Your electrical panel is the heart of your home, and when it is old, undersized, or unsafe, everything downstream suffers. Boston Light & Power replaces panels across Boston and the South Shore, including the Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels that are known fire risks. You finish with a safe, clearly labeled, code-compliant panel and room to grow.
A lot of the housing stock on the South Shore was built decades ago, and the panels that came with those homes were never designed for how we use electricity today. Replacing a failing or dangerous panel is one of the most valuable electrical projects you can do, both for safety and for the capacity to add the things modern homes need.
Panels we replace
Some panels deserve special attention because they can fail silently, meaning the breaker does not trip when it should.
- Federal Pacific (FPE) Stab-Lok panels, a widely documented fire hazard
- Zinsco and GTE-Sylvania panels with failure-prone breakers
- Old fuse boxes that cannot keep up with modern demand
- Full panels with no room to add circuits
- Corroded, damaged, or overheating panels
Warning signs to call us
- Breakers that trip often or will not reset
- A burning smell, warmth, or scorch marks at the panel
- Buzzing or crackling from the box
- Rust or corrosion inside
A hot panel or a burning smell is not a wait-and-see problem. Call our emergency electrical line the same day.
Panel upgrade or service upgrade?
These get confused. A panel upgrade replaces the breaker box itself, often keeping the same amperage. A service upgrade increases the power coming into your home and includes a new panel. If your panel is both failing and undersized, we often do both in one visit so you pay for one job and one inspection. We tell you which situation you are in after we look.
What the job looks like
We shut off power, remove the old panel, and install a new one with clearly labeled breakers. We bring the grounding and bonding up to current code, which is often where older installations fall short, then pull the permit and schedule the inspection. Most panel swaps are done in a day. We torque every connection to spec and label everything properly, because a clearly labeled panel saves you time and money every time the house is worked on in the future.
We have opened plenty of panels that were the right brand but installed with loose connections, missing grounds, double-tapped breakers, or the wrong wire gauge feeding a circuit. Those hidden problems cause trouble years later. When we replace a panel, we correct what we find and leave the box in a state that will pass inspection and keep passing it.
Frequently asked questions
Serving the South Shore
Boston Light & Power serves Boston, Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Scituate, Cohasset, Hanover, and Norwell. We are licensed under Massachusetts Master Electrician License #24281-A.
Electrical Emergency? We Answer 24/7.
Burning smell, sparking outlet, hot panel or sudden power loss? Boston Light & Power provides 24/7 emergency electrical service across Boston, Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Scituate and Cohasset. Licensed electricians, every hour of every day.
Call (857) 855-7899 NowWhat to expect
We start with an inspection, not a sales pitch. We look at your panel, your service size, and how your home actually uses power, then tell you plainly whether you need a replacement, a repair, or nothing at all. If a replacement makes sense, you get a firm number and a clear scope before any work begins, with no surprises added later.
Because we work across the South Shore every week, we know the housing stock and the common panel problems in these towns. That means faster, more accurate diagnosis and fewer surprises once the cover comes off.
Worried about your panel?
We will inspect it and tell you honestly whether it needs to be replaced. Call (857) 855-7899.
Related reading and service areas
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Call (857) 855-7899