The panel is where a Buffalo house's age shows first: screw-in fuses, a 60-amp service, or a breaker brand that inspectors flag on sight. We replace panels and upgrade services to what a modern household and the 2023 NEC require.
Tell us what the Buffalo property is doing and we'll take a look.
Some panels should go regardless of how they are behaving. Fuse boxes, because they are almost always undersized for a modern load and invite oversized fuses. Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok and Zinsco panels, because their breakers have a documented history of failing to trip. Panels with signs of heat: scorched bus bars, melted breaker housings, a burnt smell when the cover comes off. Panels with rust or water staining, which in Buffalo basements usually means a leaking service entrance or condensation on the cable.
Others need replacing because of what you plan to do. A 100-amp service was standard for decades and still works for a small house with gas appliances. Add central air, an electric range, an EV charger and a heat pump, and it is out of room and out of capacity. The upgrade to 200 amps is the most common service change we do, and it is often required before the other projects can be permitted.
A panel swap is more than the box. In most cases the job includes the service entrance cable from the weatherhead to the meter, the meter socket, the grounding electrode system - which on older Buffalo homes may be a single clamp on a corroded water pipe - and the bonding of the water and gas lines. The 2023 National Electrical Code, which New York adopted through the 2025 Uniform Code, also requires an emergency disconnect on the exterior for new and replaced services, and AFCI and GFCI protection for many circuits that never had it.
The sequence goes: permit through the city or town, National Grid scheduled to disconnect and reconnect, the old panel removed and every circuit identified and labeled, new panel and breakers installed, grounding and bonding brought to code, inspection by the approved electrical inspection agency, and power restored. Where the existing circuits are in poor shape - brittle cloth cable, aluminum, knob-and-tube - we tell you before the job which ones should be addressed at the same time and which can wait.
Two-family homes in Buffalo commonly have two meters and two or three panels sharing a basement wall, sometimes with a house panel for common loads and sometimes without one. Upgrading them correctly means sorting out which circuits belong to which unit, giving common-area loads their own metered panel where appropriate, and labeling everything so the next electrician - or the next tenant - is not guessing.
Older basements add practical problems: stone foundations that sweat, low headroom, a panel mounted behind the furnace, or a service entering the house where a porch was later enclosed. Relocating a panel to a dry, accessible wall is often part of the scope, and it is worth doing while everything is open.
New York's electrification programs increasingly touch the panel. NYSERDA's EmPower+ program for income-eligible households lists panel box upgrades and electrical wiring upgrades among the improvements it can fund alongside heat pumps and insulation. The NYS Clean Heat program, delivered through National Grid for Upstate electric customers, offers incentives on cold-climate heat pumps that frequently require added panel capacity to install.
We do not administer those programs, and eligibility and amounts change. What we do is size the new service for the equipment you are planning, so the heat pump contractor or EV charger installer does not arrive to find a full panel.
Questions
Look at the main breaker at the top of the panel - it is usually marked 60, 100, 150 or 200. A fuse panel with a pull-out block is typically 60 amps. If you are unsure or the label is missing, we confirm it during the assessment along with the size of the entrance cable.
Power is off for the duration of the swap, which is typically most of a working day for a straightforward replacement and longer if the service entrance is rebuilt or the panel is relocated. We give you the expected window when we schedule and coordinate the disconnect with National Grid.
Yes. Service and panel work requires a permit and an electrical inspection everywhere in Erie and Niagara counties, and National Grid will not reconnect a new service without the inspection cut-in card. We handle both.
Sometimes. If the main service has spare capacity and the problem is only breaker slots, a subpanel is the cheaper answer. If the service itself is undersized for the load you are adding, a subpanel does not help and the service needs to be upgraded. A load calculation during the assessment settles which case you are in.
Call the local line or send the form, and we will set up a free visit to look at the wiring, the panel and the problem.
Request a free estimate Call (716) 466-5182