the thing about upping the service is you run into other issues. i KNOW that inspectors in my area will try to, and usually will, force you to bring other items up to current code. a good friend had a bad panel replaced, the EC pulled a permit for it, and the inspector made them go back and GFCI the outdoor/bath outlets before he would sign off. heck nothing was touched on those other than disconnecting fromthe old panel and pluggin most of the same breakers back in the new one. but he insisted tha tbecause the circuit was "touched" it had to come up to current code. With 100 amp service, you are limited to about 5 circuits total. common misconception, totally wrong, but common. at my house i have all my 240v breakers in the outside panel. there are 2 100A breakers, 2 60 amp breakers, 4 50A breakers, 2 30A breakers. that is a total of 580A! do i have 600A service, NO. i DO have 300A service though( i posted before that it was 400, but a friend who is a sparky corrected me). 1 of the 100A breakers feeds my indoor panel which feeds all the 120v circuits inteh house. this is a 24 slot panel with 22 20A breakers in it(the whole house is wired with 12/2 even the lights). that is 440A worth of breakers! you can have 20000A worth of breakers on a 100A service. it is not the size of the breaker, it is the size of the actual LOAD that determines service size.

awegryzn- You're probably right, but you should ask your utility, not us. They're the ones who will be disconnecting you and reconnecting you, and who knows what special requirements they may have? In addition, if you haven't already done so, you should check to see what diameter conduit you need for your upgraded cable: you may need something larger than you presently have to be code compliant.

Depending on local laws you may not have to pay anything for the service drop upgrade. Virginia used to be home and may still be) to free upgrades from the pole to the meter pan with a service upgrade. For a long time Dominion Power would even give you a meter base for the asking so you would use their preferred one. The POCO has to get power to your meter base. New houses with new power are not the same. This post was edited by brickeyee on Mon, Dec 3, 12 at 17:58

If you have an electrician install a new 200 amp main panel, and make the existing panel a sub-panel, there should be no issues with your inspection. From there you can add circuits to the new panel, or move circuits over from the old at whatever pace suits you. FYI - My house already had a Square D panel, and have found that the Square D QO panel (not the Homeline) is a good product and its easy to find breakers and other parts for them. I'm sure there are other good brands, but the Square D QO is widely supported. The 200 amp 30/40 version is very common, and allows for up to 40 circuits. Bruce