Federal Pacific panel replacement in Denver

Congress Park bungalows and Harvey Park ranch houses still hide Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco load centers that were ordinary when those streets were new. The Electricians’ Denver panel page names those neighborhoods, and Stapleton and Bear Valley, as places those doors still open. The insurance letter is usually written somewhere else. The work is governed by whichever city sits on the parcel and by whichever utility owns the meter.

Those two systems do not match. Inside the City and County of Denver the permit is Community Planning and Development through e-permits. Aurora is its own Building Division. Unincorporated Arapahoe County is a third counter, and that county’s own page says so. A helper with a van is not the person who can print any of those.

What Xcel actually wrote

Xcel’s Blue Book is blunt about who may touch the company’s side. Connection to or disconnection from the distribution system is Xcel’s job. The company shall be notified when a meter seal has to be cut in an emergency or when a qualified person needs to open the socket. Only employees or agents of the company may relocate meters or other company-owned equipment. That is not a homeowner seal cut.

The 2024 Colorado Service Guide adds the inspection gate. Before Xcel schedules a meter, an approved inspection certificate has to reach the Builders Call Line. Some communities accept a “Certificate for Connection by Utility” only from licensed electrical contractors. Electrical work a homeowner did themselves needs an email or call from the inspector. The Electric Inspection Certificate that Xcel publishes for Colorado is signed by the electrical contractor, with a license number.

Neither page publishes a guaranteed outage window. The Electricians describes four to six hours off. UniColorado describes five to eight. Treat those as contractor notes.

Read the bill before the estimate. Dunlap says Xcel covers most of their Denver-metro jobs and that some addresses sit on other providers. Those other providers are not this packet.

Permits inside Denver and in the suburbs

Inside Denver, start at Community Planning and Development. E-permits is the online counter. The city’s Quick Permits page lists new or replacement panels and subpanels and utility service upgrades rated 400 amps or less on single-phase services as work that can be issued without plan review. Over 400 amps, or three-phase, is a different path.

Denver will let a homeowner of a single-family house they own and live in pull a permit. That is not a green light to swap a service panel because the letter arrived. The homeowner-permit page says electrical work needs a license or a passed exam, and that homeowners cannot file a quick permit in e-permits — they email the application with a photo I.D. Licensed contractors apply in the portal.

Aurora is not that portal. Aurora’s Building Division says new electrical applications are reviewed and inspected to the 2026 National Electrical Code as of August 1, 2026. Arapahoe County Building is for unincorporated Arapahoe only and tells you to check jurisdiction first. Inspectors there review electrical licenses during the inspection. Lakewood, Centennial, Arvada, and Littleton each have their own building department.

A 100A-to-200A upgrade is a utility coordination job as well as a city or county permit.

Price, without inventing one

Two Denver contractor pages publish installed 2026 bands, and they do not match. The Electricians’ panel FAQ says a standard 100A-to-200A upgrade is $2,500–$5,000, a Federal Pacific or Zinsco replacement is $3,000–$6,000, and 400-amp work is $3,500–$8,000+. UniColorado’s April 27, 2026 cost article says their typical 200-amp service upgrade for Denver customers was $5,350–$7,800, with a 100A-to-200A complete upgrade at $4,700–$7,450. Those can both be true if they are describing different scopes. We will not average them.

Colorado license lookup is public. Ask for the EC number and check it on DORA before you sign. Three shops advertise this job on their own sites, print a license, and matched Active electrical-contractor records in the state’s official license data:

The Electricians prints EC.0101962 on the same Federal Pacific and Zinsco page that publishes the prices. The official record is Active in Centennial and expires September 30, 2029. That page also prints a public shop mailbox.

Ampro Electric prints LIC#: 0102496 on a dedicated Federal Pacific and Zinsco page. The official record is EC.0102496, Active, expiring September 30, 2026. That page also prints a public shop mailbox.

Dunlap Electric prints Electrical Contractor #8223 on a panel-replacement page that names Federal Pacific, Zinsco, Challenger, Pushmatic, and fuse boxes, and talks about an insurance letter. The official record is EC.0008223, Active in Denver, expiring September 30, 2029. Their contact path is a form and a phone number; we did not find a public shop mailbox there.

UniColorado names Federal Pacific, Zinsco, and Challenger on the cost page we used. That page does not print an EC number, so they are a cost source only. Colorado Electric Corp writes about removing Federal Pacific panels and does not print a license number on that page, so they are omitted rather than guessed. Directory-only shops are omitted. None of the listed shops is affiliated with Panel Letter.

What to hand the carrier

The useful packet is the closed city or county electrical permit, the passed inspection, an invoice with the EC number on it, and photos if the letter asks. If your electrician produces a load calculation or a labeled panel schedule, send that too. We did not find a Colorado carrier page that publishes a single statewide “sticker” form. Ask the agent what they will actually open.