Panel Upgrade in Georgetown, DC: Service Entrances, OGB Review, and What Your 1800s Rowhouse Actually Needs

What this guide covers

This page walks through the realities of upgrading an electrical service in Georgetown — the 1800s rowhouse housing stock, the federal Old Georgetown Act review process (which is NOT HPRB — Georgetown is its own thing), how Pepco service drops work on these buildings, and what to expect on install day. If you're past the research phase and want a quote, call (703) 997-0026 or email info@ajlongelectric.com.

When Georgetown homeowners call us about panel upgrades

Most calls fall into one of these patterns:

• The kitchen renovation is in progress and the contractor flagged the panel. A 1900-built rowhouse with a 100-amp panel can't add an induction range, a 240V wall oven, and a beverage fridge without running out of capacity. The remodel stalls until the service is upgraded.
• The home inspector flagged a Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panel. These were installed widely in DC rowhouses through the 1960s–70s. They have a documented breaker-failure issue and most insurance carriers now flag them. Replacement isn't optional anymore.
• The buyer wants an EV charger and the panel can't carry the load. A 100-amp service that's been adequate for decades doesn't have headroom for a 40-amp EV circuit on top of existing kitchen, HVAC, and water-heater loads. Panel upgrade comes first, EV second.
• Breakers are tripping for no obvious reason. Aging breakers in 60-year-old panels lose calibration. Sometimes it's a sign of a failing breaker; sometimes it's a sign the panel's at end of life.
• A condo board or HOA mandate. A few Georgetown condo conversions have started requiring updated electrical service before a unit can sell — older buildings where the existing service was originally split among fewer units.

What makes panel work in Georgetown different

Three things separate Georgetown panel work from anywhere else in the metro area:

The housing stock is genuinely old. Most of Georgetown's residential buildings were built between the 1830s and the 1900s. Service entrances came later — usually 1940s or 1950s when the buildings were converted to fully electrical service. A typical Georgetown rowhouse has a 100-amp panel installed in the 1960s or 1970s, sometimes still on a 1950s service drop from Pepco. Conduit runs through brick exterior walls or up through interior chases that weren't designed for them. There's no "open basement, run new conduit anywhere" situation here — you're routing through 130-year-old masonry.

Federal historic review applies, and it's not HPRB. Georgetown is the only neighborhood in DC governed by the federal Old Georgetown Act of 1950. Exterior changes — including any visible conduit, meter relocation, mast adjustments, or service-entrance cable on the exterior of the building — are reviewed by the Old Georgetown Board (OGB), which makes recommendations to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). This is not the same as HPRB, which handles every other DC historic district. The OGB process is more rigorous, the timelines are different, and the standards for what's permitted on the visible exterior are stricter. We've done enough work in Georgetown to know what gets approved, what gets sent back for revisions, and how to design a service upgrade that doesn't trigger an avoidable historic-review delay.

Pepco service drops, alleys, and transformer access are their own puzzle. In most of DC, Pepco brings service overhead to a mast on the rear or side of the building. In Georgetown, a lot of service drops come through alleys, and some buildings have shared transformers serving multiple addresses. Coordinating a service upgrade with Pepco — including the temporary disconnect on install day — takes more lead time here. Material staging is harder because alleys are narrow and street-side parking is limited. We plan the logistics of every Georgetown panel job in advance, not on the day.

The DC permit body is the Department of Buildings (DOB) — formerly DCRA before the October 2022 split. DOB issues the electrical permit. For exterior-visible work, OGB review is required first; the OGB stamp is what unlocks the DOB permit application for those scope items.

What drives the cost of a panel upgrade in Georgetown

We don't post fixed prices on this page because every Georgetown panel job is different and a number without context is misleading. Call for a real quote. Here's what makes the number what it is:

• Existing panel amperage and what you're upgrading to. 100A → 200A is the most common upgrade. 100A → 400A (less common but happens for whole-house renovations adding pool, spa, EV, and a finished basement) is materially more expensive — different equipment, sometimes a different service drop, sometimes a different meter base.
• Whether the meter has to relocate. If the existing meter is in a position OGB or CFA wouldn't approve for a modern installation, or if the upgrade requires a larger meter base that doesn't fit the existing location, relocation adds permit time and labor.
• OGB / CFA review for any exterior-visible work. If your project requires only an interior panel swap, OGB review may not be triggered. If it involves a new mast, exterior conduit run, or meter relocation visible from a public right-of-way, it does. OGB review adds 4–8 weeks to the timeline and engineering review fees that vary by scope.
• Garage-side vs. street-side service entrance. Buildings with rear-alley garage access or rear-yard service drops are easier to work on. Buildings with street-only frontage and basement-level meter rooms require more coordination with Pepco, the city, and the historic review process for any exterior changes.
• Copper vs. aluminum SE cable. Service-entrance cable comes in both. Copper runs more, aluminum less. We use copper as the default in Georgetown — it's the more durable choice in a humidity-prone environment with limited future re-access — but if budget is the driver, aluminum is code-compliant and acceptable.
• Alley access for materials and equipment. Some Georgetown blocks have alleys wide enough for a service truck. Some don't. If we have to walk a 200-amp panel and 40 feet of conduit half a block from where we can park, that's labor time.
• Condo board or HOA approval timelines. A few Georgetown buildings (especially the larger 19th-century conversions) require board approval before electrical service work begins. Approval timelines run from a week to a couple of months depending on the building's process. We can usually work in parallel with the approval process, but we can't start install day without it.

What happens on install day

A typical Georgetown panel upgrade is a one-day install when scope is interior-only and a 1.5–2 day install when the service entrance and meter base are also being replaced.

1. Pepco coordination. We arrange the temporary disconnect at the transformer or service drop in advance. You're without power for the install window — usually 4–6 hours, longer if the service entrance is being replaced.
2. De-energize and remove the old panel. Existing breakers labeled and circuits tagged before anything comes off. We document everything.
3. Install the new panel and service entrance components. New panel, new main breaker, new grounding electrode if the existing one isn't to current code, new bonding, new SE cable to the meter.
4. Re-energize and DOB inspection. Pepco reconnects the service drop. DOB schedules the inspection, which is usually within a few days; some inspectors will do same-week. We're on-site for the inspection.
5. Cleanup and walk-through. Old panel and breakers removed and disposed. Labels on every circuit. We walk you through what was done, where the new equipment is, and how to read it.

If the project includes OGB-reviewed exterior work, the install day is preceded by 4–8 weeks of review, then the permit, then Pepco scheduling. Don't expect to call on a Monday and have a service upgrade installed by Friday — Georgetown service upgrades are planned, not rushed.

Related services in Georgetown

If you're planning a panel upgrade, a few adjacent services often come up:

• EV charger installation in Georgetown — the most common reason Georgetown homeowners upgrade their panel
• Whole-house rewire and knob-and-tube replacement — common in pre-1940s Georgetown housing
• Sub-panel installation — sometimes the right answer when the main panel is fine but a renovation needs dedicated capacity
• Recessed lighting installation in Georgetown — frequent kitchen-renovation companion to a panel upgrade
• Nearby neighborhoods: Capitol Hill panel upgrades | Dupont Circle electrical services

Frequently Asked Questions