Electrical Panel Replacement Cost in Georgia: What It Runs

The cost to replace a breaker box, what electricians call an electrical panel, typically runs $1,200 to $3,500+ in this trade. A like-for-like swap in a house with sound wiring tends to land toward the bottom of that range. A full service upgrade, where the meter base and service entrance change along with the panel, tends to land toward the top of it or past it.

Treat that range as a market norm, not a quote and not what any particular contractor charges. Its job is to help you recognize a quote that's triple the norm, or one so far under it that something got left out.

Panel swap or 200 amp service upgrade: the difference that moves the price most

Two jobs can both get called a panel replacement and be very different amounts of work.

A like-for-like swap keeps the service you have. The old panel comes out, a new one goes in, and every circuit gets relanded on a correctly sized breaker. The wires coming in from the meter stay where they are. They're live even with the main breaker off, so the power still has to be cut ahead of the panel, usually at the meter.

A service upgrade changes how much power the house can draw, most often from 100 amps to 200. That adds the meter base, the service entrance cable and the mast to the job. The power company also has to disconnect and reconnect at the meter, so part of the schedule belongs to them. The bigger panel itself barely changes the price. Most of what you're paying for is labor and the gear outside the box.

Whether you need that upgrade is arithmetic, not opinion. A load calculation adds up what the house actually runs: heat and air, water heater, range, dryer, and anything on the way like an EV charger. A house with gas appliances can often live comfortably on 100 amps. An all-electric house adding a charger usually can't.

What moves the number

Inside either kind of job, these are what separate one house from the next:

• The grounding system. A new panel has to meet today's code, not the code from the year the house was built. Ground rods and bonding usually come up to current standards as part of the job.
• AFCI and GFCI breakers. Code calls for them in more places than it once did, and they cost more than standard breakers. What each one does is in GFCI vs AFCI.
• How many circuits land in the panel, and what shape they're in. Double-tapped breakers and undersized wires get corrected, not copied over. A crowded panel with a messy history takes longer than a tidy one.
• Where the panel is. Replacing it in the same spot is the simple version. Moving it means new runs, and sometimes wall repair afterward, which is a different trade.
• A subpanel. A garage, shop or hot tub can add a subpanel and a feeder to the job, and the longer that feeder runs, the more it adds.
• The permit and inspection. Panel and service work is permitted and inspected through the local building department, and the fee varies by county and city. A quote should say whether it's included.

Do you actually need a new panel?

Maybe not, and that's worth settling before you price anything. Age alone doesn't condemn a panel. The honest reasons to replace one are specific: a Federal Pacific or Zinsco label, a fuse box instead of breakers, heat damage or corrosion inside the box, breakers that won't reset firmly or keep tripping after the circuit itself checks out, or a house that has run out of capacity for what it now runs. If you've got a Federal Pacific on the wall, start with whether to worry about a Federal Pacific panel. A Zinsco gets the same verdict. If none of those reasons apply, a panel that's doing its job can keep doing it.

If what you really need is more breaker space, or power out in a garage or shop, a subpanel can be the cheaper right answer. It adds space and puts power where you want it. What it can't add is capacity, because every subpanel still draws through the main service, so the same load calculation decides whether it's enough.

How to read a panel replacement quote

A quote that comes in far under the others has usually left something out, and the list above tells you where to look. Before you compare totals, ask each electrician:

• Is this a panel swap or a service upgrade, and does the price include the meter base, service entrance cable and mast if the job needs them?
• What amperage is this, and what load calculation is it based on?
• Does the price include bringing grounding and bonding up to code?
• Are AFCI and GFCI breakers included where code requires them?
• Who pulls the permit and meets the inspector, and is the fee in the price?
• Who coordinates the disconnect and reconnect with the power company?
• Will every circuit get labeled, so the legend on the door matches the house?

A solid quote has ready answers to all of them. Georgia licenses electrical work at every job size, with no small-job exemption, so ask for the license while you're at it.

What to plan for on the day

The whole house has to come off for the panel to come out, so plan on losing power for most of a working day on a straightforward replacement. On a service upgrade, part of that window belongs to the power company. If what's in the fridge matters, how long food lasts in a power outage covers what rides it out and what doesn't.

Finding out which kind of job you have

Two photos, the panel with the door open and the meter outside, are usually enough to tell which kind of job you're looking at. What we look for and how the work goes is on our panel upgrades and breaker box replacement page.