# Electrical Panel Upgrade Boise ID | $1,500-$4,000 | Boise Electrician Experts > 100-amp to 200-amp service upgrades across Boise and the Treasure Valley. Published range $1,500-$4,000, DOPL permit included. Call today. URL: https://boiseelectricianexperts.com/electrical-panel-upgrade/ Boise Electrician Experts connects homeowners across Boise and the Treasure Valley with licensed electrical contractors who replace and upgrade service panels. An electrical panel upgrade in Boise usually means one of two jobs: swapping a failing or obsolete panel for a modern one at the same amperage, or raising the service itself, most often from a 100-amp panel to 200-amp. The second is the one that needs a DOPL permit, an inspection and Idaho Power coordination, and it is the one worth understanding before you take bids. ## What is included - NEC Article 220 load calculation completed before anything is ordered - DOPL electrical permit purchased and the inspection scheduled - Idaho Power disconnect and reconnect coordinated where required - New panel, breakers and a labeled circuit directory - Grounding electrode system brought to NEC Article 250 - Water and gas piping bonded per code - AFCI and GFCI protection per the adopted 2023 NEC - Inspection attended and the sign-off handed to you ## Why Boise Bench panels are undersized rather than broken A 100-amp service was generous for a Bench house built in 1955 with one window unit, a gas furnace and no dryer. The same house now runs central air through a Treasure Valley summer, an electric dryer, a dishwasher, a microwave, and frequently a heat pump that replaced the gas furnace. Nothing about the panel has failed. It is being asked for more than it was sized for, and the symptom is a breaker that trips on hot afternoons rather than a dramatic fault. This is why the load calculation matters more than the amperage on the sticker. Under NEC Article 220 the calculation accounts for general lighting load by square footage, small-appliance and laundry circuits, fixed appliances, the larger of heating or cooling, and then applies demand factors to the rest. A 1,600 square foot Bench ranch that has gone all-electric does not need the same service as a 1,600 square foot house still on gas heat and a gas range, and any contractor who quotes 200 amps without asking what is in the house is quoting a part number rather than a design. The practical consequence is that a 200-amp upgrade is not automatically the right answer. Sometimes the correct fix is a subpanel for a specific load, or a single dedicated circuit, and a contractor worth hiring will tell you so. ## Heat pumps, EVs and ADUs: what is actually driving upgrades here The Treasure Valley's panel upgrades are being driven by three additions that barely existed when this housing stock was wired. Heat pump conversions are the big one. Replacing a gas furnace with a heat pump moves a substantial winter heating load onto the electrical service, and in a climate with real winters that load runs at capacity for months rather than hours. Cold-climate heat pumps with electric resistance backup are the worst case, because the backup strip heat can draw more than the compressor. This is the load that most often turns a comfortable 100-amp service into an inadequate one. EV charging is the second, and it stacks badly with the first: a 48-amp charger is a continuous load sized at 125 percent under NEC 625, so a 60-amp breaker and conductor to match. The third is the accessory dwelling unit and the detached shop, both common on the valley's larger lots. A shop with a welder or a compressor is a genuine load, not an afterthought, and it usually needs its own subpanel and feeder rather than a circuit borrowed from the house. ## Federal Pacific, Zinsco, and panels that are a problem regardless of size Two panel families turn up constantly in mid-century Bench and Central Boise housing, and both are replacement candidates whatever the load calculation says. Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panels have a documented history of breakers that fail to trip on an overload, which defeats the single thing a breaker exists to do. Zinsco and Sylvania-Zinsco panels suffer bus bar deterioration where the breaker clips on, producing heat at the connection and eventually breakers welded to the bus. Neither is a code violation on its own, which surprises people. Existing installations are generally allowed to remain. What happens instead is practical: home inspectors flag them at sale, some insurers will not write or renew a policy over them, and replacement breakers are either unavailable or aftermarket. If you have one you will eventually replace it, and doing it on your own schedule costs less than doing it during a sale. Worth checking at the same time: any panel with visible rust inside the enclosure, corrosion on the bus, or white oxidation on aluminum service entrance conductors. Boise's dry climate is kinder to enclosures than a coastal one, but panels in unconditioned garages and on north-facing exterior walls still see enough condensation cycling to corrode. ## Pricing - **Panel upgrade, 100A to 200A**: $1,500 - $4,000 (Boise-area range for a service upgrade including the panel, meter base work where required, and the DOPL permit and inspection.) ## FAQ ### How much does a panel upgrade cost in Boise? A 100-amp to 200-amp service upgrade in the Boise area runs $1,500 to $4,000, including the panel, meter base work where required, and the DOPL permit and inspection. Relocating the panel, or replacing a corroded meter base or the grounding electrode system, are separate line items and should be itemized rather than buried. ### Do I actually need 200 amps? Only if the load calculation says so. Count your large electric loads: heat pump or electric furnace, central air, electric range, electric dryer, water heater, EV charger, hot tub, shop, ADU. Two of those on a 100-amp service is usually fine. Four is usually not. Three is where the NEC 220 calculation has to be done rather than guessed. ### I'm converting to a heat pump. Will my panel handle it? That is exactly the calculation to run before the HVAC contractor orders equipment, and it is frequently skipped. A cold-climate heat pump with electric resistance backup can draw more on the backup strips than on the compressor, and in a Boise winter those strips run. If your service is 100 amps and you are also considering an EV, do the calculation once and cover both rather than upgrading twice. ### Who inspects the work, the city or the state? The state. Idaho electrical permits and inspections run through the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, not through the City of Boise or Ada County. A city building permit does not replace it, and on a remodel you may need both. ### Who pulls the permit in Idaho, and is it from the city? The contractor pulls it, and it comes from the state rather than the city. Idaho electrical permits are issued by the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses and purchased online. This catches people out: a City of Boise or Ada County building permit does not replace the DOPL electrical permit, and you may need both. Idaho does allow a homeowner to purchase a permit for work they perform themselves on their own primary or secondary residence, but not for commercial property and not for a rental.