Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix electrical permit cost
Phoenix publishes no electrical permit fee as such.
Across all fifty pages of its fee schedule there is no per-outlet, per-circuit or per-panel rate and no electrical permit line — but the same section states, twice, that the permit fee for installation, repair or replacement work is looked up in Table A. Electrical work is therefore priced from the valuation of the work, exactly as construction is: $195 for the first $1,000 of valuation, then $12 per additional $1,000 up to $10,000, then $10, $9 and $5. Three fees on top of that belong to electrical work alone: each electric meter after the first is $98, a temporary power inspection is $195, and a re-inspection is $195.
How this fee is calculated
These are the components the schedule defines for this permit, as they applied on 2026-09-28. A component only applies to your project if its conditions match — read that column before assuming a figure. Want a figure for your own project? Estimate this fee with the permit fee calculator.
| Component | Formula | Applies when | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building safety permit feePermit fee | $195.00 + no charge on the first $1,000, plus 1.2% above $1,000, plus 1% above $10,000, plus 0.9% above $50,000, plus 0.9% above $200,000, plus 0.5% above $1,000,000, plus 0.5% above $10,000,000 (basis rounded up to the next $1,000 or fraction thereof) | Every permit of this type | — |
| Each additional electric meterPermit fee | the first meter is included in the permit fee, then $98.00 for each additional meter | Each meter on the permit | — |
| Temporary power inspectionInspection fee | $195.00 flat fee | temporary power is true | — |
| Re-inspectionInspection fee | $195.00 flat fee | reinspection is true | — |
A real permit fee is these components added together. The department’s final calculation is the one that applies — this is the schedule it will be based on.
A worked example
Follow the arithmetic by hand. Every line is produced by the engine from the rules above, so the total cannot drift away from the schedule behind it.
Worked example
An electrical project carrying a project valuation of $18,000, with three electric meters and a temporary power inspection. The valuation is the input the City's own table takes; the three meters illustrate the allowance, since the first one is included in the permit fee.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Project valuation | $18,000 |
| Occupancy class | Commercial |
| Type of work | New construction |
| Number of meters | 3 |
| Temporary power | Yes |
Example total
$774.00
An estimate, not an official fee. It is calculated from the published fee schedule as it applied on 2026-09-28. The permit office’s own calculation is the one that applies, and your project may fall under rules this schedule does not describe.
Fee schedule as of 2026-09-28Rules applied 3Rules considered 4
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Building safety permit feePermit feeAppendix A.2, Table A — the valuation-based permit fee for new construction, additions and remodels. Bands are marginal and the valuation is rounded up to the next whole $1,000 before they are applied.Show the working
| $195.00 + no charge on the first $1,000, plus 1.2% above $1,000, plus 1% above $10,000, plus 0.9% above $50,000, plus 0.9% above $200,000, plus 0.5% above $1,000,000, plus 0.5% above $10,000,000 | $383.00 |
Each additional electric meterPermit feeAppendix A.2, Building Safety permit fees item 3: "Each Additional Meter per Utility ..... $98 each". The first electric meter carries no additional fee, because one meter of each type is included in the permit fee.Show the working
| the first meter is included in the permit fee, then $98.00 for each additional meter | $196.00 |
Temporary power inspectionInspection feeAppendix A.2, Building Safety inspection fees item 4 "Temporary Power" — $195 for the inspection of a temporary power installation. The schedule adds, in the same item, that installation, repair or replacement work is priced from Permit Fee Table A.Show the working
| $195.00 flat fee | $195.00 |
| Total | $774.00 |
Fees that do not apply here
Listed so you can see what was considered and left out, rather than wondering whether something is missing. A rule can also be left out because it is not published for this permit at all, and that is stated where it matters.
- Re-inspection — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Assumptions
- Calculated from 3 fee rules in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
The permit fee is the published Table A figure: $303 on the first $10,000 of valuation plus $10 for each of the eight additional thousands, which is $383. Three electric meters are two chargeable meters at $98, because one meter of each type is included in that permit fee: $196. The temporary power inspection is $195. The total is $774.
One assumption is worth naming because it is the department's to make, not this site's. The schedule defines valuation as building square footage multiplied by the standard rate for the occupancy, and separately says that the permit fee for installation, repair or replacement work is looked up in Table A. Where the work is a stand-alone electrical job with no building valuation behind it, the department determines the valuation of the work. This example uses a project valuation as though it were the work's, which is the arithmetic the table performs and not a figure the City published for this job.
What is different in Phoenix
The first thing to know is that there is no trade discount and no separate trade permit to look up. A service upgrade that carries a project valuation of $18,000 is charged as an $18,000 project: $303 on the first $10,000 plus $10 for each of the eight additional thousands, so $383 — the same figure a wall of the same valuation would pay. Phoenix prices the work, not the trade.
The second is the meter allowance, which is easy to misread and expensive to get wrong. The schedule includes one meter of each type in the permit fee: "First Gas, Electric, or Water Meter — No additional fee (included with the permit fee for one meter of each type)". Every meter after that is $98. So three electric meters are two chargeable meters, $196, not $294 — the first is already paid for.
The third is temporary power. A temporary power inspection is $195, and the schedule's note under that item is the sentence that routes the rest of the page: "For installation, repair, or replacement work, see Permit Fee Table A." The same note appears under refrigeration system inspections, which is the nearest thing the document offers to a mechanical fee and is why there is no mechanical page here.
What is not on this page matters as much as what is. A re-inspection is $195 and is charged only if one is needed — a project whose inspections pass owes nothing for it, and no estimate here includes it by default. And plan review is deliberately absent: Phoenix publishes it as a percentage of a *building* permit fee, scoped by its own words to new construction, additions and remodels of a building, and the schedule does not say whether a permit taken out for electrical work alone carries it. Where the electrical work is part of a building project, that project's plan review applies at 100% or 80% of the permit fee, and the building permit page computes it.
What this figure does not include
Impact fees, utility connections and other departments’ permits are the usual omissions, and in some jurisdictions they are larger than the permit fee itself.
Not included in these figures
This estimate is the City of Phoenix's building safety permit fee from Table A plus the fees the same schedule publishes for electrical work on its own. It is not a total project cost, and it does not include:
- Plan review. Published under Building Safety Plan Review Fees item 1.a, scoped there to new construction, additions and remodels of a building. Electrical work inside such a project carries that project's review at 100% of the permit fee at or below $50,000 of valuation and 80% above it, minimum $195 — computed on the building permit page, and not added here because the schedule does not state that a stand-alone electrical permit is reviewed the same way.
- The $195 re-inspection unless one is selected. The initial inspection and the first visit to verify corrections are included in the permit fee; a re-inspection called before the work was ready, one that could not be made for lack of access, or one following a failure to correct deficiencies is $195 each.
- After-hours inspections: $195 an hour, minimum $390 for a request within two hours of normal inspection hours and minimum $585 for anything later, at a weekend or on a holiday.
- The residential solar photovoltaic fixed fees, which are $780, $585, $488, $390 and $293 for the five over-the-counter options, and take a permit out of Table A entirely. A non-standard residential system is priced from Table A. Commercial solar has its own arrangement.
- Electric sign inspection fees, which attach to sign permits rather than to electrical permits.
- Generator inspections for temporary events at $195 for the first generator and $98 for each additional one.
- Investigation fees for work done without a permit — $250 or the permit fee, whichever is greater, capped at $2,500 per day — and the doubling of the permit fee the schedule applies to unpermitted work under Section 114.
- Fees on the department's other schedules: zoning, impact, fire permit and plan review, and water and sewer.
- Anything for property outside the Phoenix city limits.
What you need before applying
- Electrical work is priced from the valuation of the workRequired
The schedule publishes no electrical permit fee and no per-outlet, per-circuit or per-panel rate. Its Building Safety section prices permits from the valuation of each building or addition, and two of its items say in terms how trade work is priced: under both Temporary Power and Refrigeration System Periodic Inspections it prints 'For installation, repair, or replacement work, see Permit Fee Table A.' Electrical installation work is therefore looked up in the same table as construction, and the trade does not change the fee.
- One electric meter is included; each one after it is $98Required
Building Safety permit fees item 3, Additional Utility Meter Fees: the first meter of each type carries no additional fee because it is included in the permit fee, and each additional meter per utility is $98. Three electric meters are therefore two chargeable meters. The charge is per utility, so an electric meter and a gas meter added to the same project are two separate $98 charges rather than one.
- Temporary power is $195 and plan review is unresolvedRequired
A temporary power inspection is $195 each, published under Building Safety inspection fees. Beyond that the schedule gives no electrical figure of its own. In particular it does not say whether a permit taken out for electrical work alone attracts the plan review percentage — 100% of a building permit fee at or below $50,000 of valuation and 80% above it — because that item is scoped in its own words to new construction, additions and remodels of a building. No plan review is added to the figures on this page for that reason.
Common questions
How much does an electrical permit cost in Phoenix?
Phoenix has no electrical permit fee of its own. Electrical work is priced from Table A on the valuation of the work: $195 for the first $1,000, then $12 per additional $1,000 up to $10,000, then $10 per additional $1,000 up to $50,000, and so on down to $5 per additional $1,000 above $1,000,000. On top of that, each electric meter after the first is $98 and a temporary power inspection is $195.
Does Phoenix charge by the outlet, the circuit or the panel?
No. There is no per-outlet, per-circuit, per-panel or per-fixture rate anywhere in the fifty-page fee schedule, and no trade permit fee at all. Houston prices an electrical permit per outlet and per circuit; Phoenix prices the valuation of the work, so a project with ten outlets and one with a hundred of the same value pay the same permit fee.
Is the first electric meter really free?
The permit fee includes one meter of each type — the schedule's own words are 'First Gas, Electric, or Water Meter: No additional fee (included with the permit fee for one meter of each type)'. Each meter beyond that is $98, and the charge is per utility, so a project adding its first electric meter pays nothing extra while a project with three of them pays $196.
What does a temporary power inspection cost?
$195. It is published as a fee of its own under Building Safety inspection fees, and the same item adds that installation, repair or replacement work is priced from Permit Fee Table A.
Does an electrical permit need its own plan review?
The schedule does not say. Phoenix publishes plan review as a percentage of a building permit fee — 100% at or below $50,000 of valuation, 80% above it — under a heading scoped to new construction, additions and remodels of a building. Where the electrical work is part of such a project, that review applies to the project's permit fee. Where the permit is taken out for electrical work alone, the schedule is silent, and no plan review is added on this site because adding one would be a guess.
What happens if an inspection fails?
The initial inspection and the first re-inspection to verify corrections are included in the permit fee. After that each re-inspection is $195, whether it was called before the work was ready, could not be made because nobody was on site to provide access, or followed a failure to correct deficiencies.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
PDD Fee Schedule (Chapter 9, Appendix A.2)
Approved 17 December 2025, effective 20 January 2026, adopted by Ordinance G-7465. Fifty pages, fetched live from phoenix.gov on 2026-09-24 (sha256 4193e742000369ae3b6814e56c7eb2563cf18075240aeb894f335d684ff9436d, 616,766 bytes) and read locally with pdftotext -layout and -raw. A later capture can be compared against that hash. Unlike Dallas, no archive copy was needed: the City's host answered from this environment.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.