Replacing a panel in Jacksonville: the utility that pulls your meter and the office that permits the work

A panel replacement is the most common large electrical job on a First Coast house, and the one homeowners most often get quoted in different ways. The reasons for the job vary (the insurer’s four-point form recorded a Federal Pacific or Zinsco brand, a Level 2 charger and a heat pump do not fit on a 1972 100-amp service, or the panel failed), but the job itself has a fixed shape here, set by the city’s permit rules, the 2020 electrical code the city enforces, and the utility that owns the meter. On the First Coast the shape depends on the street: which utility owns the meter and which office permits the work. This guide starts there. It does not quote prices; the contractor sets those.

Which utility pulls your meter

The utility owns the service drop and the meter; everything after the meter is yours. A panel replacement usually means opening the meter can or replacing it along with the service entrance, and the utility has to disconnect and reconnect. The contractor schedules it, and which utility that is depends on the street:

• JEA in Duval, Atlantic Beach, Mayport and parts of St. Johns, Clay and Nassau.
• Beaches Energy Services in Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach and Palm Valley.
• Clay Electric Cooperative in Middleburg, Lake Asbury, much of Fleming Island, Oakleaf and parts of the Westside.
• FPL in St. Augustine, Nocatee, Yulee and mainland Nassau.
• Florida Public Utilities on Amelia Island, and Green Cove Springs runs its own municipal electric.

The house is without power for the length of the work, typically most of a day. Ask the contractor what time the utility disconnect is scheduled and what happens if the inspection cannot be done the same day.

Which office permits it

The City of Jacksonville’s residential permits page says plumbing, electrical and HVAC work “must be done only by contractors and craftsmen certified in those trades and require separate permits.” That sentence covers a panel replacement, a service upgrade, a subpanel and a new circuit. The contractor pulls the electrical permit through JaxEPICS, the city’s online permitting system; a homeowner can permit their own primary residence in person at the Building Inspection Division, but the electrical work under that permit still has to be done by a licensed electrical contractor with their own permit tied to it.

Florida’s 2026 law that exempts small residential jobs under $7,500 from a building permit does not change this: the statute leaves out electrical, plumbing, mechanical, structural and gas work no matter the cost. If a quote for a panel replacement says no permit is needed, the quote is wrong.

Outside the consolidated city, the permit office changes: Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Orange Park, St. Augustine and Fernandina Beach permit inside their own limits, and St. Johns, Clay and Nassau counties permit the rest. Each area page on this site names the office.

The load calculation decides the amperage

“Upgrade to 200 amps” is the most common line on a panel quote and the one most often written without a calculation behind it. The code’s load calculation adds up the house’s actual demands (the range, the water heater, the dryer, the heat pump with its strip heat, the pool pump, a Level 2 charger at continuous load) and produces a number. A 100-amp service on a two-bedroom block house in Lakewood with gas heat and no charger may pass; a 150-amp service in Mandarin with a heat pump, a pool and a charger coming may not. The inspector can ask for the calculation, and the Citizens four-point form asks the inspector whether the amperage is sufficient. Ask the contractor to show the calculation with the quote.

The surge protector the code now requires

Jacksonville enforces the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), whose electrical provisions are the 2020 National Electrical Code. NEC 2020 added section 230.67, which requires a surge protective device on every service that supplies a dwelling unit, and it says the requirement applies where service equipment is replaced. The device must be a Type 1 or Type 2 SPD, installed in or immediately next to the service equipment; a plug-in surge strip is a Type 3 and does not satisfy it. Leviton’s code guide walks through the section.

On the First Coast that rule has a practical reason behind it. A lightning-heavy summer and a utility fault after a storm are how GFCI breakers, control boards and the electronics in a new heat pump die. The SPD at the panel is the first line for all of it. It should appear as its own line on the quote, and its absence is a reason to ask.

Grounding, bonding, and the rest of the list

A replaced service is brought to current code, which on a 1960s or 1970s house usually means:

• Two ground rods, or a verified ground electrode, and the grounding electrode conductor sized to the new service.
• The water-pipe bond, and a bonding jumper around the water meter if the house has metal water piping.
• An intersystem bonding terminal for the cable and telephone grounds.
• Arc-fault protection on the bedroom and living-area circuits the panel serves, and GFCI protection where the code now requires it, when those circuits are touched.
• A panel directory filled in, breaker by breaker; the four-point inspector photographs the door label.
• The permit and the passed final inspection, which the insurer will ask to see.

The code and permit rules are summarized from the City of Jacksonville’s published pages and the 2020 NEC as of September 2026; the contractor who does the work is responsible for the permit, the code compliance and the inspection.