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Electrical Panel Upgrade · Louisiana
A panel upgrade replaces your breaker panel, and often the service entrance, so the home can safely carry more load: an EV charger, heat pump, induction range or addition. It always needs a permit, and usually needs the utility to disconnect and reconnect power.
Hurricanes, flooding and heat make generator installation and post-flood electrical inspections common.
Across the South Central, homes deal with long, hot summers, severe storms and occasional hard freezes. Permit offices, utilities and housing stock differ by city, which affects how electrical panel upgrade is planned and scheduled. These local guides cover the Louisiana cities where we have written specific notes.
Many New Orleans shotguns, doubles and Creole cottages still have small services or old fuse panels, and adding central air, a heat pump, a standby generator or an EV charger usually requires an upgrade. Raised homes and homes rebuilt after Katrina may need the meter and panel placed above base flood elevation.
Utility: Entergy New Orleans
Many Baton Rouge homes from the 1960s and 1970s in neighborhoods such as Broadmoor, Sherwood Forest and Westdale have 100 amp panels or brands Louisiana insurers question. Adding a larger AC system, a standby generator or an EV charger usually requires an upgrade.
Utility: Entergy Louisiana (some outlying areas: DEMCO)
Mid-century homes in Broadmoor and Southern Hills often have 100 amp panels with little room for new circuits, and older homes in Highland and South Highlands may have even smaller services. Adding a larger AC system, an EV charger or a generator inlet usually needs a panel or service upgrade.
Utility: SWEPCO
Metairie's mid-century slab ranch houses toward the lake often have 100 amp panels or brands Louisiana insurers question, and adding a standby generator, a larger AC system or an EV charger usually requires an upgrade. Homes partly rewired after Katrina may have a newer panel feeding old circuits.
Utility: Entergy Louisiana
1. Load calculation
The electrician sizes the service from your existing and planned loads.
2. Permit and utility coordination
The permit is pulled and the utility schedules disconnect and reconnect.
3. Install the panel and service parts
New panel, breakers, grounding and bonding, and service conductors or meter base if needed.
4. Inspection
The local inspector checks the work before or after power is restored, depending on the jurisdiction.
Electricians set their own prices; local permit fees and utility requirements add to these factors.
Permits come from the city or county where the home is. For example: New Orleans: Electrical permits in New Orleans are issued by the city's Department of Safety and Permits, and historic districts may need separate review for exterior changes. Baton Rouge: Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish share a consolidated city-parish government, and electrical permits come from its Department of Development; Baker, Central and Zachary issue their own. Shreveport: Electrical permits in Shreveport come from the city's Permits and Inspections Division, where electrical contractors must also register; Bossier City and unincorporated Caddo Parish issue their own. Metairie: Electrical permits come from Jefferson Parish's inspection and code enforcement department.
New Orleans: Entergy New Orleans. Baton Rouge: Entergy Louisiana (some outlying areas: DEMCO). Shreveport: SWEPCO. Metairie: Entergy Louisiana.
If you have 100 amps or less and are adding an EV charger, heat pump or electric range, or your panel is a Federal Pacific, Zinsco or fuse box, ask an electrician for a load calculation.
Usually most of one working day, depending on the scope and how quickly the utility reconnects.
Yes, in essentially every US jurisdiction. The electrician pulls it and schedules the inspection.
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