A few months ago I opened an electrical panel in a 1958 Burbank home and counted the problems: a 100-amp main breaker feeding a house that now has central AC, an EV charger in the garage, a tankless water heater, and a home office with two workstations. Double-tapped breakers on half the slots. A Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panel that hasn't been manufactured since the 1980s because it was linked to house fires. And behind the walls — aluminum branch circuit wiring that the original builder thought was a perfectly fine cost-saving measure.
The homeowner had called me about adding a circuit for a new home office. By the time I finished the walkthrough, we were talking about something much bigger.
This isn't a rare situation. It's the norm in a huge portion of Los Angeles County's housing stock. And as California pushes harder than anywhere in the country toward all-electric living — EV mandates, gas appliance phase-outs, heat pump incentives — the gap between what these homes can handle electrically and what we're asking them to handle is widening every year.
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The World Changed. The Wiring Didn't.
When most of the single-family homes in the San Fernando Valley, the South Bay, and the Eastside were built — between roughly 1945 and 1980 — the average American household used about 2,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Today, the average California household uses closer to 7,000 kWh annually, and that number climbs sharply the moment you add an EV charger or convert from gas appliances to electric.
The electrical infrastructure those 1960s homes were built with was designed for a few ceiling lights, a refrigerator, a TV, and a window AC unit. It was not designed for:
- A Level 2 EV charger drawing 40–48 amps continuously for hours every night - A heat pump HVAC system replacing a gas furnace - An electric tankless water heater - Induction range replacing a gas stove - Solar panels with battery backup - A home office with multiple computers, monitors, and peripherals - Smart home systems, security cameras, powered window treatments
Each of these, individually, might be manageable. All of them together, in a house with a 100-amp panel and original 1960s wiring, is a fire waiting to find its moment.
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Three Electrical Problems I Find in Old LA Homes
1. Undersized Panels: The 100-Amp Problem
A 100-amp electrical service was considered adequate for a single-family home in 1960. In 2026, it is not. The National Electrical Code and most building jurisdictions now consider 200 amps the minimum for a modern home, and larger homes or homes with multiple high-draw appliances often need 400-amp service.
What does an undersized panel actually mean in practice? It means your breakers are being asked to carry loads they weren't rated for. Overloaded breakers trip — that's the good outcome, that's the safety mechanism working. But breakers that are repeatedly overloaded age faster, and breakers that fail to trip when they should are directly responsible for electrical fires.
I regularly find panels where homeowners have replaced tripped 15-amp breakers with 20-amp breakers to "stop the tripping." This is like removing your car's low-oil warning light because it's annoying. The underlying problem — too much load on a circuit that wasn't designed for it — doesn't go away. It just stops announcing itself.
**The other 100-amp problem:** when you want to add an EV charger, a hot tub, a new AC unit, or apply for an ADU permit, LADBS will look at your panel capacity. A 100-amp service is frequently a hard stop on getting those permits approved.
2. Aluminum Branch Circuit Wiring
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, copper prices spiked and builders switched to aluminum for branch circuit wiring — the smaller gauge wires that run from your panel to your outlets, switches, and fixtures. This seemed like a reasonable substitution at the time.
It turned out to be a significant safety problem.
Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper with temperature changes. Over years, this causes connections at outlets, switches, and junction boxes to loosen. Loose connections arc. Arcing generates heat. Heat causes fires. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has documented that homes wired with aluminum branch circuits are **55 times more likely to have a fire hazard** at connection points than homes with copper wiring.
Aluminum wiring in LA homes is most common in houses built between 1965 and 1973. If your home was built in that window, there's a meaningful probability it has aluminum branch circuits — and the only way to know for certain is to open outlets and look.
There are two approaches to this problem. The first is **pigtailing** — adding copper extensions at every connection point using approved connectors (CO/ALR rated) and antioxidant compound. This is less expensive and addresses the immediate fire risk at terminations. The second is **full rewiring** — pulling new copper wire throughout the house. This is more expensive but eliminates the aluminum wiring entirely and brings everything to current code.
Which approach is right depends on the extent of the aluminum wiring, the condition of the existing connections, and the homeowner's long-term plans for the property. We assess this on a case-by-case basis and recommend honestly.
3. Ungrounded Wiring and Missing GFCI Protection
Many LA homes built before 1962 have two-prong outlets throughout — which means the wiring has no ground conductor. Grounding is the electrical system's safety net: it provides a path for fault current to flow safely to ground rather than through a person or a building component.
An ungrounded electrical system isn't necessarily an immediate fire hazard in the way aluminum wiring is, but it creates real risks. Sensitive electronics — computers, TVs, audio equipment — are more vulnerable to damage from power surges without grounding. And certain faults that would trip a breaker or GFCI in a grounded system can go undetected in an ungrounded one, building heat at a connection point over time.
The modern solution for ungrounded outlets is not simply to replace the two-prong outlets with three-prong ones — that's actually a code violation because it creates false confidence about grounding that doesn't exist. The correct approaches are: running a new grounded circuit from the panel, installing a GFCI outlet at the first outlet in a circuit (which provides shock protection to downstream outlets), or in some cases running a grounding conductor back to the panel.
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The Dangerous Panels: Brands to Know
Beyond undersized service, two specific panel brands are worth understanding because they appear frequently in LA's older housing stock and represent safety hazards independent of the capacity question.
**Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) Stab-Lok panels** were installed in millions of American homes between the 1950s and 1980s. Multiple investigations — including a formal study commissioned by the CPSC — found that Stab-Lok breakers have a statistically elevated failure rate: they fail to trip under overload conditions. A breaker that doesn't trip when it should is not a safety device — it's a liability. If you have an FPE panel, replacement is warranted regardless of your capacity needs.
**Zinsco and Sylvania-Zinsco panels** have a similar documented problem: the breakers can weld themselves to the bus bar, making them impossible to manually trip and causing them to fail to trip under fault conditions. Like FPE, these panels were common in LA construction from the 1960s through the early 1970s.
If you're not sure what panel you have, open the door and look at the brand name on the main breaker. If it says Federal Pacific, Stab-Lok, Zinsco, or Sylvania, call a licensed C-10 contractor and have a conversation about replacement.
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What's Actually Involved in a Panel Upgrade
A main panel upgrade — replacing your existing panel with a new 200-amp (or larger) service — is a one-to-two day project when conditions are straightforward. Here's what actually happens:
We coordinate with LADWP to schedule a service disconnect, which takes the power off at the meter. This outage typically runs 4–6 hours. During that window, we remove the old panel, install the new panel and main breaker, transfer all existing circuits to the new panel, install any new circuits requested, and restore power. LADWP reconnects the service.
We pull an electrical permit before any work begins. After installation, a city electrical inspector visits to verify the work — typically within a few days of installation. We're present for that inspection.
When LADWP also needs to upgrade their service entrance equipment (the weatherhead and service drop from the street), that adds a coordination step and typically 1–2 additional days of scheduling time. This is required on some older LA properties where the existing service entrance equipment can't support 200-amp service.
**Typical costs for a panel upgrade in Los Angeles County (2026):**
| Scope | Cost Range |
|---|---|
| 100A → 200A, existing service entrance adequate | $3,500 – $5,500 |
| 200A upgrade requiring LADWP service entrance upgrade | $5,500 – $8,500 |
| Sub-panel addition (garage, ADU, workshop) | $1,800 – $3,500 |
| FPE or Zinsco panel replacement (same amperage) | $3,800 – $5,500 |
| 400A upgrade for large homes or dual-unit properties | $7,500 – $12,000 |
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What's Actually Involved in a Full Rewire
A full house rewire is more invasive than a panel upgrade. It involves pulling new wire through walls, attic, and crawl spaces to replace all branch circuit wiring. For most homes, this means some drywall opening — typically at outlet and switch boxes, and at any location where wire routing requires cutting access. A skilled crew minimizes this damage and patches as they go, but homeowners should understand that a full rewire is a significant construction project, not just an electrical job.
The scope of a rewire typically includes: new copper wiring throughout, new outlets and switches (upgraded to current code — GFCI in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, exterior; AFCI protection on bedroom circuits), new light fixture connections, and integration with the new or upgraded panel.
**What a full rewire costs depends heavily on three things:** the size of the house, the type of construction (slab vs. raised foundation, accessibility of attic), and how much drywall repair is included. For a typical 1,400–1,800 sq ft LA home with raised foundation:
| Scope | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Full rewire, 1,200–1,500 sq ft, raised foundation | $18,000 – $28,000 |
| Full rewire, 1,500–2,000 sq ft, raised foundation | $25,000 – $38,000 |
| Full rewire, 2,000–2,500 sq ft, slab foundation | $32,000 – $50,000 |
| Aluminum pigtailing (all connections, no full rewire) | $3,500 – $7,000 |
These costs include permits, materials, labor, and basic drywall patching. Full drywall restoration and repainting is typically handled separately.
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The Electrification Argument: Why Now Is the Right Time
California is moving faster than any other state toward full electrification. The state has set targets for EV adoption that will put millions of new electric vehicles on the road over the next decade. The California Energy Commission has pushed aggressive timelines for moving away from gas appliances. Utilities including LADWP offer significant incentive programs for electric heat pumps, EV chargers, and battery storage systems.
Every one of these trends puts more load on your home's electrical system. And every one of them becomes significantly simpler — and less expensive — when you have adequate electrical infrastructure already in place.
Homeowners who invest in a panel upgrade now — before they need the EV charger or the heat pump — avoid the situation I see constantly: a customer who wants to add a $1,200 EV charger and discovers they first need a $5,000 panel upgrade, and they can't use the car until both are done.
If your home is more than 30 years old and you're planning to stay in it, or to sell it in the next 5–10 years, upgrading the electrical infrastructure now is one of the most strategic improvements you can make. It enables everything else.
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Signs Your Home Needs Attention Now
You don't always need a contractor to tell you something's wrong. Here are the indicators that warrant a call:
- [x] Breakers that trip regularly under normal household use - [x] Lights that dim when the refrigerator compressor kicks on or the AC starts - [x] Outlets or switch plates that are warm to the touch - [x] Burning smell near the panel or from outlets — this is urgent, call immediately - [x] Two-prong (ungrounded) outlets throughout the house - [x] Panel brand is Federal Pacific, Stab-Lok, or Zinsco - [x] You want to add an EV charger, hot tub, or large appliance and your panel is full - [x] Your home was built between 1965 and 1973 (aluminum wiring era) - [x] Your ADU or remodel permit application was flagged for electrical deficiency
Any one of these is worth a professional assessment. Several of them together means the conversation is overdue.
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Why This Work Requires a Licensed C-10
I want to be direct about this: electrical work in California above a certain scope — and all of the work described in this article qualifies — must be performed by a licensed C-10 Electrical Contractor, or by a Class B General Building contractor who self-performs electrical under their own license.
This isn't bureaucratic formality. It's the reason permits exist and the reason inspections happen. An electrical failure in a home kills people. The permit and inspection process is the mechanism by which the public verifies that licensed, accountable professionals did the work correctly.
An unlicensed person who does your panel upgrade cannot pull a permit in their own name. When you sell your home, the buyer's inspector will find evidence of unpermitted electrical work. Your insurance company can deny claims arising from unpermitted electrical installations. And if something goes wrong — a fire, an injury — you are holding the liability alone.
SkillSee holds an active C-10 license in Los Angeles County. Every panel upgrade and rewiring project we do is permitted, inspected, and backed by written warranty. We don't subcontract this work to someone you've never met — we own it.
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Start With an Assessment
If you're not sure what you have, the right first step is a professional electrical assessment — not a quote for specific work, but an honest look at your current system and a clear explanation of what you have, what it means, and what your options are.
We do these assessments throughout Los Angeles County. We'll look at your panel, probe your wiring where accessible, check your grounding, and give you a straight report: what's safe, what needs attention soon, and what can reasonably wait.
[Contact SkillSee](https://skillsee.pro) to schedule an electrical assessment. The cost of knowing is small. The cost of finding out the wrong way is not.