Roanoke's trade-permit form and Appalachian Power's paperwork meet in one box. Any electrical service permit needs an AEP work-order number, for the disconnect and for the reconnect. Those two systems do not match.
The tariff's seal rule names the customer's agents and employees, not only the customer, so it reaches the electrician you hire.
What the utilities actually wrote
Every rule quoted in this section is from Appalachian Power's Virginia tariff, so it applies when Appalachian Power sends your bill.
Start with Tariff No. 28. The metering device is the property of the Company.
The meter base and all internal parts inside the meter base are customer owned, and are the responsibility of the customer to install and maintain.
The customer and the customer’s agents and employees shall not tamper with, interfere with or break the seals of any meters used by the Company, regardless of ownership.
No one, except the agents and employees of the Company, shall be allowed to make any internal or external adjustments to any installed meter used by the Company. That is not a homeowner meter-pull path.
The Modify Home Service page is the published request for removing a meter or service drop, or for upgrading electrical service. Appalachian Power lists 800-956-4237 on it.
Appalachian Power does not publish a guaranteed power-off hour count.
Cline’s Roanoke panel page writes that it calls Appalachian Power to schedule the service disconnect. That is a contractor field note, not a tariff hour count.
Permits in Roanoke, and next door
Inside the city, start at the Permit Center, Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, 215 Church Avenue SW, Room 170. The phone is (540) 853-1090.
Who pulls the permit matters. The trade-permit application lets an owner apply. It also wants a DPOR number when the applicant is a contractor. Electrical service permits require an Appalachian Power work-order number for disconnect and for reconnect.
An owner filing without a contractor uses the city's Owner/Builder Affidavit for Exemption from Contractor License, listed with the trade-permit form.
Cline’s own Roanoke page writes that it pulls the permit through Roanoke City, Roanoke County, or Salem, whichever applies to the address. A quote that only says “we handle the permit” should name the city on the address.
Price, without inventing one
Cline, the shop listed here, publishes its own 2026 bands for Roanoke jobs. The other band on this page is from Castles Electrical, written for Norfolk in Hampton Roads and not for the Roanoke Valley.
For a standard 100-amp to 200-amp upgrade on a Roanoke job, Cline's figure is roughly $2,200 to $3,800. Cline's page says that includes the panel, the breakers, the labor, the permit, and the inspection. Castles puts the same upgrade at $1,500 to $3,500 in Norfolk. If your house does not fit Cline's published bands, ask a Roanoke Valley shop to price it in writing. Those two systems do not match. We will not average them. We are not inventing a Church Avenue midpoint from either system.
The city form already asks for a DPOR number, so run that number through DPOR's license lookup before you sign. Cline’s Roanoke panel page names Federal Pacific Electric and Zinsco. Its footer carries VA State Class A Electrical Contractor License #2705148685. On DPOR's current Class A list, 27 05 148685 is J CLINE INC of Salem, rank A, specialty ELE, expiring 10/31/2028. Cline is on this page because the printed number and the DPOR list agree. Leaving a Roanoke shop off this page says nothing about that shop.
Directory-only shops are omitted. A Federal Pacific page with no Virginia contractor number in print did not get a spot here. The listed shop is not affiliated with Panel Letter.
What to hand the carrier
The useful packet is the closed City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, or Salem 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.
Typical replacement cost
Cline's Roanoke band and a Hampton Roads band for Norfolk do not match, and only Cline wrote for this valley. We are not inventing a Church Avenue midpoint from them
$2,200 to $3,800
Cline's 2026 band for a standard 100-amp to 200-amp upgrade on Roanoke jobs
Cline wrote this for Roanoke jobs this year. When the service mast or meter base also needs work, Cline's page moves to $3,800 to $5,500. Those two lines do not match. Castles, writing for Norfolk, gives $1,500 to $3,500 for a 100-amp to 200-amp upgrade. Those two systems do not match. We will not average them. We are not inventing a Church Avenue midpoint from either system.
Source: Cline Electrical$1,500 to $3,500
Standard 100-amp to 200-amp panel upgrade written for Norfolk homes in Hampton Roads, not for the Roanoke Valley
Castles' Norfolk cost page, a Hampton Roads number. For the same upgrade on Roanoke jobs, Cline's own band runs $2,200 to $3,800. Those two systems do not match. We will not average them.
Source: Castles Electrical
Permit
City of Roanoke Permit Center, Planning Building and Development
Who pulls it: The Permit Center sits in the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, 215 Church Avenue SW, Room 170, Roanoke, VA 24011. The published phone is (540) 853-1090. Questions go to permitcenter@roanokeva.gov. The trade-permit application for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work is submitted to that same mailbox. It has a line for an owner, a contractor, an owner’s agent, or a registered design professional. Contractor applicants put a DPOR license number on the form. Electrical service permits require an Appalachian Power work-order number for reconnect and for disconnect. Owner-builder work uses the Owner/Builder Affidavit for Exemption from Contractor License on the city’s documents page. Cline's Roanoke page lists Roanoke City, Roanoke County, and Salem as the places it pulls permits.
Who pulls the permit matters. The trade-permit form lets an owner apply. It also wants an AEP work-order number on an electrical service file. A quote that only says we handle the permit should name Roanoke, Roanoke County, or Salem on the address. The form asks a contractor applicant for a DPOR license number. Get that number from your electrician before the application is sent.
Utility coordination
Appalachian Power meter-seal rules in Roanoke
Who disconnects: Appalachian Power’s Virginia S.C.C. Tariff No. 28 is blunt. The metering device is the property of the Company. The meter base and all internal parts inside the meter base are customer owned, and are the responsibility of the customer to install and maintain. The customer and the customer’s agents and employees shall not tamper with, interfere with or break the seals of any meters used by the Company, regardless of ownership, or any Company-owned equipment installed on the customer's premises. No one, except the agents and employees of the Company, shall be allowed to make any internal or external adjustments to any installed meter used by the Company, regardless of ownership, or any piece of apparatus which belongs to the Company. The Company’s Modify Home Service page is the published path for removing a meter or service drop, or for upgrading electrical service. That page lists 800-956-4237. That is not a homeowner meter-pull path.
Outage window: Appalachian Power does not publish a guaranteed power-off hour count for a residential panel swap.
If your bill comes from a different utility, the tariff lines on this page are not your rules. Cline’s Roanoke panel page writes that it calls Appalachian Power to schedule the service disconnect. That is a contractor field note. To upgrade the service, Appalachian Power's Modify Home Service page is the request the company publishes. The city’s trade-permit form still wants the AEP work-order number on an electrical service file.
What to hand the insurer
- Closed City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, or Salem electrical permit
- Passed electrical inspection
- Appalachian Power disconnect and reconnect record if the job needed one
- Invoice showing the Virginia contractor license used on the permit
- Photos of the old and new panel if the carrier’s letter asks for them
- Load calculation or panel schedule if the electrician produced one
Ask your agent for the exact list. Carriers do not publish a single national checklist.
Electricians who advertise this job
A shop is listed only if it advertises Federal Pacific, Zinsco, or insurance-driven panel replacement on its own site and prints a license number there. Trade-association locators already exist. We will not pad this list. Verify the license before you hire.
To get introduced, use the quote form on this page. We do not send you to the shop from here.
Cline Electrical
Salem, VA
Published license: 2705148685 (Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation)
Own Roanoke panel-box page that names a Federal Pacific Electric or Zinsco nameplate, city or county permits, and Appalachian Power disconnect, backed by VA State Class A Electrical Contractor License #2705148685 printed on the shop’s own site.
How this page was built
Compiled by Panel Letter on 2026-10-18 from the public pages below. If a fact was not on a cited page, it is marked as unverified in the copy. This is a research guide, not a bid.
- Cline Electrical, Panel box upgrades in Roanoke
Names a Federal Pacific Electric or Zinsco nameplate on the panel door. Writes they pull the permit through Roanoke City, Roanoke County, or Salem. Writes they call Appalachian Power to schedule the service disconnect. Prints 2026 Roanoke ranges of roughly $2,200 to $3,800 for a standard 100A-to-200A upgrade and usually $3,800 to $5,500 when the service mast or meter base needs work. Writes they pull the permit through Roanoke City, Roanoke County, or Salem, whichever applies to your address. On the standard 100A-to-200A band: That includes the panel, the breakers, the labor, the permit, and the inspection. Footer prints VA State Class A Electrical Contractor License #2705148685.
- Cline Electrical, Home
Prints VA State Class A Electrical Contractor License #2705148685. 106 Butt Hollow Road, Salem, Virginia 24153. Phone 540-701-0110. Writes Roanoke.
- Cline Electrical, Contact
Public mailbox is on this page. Same Salem address and phone.
- Virginia DPOR, Class A regulant list 2705a__crnt.txt
Official Class A list. 27 05 148685, J CLINE INC, 106 BUTT HOL BUTT HOLLOW RD, SALEM, VA 24153. Expiration 10/31/2028. Certification 10/23/2012. Rank A. Specialty ELE.
- Castles Electrical, Panel upgrades in Norfolk
Prints a standard Norfolk 100-amp to 200-amp upgrade at $1,500 to $3,500. Hampton Roads page. Cost source only here. Outside the Roanoke Valley.
- City of Roanoke, Permit Center
Permit Center at 215 Church Avenue SW, Room 170. Phone (540) 853-1090. permitcenter@roanokeva.gov.
- City of Roanoke, Trade permit application
Submit to permitcenter@roanokeva.gov. Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, 215 Church Ave SW, Suite 170, Roanoke, VA 24011. (540) 853-1090. Applicant may be owner, contractor, owner’s agent, or registered design professional. Contractor DPOR license number. AEP work order number required for electrical service permits. Owner/Builder Affidavit for Exemption from Contractor License is listed among related forms.
- Appalachian Power, Virginia S.C.C. Tariff No. 28 (September 24, 2026 update)
The metering device is the property of the Company; however. the meter base and all internal parts inside the meter base are customer owned, and are the responsibility of the customer to install and maintain. The customer and the customer’s agents and employees shall not tamper with, interfere with or break the seals of any meters used by the Company, regardless of ownership, or any Company-owned equipment installed on the customer's premises, and the customer assumes all liability for the consequences thereof. No one, except the agents and employees of the Company, shall be allowed to make any internal or external adjustments to any installed meter used by the Company, regardless of ownership, or any piece of apparatus which belongs to the Company.
- Appalachian Power, Modify home service
Published path to request removal of an existing meter and/or electric service drop, or to upgrade electrical service. Phone 800-956-4237.
- Virginia DPOR, License lookup
Official Virginia contractor-license lookup.