Panel Upgrade or Full Service Upgrade? What Indianapolis Building Owners Should Know Before a Build-Out

The short answer: if the load calculation for the finished space fits inside the rating of the existing service disconnect and the utility transformer, and the trouble is a full or undersized distribution panel, you need a panel upgrade. If the calculated load exceeds what the service can carry, or the space needs a voltage the service does not provide, you need a service upgrade, which means the utility, a new main, and equipment that is currently quoted at 21 to 54 weeks. The rest of this guide is how to make that call early enough that it does not decide your opening date for you.

The line between a panel and a service

The code draws the line precisely. A service consists of the conductors and equipment connecting the serving electric utility to the premises wiring system.¹ The service point is where the utility’s conductors meet customer owned wiring, the service conductors run from there to the service disconnecting means, and the service equipment is the main breaker or switch that constitutes the main control and cutoff of the supply. It does not include the meter.² Everything on the load side of that main disconnect is a feeder, and the distribution panelboards hanging off those feeders are what a panel upgrade replaces.²

The utilities draw the same line in dollars. On an underground commercial service AES Indiana will locate, furnish and install the transformer pad and transformer and the secondary cable to the line side of the metering equipment, and it does so at no cost when the estimated cost does not exceed the estimated revenue for the first two and a half years; the customer clears the trench route to 42 inches deep and 8 feet wide and installs the 4 inch conduits with a pull string.⁵ Duke Energy Indiana plans, engineers and installs the distribution lines, the transformer and its pad and the metering, while the customer provides the space, provides and installs self contained meter bases of 400 amps and smaller, furnishes the conductors on the customer side of the delivery point, and pays any line extension deposit or contribution in aid of construction before construction begins.⁹

The city’s permit boundary lands in the same place. In AES Indiana’s words, repair or replacement of the meter fitting, riser and weather head does not require an electrical permit unless it is being upgraded or relocated, but any work performed from the meter to the building, including the panelboard, requires an electrical permit.⁶ A new or altered service in Indianapolis requires a permit, a sticker completed by a city inspector or a self certification tag, and authorization numbers before AES will energize it.⁶

How to tell which one you need

Start with the load calculation, not the panel label. The electrical code’s Article 220 provides the requirements for calculating branch circuit, feeder and service loads, and the service has to carry the calculated load of the finished space, not the load of the space as it sits today.¹³ Then compare that number with 3 things: the rating of the service disconnect, the utility transformer behind it, and the voltage.

• Capacity. Panelboards come in ratings from 100 to 1,200 amps, commonly 100, 200, 225, 400, 600, 800 and 1,200, and above 1,200 amps the service equipment becomes a switchboard.³ A breaker is typically rated for only 80 percent of its capacity for continuous load, so a 400 amp main carries 320 amps continuously, which is the number the calculation has to fit under.³
• Phase. AES Indiana requires all services or feeders over 125 amps to be three phase, four wire, and it will provide single phase only for loads up to 170 kilowatts of demand and an 800 amp disconnect.⁵ A build-out that adds three phase equipment to a single phase building is a service upgrade by definition.
• Voltage. Commercial buildings run on 120/208 or 277/480 volt three phase.³ Restaurants and big box retailers prefer 480/277 and small retail and office tenants prefer 208/120, and in some cases the choice is the utility’s.⁴ The most common dry type transformer in a commercial building exists precisely to step 480 down to 120/208 for the receptacles, so a 480 volt service with the wrong tenant is often a transformer and a panel rather than a new service.³

If the calculated load fits under the main and the transformer, and the space simply needs more circuits, a larger distribution panel or a sub panel fed from the existing service is the answer. If it does not fit, no amount of panel work fixes it: the service conductors, the main disconnect and usually the utility transformer all change, and that is a service upgrade.

The utility has to be in the room early

Both utilities say the same thing in their own handbooks: tell us before you commit. AES Indiana’s Goldbook asks the customer or their representative to notify the company well in advance of the date a new service will be required, sends commercial applications through its Engineering Division with the Commercial and Industrial Information Sheet, and wants Engineering consulted for all loads over 50 kilowatts and for any cooking, heating, water heating, air conditioning, welder or x-ray loads.⁵ Adding load to an existing service without notice can mean unsatisfactory operation until the utility increases capacity, and AES reserves the right to disconnect on 14 days written notice if the section is not followed.⁵ Shop drawings for free standing switchgear must be approved by Engineering and Metering in advance of any firm commitments, and any individual service larger than 1,600 amps must be free standing switchgear with cold sequence metering.⁵ AES will furnish the transformer size and impedance data for the fault current calculation on request.⁵

Duke Energy Indiana runs it through an appointment with a distribution engineer, and its April 2026 Gold Book lists what it needs: the service address, the date power is needed, the requested voltage and service point, the total connected load, any load management equipment, a diagram of the electrical system including any switchgear, and a plot plan.⁸ Its commercial load sheet asks for the type of business, the connected and demand kilowatts, the size of the main, and, in their own block, the number of EV chargers, the largest one, the total demand and whether a load management system will cap it.¹⁰ Duke starts work only when the method of service is approved, the agreements and easements are signed, final grades are in and its permits are received, and it connects only after it holds a certificate of approval from the inspector.⁸ Once a service order exists the crew has up to 3 business days to set the meter, but crews are scheduled based on present lead times, and services over 600 volts require a considerable amount of time for drawings, site evaluation and ordering equipment.^11,8

Neither utility publishes a number of weeks for designing and building a commercial service. AES publishes its list of what delays one instead: plans arriving late, missing load and billing information, easements, permits, weather, and a missing city inspection tag.⁷ Every item on that list is the owner’s or the contractor’s to prevent.

The switchgear order date matters more than the permit date

This is the part of the schedule that has changed. A lead time index updated in August 2026 puts panelboards at 21 to 32 weeks, switchboards at 32 to 41 weeks, low voltage switchgear at about 54 weeks on the manufacturer’s published schedule, and pad mount transformers at 30 weeks, and answers the question of whether 2026 is improving with a plain no: orders keep outrunning shipments across the major manufacturers.¹² An estimator’s guide from March 2026 has standard panelboards at 28 to 48 weeks for branded product and standard switchboards at 52 weeks, and notes that a 10 to 20 percent deposit to secure a production slot is now a standard commercial mechanism.¹⁵ A general contractor’s June 2026 procurement data has pad mount transformers at 40 to 65 weeks and medium voltage switchgear at 52 to 80 weeks, with the advice that a project not ordering electrical equipment 12 to 18 months before mobilizing is already behind.¹⁴

The pattern predates the current data center surge. An Indiana general contractor was already warning in 2022 that gear which historically took 4 to 6 months had gone to a minimum of 12 months, and recommending that clients with a complete design pre purchase the electrical gear.¹⁶ The producer price index for switchgear rose nearly 50 percent between 2020 and 2024.²⁵

Permits, inspections and the sticker, in Indianapolis

The Department of Business and Neighborhood Services handles licensing, permitting and inspections for the city, and any construction activity related to an electrical power distribution system requires a permit, with narrow exceptions for a single circuit under 60 amps serving mechanical equipment on a building permit and for temporary construction power.^26,27 Commercial, industrial and multi family work is Class 1 and needs a pre permit plan review before the structural permit, and the plan review tips include providing details of the grounding electrode system.²⁷ Craft permit fees, electrical among them, did not change in the January 5, 2026 fee update.²⁹

The permit itself is applied for on the city portal by a licensed contractor, and the city’s electrical permit form has a box for it: upgrade service, from how many amps to how many.^28,30 Inspections run under slab, rough in and final, the final being scheduled when the completion card is submitted, and a permit that expires without one draws an administrative fee every 30 days.²⁸ Then comes the step that gates the utility: by ordinance no one may connect electrical power to a system that needed a permit until an inspection has been made and a distinctive sticker has been attached to each service equipment, or, for a licensed contractor with 12 clean months, a self certification tag with an authorization number issued by phone.³¹ AES Indiana’s handbook repeats the rule from its side and lists the missing tag among its causes of delay.^6,7

Licensing is local. There is no state license for electrical contractors in Indiana; Indianapolis requires an electrical contractor license to install, alter, replace, service or repair a system distributing electrical power, with a master license authorizing electrical work without limitation, an exam, a $10,000 surety bond and stated insurance minimums.^32,33 The city’s jurisdiction excludes Lawrence, Beech Grove, Speedway and Southport, which run their own inspections, and in the suburbs the inspector is the town’s.³² Whichever office it is, the code they enforce is the Indiana Electrical Code, which AES describes as the National Electrical Code as adopted by the State of Indiana with amendments, and Indianapolis incorporates it by reference including later amendments.^6,31

A build-out sequence that does not slip

1. Load calculation from the equipment schedule, on the finished space, with the kitchen, imaging, charging and solar loads on it. This is a one visit assessment of the existing service and panels.
2. Utility meeting with the information sheet or load sheet filled in, before the design is frozen, so the transformer and the voltage are decided by the people who own them.
3. Panel or service, and at what voltage. If it is a service, the one line drawing and the switchgear shop drawings go to the utility for approval before the order.
4. Order the gear with a deposit the week the design is set, and put its delivery date on the master schedule ahead of every finish trade.
5. Permit and plan review, 3 to 5 business days for the electrical permit, longer for the Class 1 structural review it rides with.
6. Rough in, inspections, sticker, then the utility sets the meter and energizes.

We run all 6 for build-outs across Indianapolis and the suburbs, from a panel and service upgrade on its own to the whole tenant improvement. If you have a lease, a floor plan and an equipment list, send them over and we will tell you which upgrade it is and when the gear has to be ordered to hit your date.