100 to 200 Amp Service Upgrade in Wichita, KS

This is the job most often sold to people who do not need it. Before quoting one, we run a load calculation against what your house actually draws, and a meaningful share of the 100 and 150 amp services we measure in Wichita turn out to have room left in them.

Do you actually need 200 amps?

Four loads decide it: heating and cooling, an electric range, an electric dryer, and electric water heating. A house on gas heat with a gas range is a very different calculation from an all-electric house of the same size, and the square footage matters less than either.

A calculation adds the fixed loads, applies the demand factors the code allows rather than assuming everything runs at once, and compares the result against the service rating. Adding up nameplate ratings and panicking is not a calculation, and it is how upgrades get sold.

What are the signs your service has genuinely run out?

• The main breaker itself trips, as opposed to a branch breaker
• Lights across the whole house dim visibly whenever a large load starts
• A load calculation puts you above the service rating
• The panel is physically full with no listed way to add a circuit
• You are adding an EV charger, a heat pump, a hot tub or a workshop
• The existing service is 60 amp, which no modern house is inside

Branch breakers tripping is not on that list. A single circuit tripping is a circuit problem, and upgrading the service will not touch it.

What does the upgrade involve?

More than a panel. New service entrance conductors sized for the new rating, usually a new meter socket, often a new mast or riser, a new panel and main breaker, and grounding electrode conductors brought to current code. Evergy disconnects at the start and reconnects at the end, and where the service is underground the work can extend to trenching.

That is why the price sits well above a straight panel replacement, and why anyone quoting a service change without looking at the meter and the mast is quoting half the job.

What does it cost in Wichita?

Nationally, a 100 to 200 amp upgrade runs roughly $1,300 to $3,000, with complex jobs reaching $4,500 or beyond once relocation or trenching is involved. Local panel work figures average around $1,352 with a typical range of $630 to $2,041, and a service change sits at the upper end of that or above it, because the meter and the conductors are included.

Where it climbs: underground service needing trenching, generally $600 to $2,100 on its own, a mast or meter socket that has to be replaced, and any relocation to meet working clearance. Permit fees run $50 to $300 and are a small part of the total.

Permit, inspection and the utility

A service upgrade always needs a permit from MABCD at 271 W 3rd St N, Suite 101, on (316) 660-1840, and an inspection against the 2023 National Electrical Code, in force here since January 1, 2025. On a service change the code governs conductor sizing, grounding electrode conductors, bonding at the service, and working clearance in front of the board.

Evergy has to disconnect and reconnect at the meter, and the inspection generally has to pass before the utility will restore. That sequence, rather than the electrical work, is what sets the calendar, usually two to three weeks. We file the permit, book the inspection and schedule the disconnect. Butler County addresses in Andover, Augusta and Rose Hill are permitted through the city instead.

When you do not need this job

If your panel is full but the service has headroom, a subpanel solves it for a fraction of the cost. If a single circuit keeps tripping, that is a circuit fault. If the board is damaged but the service rating suits the house, a like-for-like panel replacement is the job. We will tell you which of these you have, and we will tell you when the answer is none of them.