burning smell, scorch marks, discoloration around a breaker, a panel that is warm or buzzing, breakers that will not reset, or lights that dim when a large appliance starts. Those are reasons to call now rather than schedule for next month.
Where we work
Oklahoma and Missouri, both in full.
Two home states, not one plus a side territory. Our office is in Warr Acres and we run crews across Oklahoma and Missouri, with active work in Texas. If hail hit your town, call and we will tell you straight whether we are already working your area.
Talk to an electrician, not a call center.
Panel upgrade, standby generator or a circuit that keeps tripping - tell us what the house is doing and we will tell you what it takes to fix it.
Get an Electrical Quote