Panel Upgrade Scheduling Around Utility Shutoffs (2026)

TL;DR

A panel or service upgrade has two dates you do not control: when the utility will disconnect and reconnect, and when the inspector will come. Everything you do control has to fit around them. As of October 2026, electricians who run these jobs without drama follow the same pattern. They confirm the utility process for the address before quoting a date, pull the permit before requesting the outage, split the job into a power-on prep visit and a power-off changeover day, block the whole day for a two-person crew, and send the customer a written power-off plan a week ahead.

This post is about the scheduling of that one job type. The general handling of inspections as dependencies is in electrical permit and inspection scheduling, and it is worth reading alongside this. Here the focus is the extra moving part: the utility.

The four parties on one job

Most electrical work involves you and a customer. A service upgrade involves four parties, and each has a calendar.

• You. The crew, the materials, and a full day.
• The customer. Someone home, no power for the day, and a household that has to plan around it.
• The utility. A disconnect and a reconnect, on their lead time and in their window.
• The inspector. An approval that may be needed before the utility will restore power, or after, depending on where you work.

The order these happen in is not the same everywhere. In some places the utility will not reconnect until the inspection has passed. In others, the electrician is permitted to disconnect and reconnect under certain conditions. Do not carry an assumption from one town into the next. Confirm the sequence with the utility serving the address and with your local authority, and write it on the job.

Find the constraint before you quote a date

When a customer accepts a panel upgrade, the tempting answer to "when can you do it?" is your next open day. The right answer is "let me confirm with the utility and come back to you tomorrow."

Before a date goes on the calendar, find out:

1. How the disconnect is requested for this utility, and how much notice they want.
2. Whether they give a specific time or a window, and how wide it is.
3. Whether reconnection is the same day, and what it depends on.
4. Whether a permit is needed, how long it takes to issue, and when the inspection happens.
5. Whether the meter base, the service mast, or the service drop is changing, since that may involve more utility work.

Keep the answers. Create a note for each utility and jurisdiction you work in regularly, with contacts and lead times, and update it when something changes. After a few jobs you will know that one utility needs two weeks and another needs three days, and you can tell a customer that at the estimate. The estimates feature keeps the scope attached to the customer so the job is built from what was sold, not from memory.

Build the job as a chain of steps

A panel upgrade is not one appointment. It is five or six linked steps, and treating it as a single calendar entry is why these jobs slip.

Step 1: Deposit and permit. Take a deposit when the customer commits. It covers the panel and breakers you are about to buy for one house. Stripe payments and deposits are on the Pro plan, and the reasoning is in appointment deposits. Apply for the permit the same day.

Step 2: Utility request. Once you know when the permit will be in hand, request the disconnect for a date that leaves room. Record the confirmation number and the window on the job.

Step 3: Prep visit (power on). Covered below.

Step 4: Changeover day (power off). The full-day block.

Step 5: Inspection. Its own appointment, with customer access arranged.

Step 6: Close-out. Panel schedule labelled, final invoice, any wall repair or follow-up scheduled.

Put each step on the calendar as its own entry on the same customer record, with a job type color so the chain is visible at a glance. The approach for work that spans several days is in the multi-day project scheduling guide, and the scheduling features page covers job types and templates.

How the ways of structuring a panel upgrade compare

The second row is the default worth adopting. The prep visit costs you a couple of hours and routinely saves the changeover day.

The prep visit

Everything that can happen with the power on should happen before the outage. On a prep visit the electrician:

• Confirms the scope against the estimate, in person, with the cover off.
• Maps every circuit and labels the conductors, so the changeover is reconnecting known wires and not tracing mystery ones.
• Looks for the problems that turn a six-hour job into a ten-hour one: undersized or damaged conductors, double taps, missing grounding and bonding, an unexpected subpanel, aluminum branch wiring, or no working clearance.
• Mounts what can be mounted and stages materials on site if the customer has a secure place.
• Photographs everything and attaches the photos to the job.

If the prep visit finds something that changes the price, the customer hears about it days before the outage, with time to decide. That conversation is much easier than the one at two in the afternoon with the old panel on the floor.

The prep visit is also when the final materials list is confirmed. A job should not reach changeover day with a breaker missing. Job Readiness scoring on the Pro plan flags jobs that are short on parts or information before they are dispatched.

The changeover day

Block the entire day for two people. Do not put a service call in front of it "because it is on the way," and do not book anything after it.

The shape of the day depends on the utility window. If the utility gives you a morning disconnect, the crew is on site before the window opens, ready to start the moment power is confirmed off. If the window is wide, the crew uses the waiting time for anything safe to do beforehand. Either way, nobody starts on a service that has not been confirmed dead and verified with a tester. Follow your own safety procedures and the utility's rules without exception; OSHA publishes general guidance on electrical safety at work.

Set a decision point. If the changeover is not at an agreed stage by early afternoon, the lead calls the office. Reconnection often depends on a utility crew or an inspector who stops work at a fixed hour, and missing that cutoff means a household without power overnight. Knowing at one o'clock gives you options. Knowing at four does not.

Have a fallback written into the plan: what you will do if reconnection cannot happen that day. Whatever is permitted where you work, decide it in advance and tell the customer it exists.

Prepare the customer for a day without power

Send the power-off plan in writing about a week ahead, then let automated reminders repeat the date the day before. The plan should say:

• Power will be off for most of the day, starting around the stated window.
• Refrigerators and freezers will be fine if they stay closed. Plan meals accordingly.
• Anyone who works from home, or relies on powered medical equipment, should arrange to be elsewhere or have a backup.
• Garage door openers will not work. Park outside or learn the manual release.
• Internet, security systems, and sump pumps will be off.
• Clear the area in front of the panel and the path to it.
• Someone needs to be reachable all day.
• What happens next: the inspection, and any follow-up visit.

On the Pro plan, two-way SMS lets the customer reply with a question and the office answer in the same thread, which is quicker than phone tag the night before.

After the power is back

Reconnection is not the end of the job. Walk the customer through the new panel and the labelled schedule. Check that the things people forget are running: the furnace, the water heater, the well or sump pump, the garage door. Leave the permit card where the inspector expects it.

Then book the inspection as its own appointment if it has not happened yet, with a named person providing access. Track its status on the job, and if a correction is called for, schedule the return the same day you hear.

Close out with the final invoice and a short follow-up a few days later. After the job, GetTimePad can send a review request by text and email with links to Google, Facebook, and Yelp.

Keep the pipeline visible

A shop that does panel upgrades regularly will have several in different stages at once: one waiting on a permit, one waiting on a utility date, one waiting on inspection. The risk is the job that sits forgotten in the middle. Review every open upgrade once a week and ask what it is waiting on and who is chasing it.

The electrician scheduling software guide covers the wider setup for an electrical shop, and the electrician software page shows how job types, deposits, and reminders work together.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a panel upgrade take?

Plan a full day on site for a typical residential panel change, and longer when the service size is increasing, the meter base is being replaced, or the panel is moving. The power-off portion is only part of that day, so block the whole day for the crew and do not schedule another job behind it.

Who schedules the utility disconnect for a panel upgrade?

In most cases the electrician requests it, because the electrician knows the scope and the date the work can be ready, but the process belongs to the utility and varies from one to the next. Confirm the steps, lead time, and any fees with the utility serving that address before you give the customer a date.

How much does GetTimePad cost?

GetTimePad is $79/mo Starter for one staff member, $199/mo Pro for up to five staff, and $499/mo Agency for unlimited staff. The calendar, online booking, reminders, and CRM start at Starter, while Stripe deposits, two-way SMS, Tech Mode, and Job Readiness scoring land at Pro. Annual billing gives you two months free. See /pricing.

Do I need a permit for a panel upgrade?

Often yes, but the rule is set locally, so confirm with your local authority for each address instead of assuming. Where a permit applies, the inspection usually affects when power can be restored or the job closed, which makes the permit a scheduling item and not just paperwork.

How long will the customer be without power during a panel upgrade?

Usually for most of the working day, and the honest answer depends on the utility window and any inspection that has to happen before reconnection. Tell the customer to plan for a full day without power, and explain up front what would cause it to run later so nobody is surprised at five in the afternoon.

What is the first visit for on a two-visit panel upgrade?

The first visit is everything that can be done with the power on: confirming the scope, mapping and labelling circuits, mounting what can be mounted, and finding problems before the outage starts. It shortens the power-off day and moves the surprises to a visit where a surprise does not leave anyone in the dark.