Federal Pacific panel replacement in Myrtle Beach

Salt air is already eating the meter can on this Golden Mile house. The insurance letter just named the Federal Pacific panel behind it.

Construction Services will not pull a Santee Cooper or Horry Electric meter. Those utilities will not print the city electrical permit. Those two systems do not match. A helper with a van cannot stand in for either one.

What the utilities actually wrote

The Grand Strand is split territory. Confirm the logo on the bill before anyone prices the job.

Santee Cooper’s handbook is the beach-side rule. The Customer shall not tamper or otherwise interfere with the proper operation of Santee Cooper’s meter or other equipment.

Only authorized Santee Cooper employees are permitted to connect, disconnect, move, or remove the meter and the meter seal.

Horry Electric Cooperative writes the county-side rule the same way. Only authorized HEC employees are permitted to connect, disconnect, move, or remove the meter and the meter seal.

A meter pulled by an owner or an electrician without HEC consent is prohibited.

Horry Electric also bills a $20 service fee for a disconnect by member request on a panel-box upgrade. Neither utility publishes a guaranteed power-off hour count. Those utilities do not match as one company.

Permits in Myrtle Beach and in Horry County

Inside the city, start at Construction Services. The phone is 843-918-1111. Trade permits go to permittech@cityofmyrtlebeach.com.

Who pulls the permit matters. The city’s residential packet wants a separate electrical permit. That same packet lets only a contractor with a City of Myrtle Beach master tradesman card perform electrical work inside the city. State licensing, a city business license, and that master trade card have to exist before the trade permit is issued. That is not a homeowner electrical path on Ocean Boulevard.

Carolina Forest, Socastee, Forestbrook, and other unincorporated Horry County addresses file at Code Enforcement, not Construction Services. County section 6-3 still wants a permit before an electrical system is installed, altered, or replaced. Horry County’s owner-builder disclosure is a county path. Owning the home does not mean you should pull the permit and then hire someone under your name.

North Myrtle Beach, Conway, and Surfside Beach file at their own counters. A quote that only says “we handle the permit” should name the city on the address.

Price, without inventing one

One Grand Strand contractor page publishes a 200-amp band and does not hide the salt-air adder.

Fogle & Sons’ Myrtle Beach panel page prints most 100-amp to 200-amp upgrades at $2,400 to $4,200. The same FAQ says salt-damaged meter bases or masts can add to that. That is a different scope. We are not inventing a Socastee midpoint from the printed band.

South Carolina LLR lookup is public. Ask for the license number and check it before you sign. Two shops advertise this work on their own sites and print a license number. Fogle’s Myrtle Beach page names Federal Pacific, Zinsco, and insurance-flagged panels and prints License #CLM111551. Loftis Lighting’s North Myrtle Beach page names Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco and prints Master Electrician License #2858. They write daily work across Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Socastee. They are listed for the panel letter, not as a Grand Strand directory.

Directory-only shops are omitted. A page that names these brands and does not print a South Carolina license number is not a listing. The listed shops are not affiliated with Panel Letter.

What to hand the carrier

The useful packet is the closed City of Myrtle Beach, Horry County, or other Grand Strand electrical permit, the passed electrical inspection, an invoice with the license number that was on the permit, and photos if the letter asks. If your electrician produces a load calculation or panel schedule, send that too. We did not find a carrier page that publishes a single statewide sticker form. Ask the agent what they will actually open.