Nashville, TN
Nashville electrical permit cost
A Nashville electrical permit is a price list with a $75.00 minimum.
Outlets are $6.00 for the first ten and $1.00 each beyond, a service — new, enlarged or relocated — is $12.00 per meter, a service release is $75.00 residential and $102.00 commercial, an emergency reconnection is $102.00, electric signs are $20.00 each, and anything the list does not name is $9.00. Unpermitted work is not priced at all: the schedule triples the fee.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical permit — emergency re-connection of service, $102.00 eachPermit fee | $102.00 per electrical service | electrical scope is emergency reconnect | — |
| Electrical permit — lighting circuits and outlets: $6.00 for 10 or fewer, $1.00 each over 10Permit fee | $6.00 for the first 10 outlets, plus $1.00 for each additional outlet | Each outlet on the permit | — |
| Electrical permit — service, new, increased or relocated, $12.00 per meterPermit fee | $12.00 per meter | Each meter on the permit | — |
| Electrical permit — service release, commercial or industrial, $102.00 per riserPermit fee | $102.00 per electrical service | electrical scope is service release and customer class is one of commercial, industrial | — |
| Electrical permit — service release, residential, $75.00 per riserPermit fee | $75.00 per electrical service | electrical scope is service release and customer class is one of one and two family, multifamily condominium | — |
| Electrical permit — electric signs, $20.00 each (service excluded)Permit fee | $20.00 per sign | Each sign on the permit | — |
| Electrical permit — $75.00 minimum feePermit fee | the shortfall up to the $75.00 minimum on calculated permit fee | Every permit of this type | — |
| Electrical permit — $50.00 reinspection feeInspection fee | $50.00 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
A service upgrade with four new lighting circuits and twelve outlets at a one-family dwelling — the ordinary residential electrical permit.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of meters | 1 |
| Number of outlets | 12 |
| Electrical scope | outlets |
Example total
$75.00
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 8
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Electrical permit — lighting circuits and outlets: $6.00 for 10 or fewer, $1.00 each over 10Permit feeSubsection C.1 in full: "Lighting circuits or any circuit where outlets are intended to be installed for low-voltage holding devices or lamp-holding devices and receptacles for the attachment of small, portable electrical devices and appliances; 130 volts or less: a. For the installation of 10 or fewer such outlets ... $6.00; b. For additional outlets over 10, each ... $1.00". A base charge with a ten-outlet allowance and a dollar for each outlet past it — the base-plus-allowance shape the engine's per-unit form carries exactly: ten outlets are $6.00, eleven are $7.00.Show the working
| $6.00 for the first 10 outlets, plus $1.00 for each additional outlet | $8.00 |
Electrical permit — service, new, increased or relocated, $12.00 per meterPermit feeSubsection C.8: "Service, new installation, increasing size, or relocation, per meter ... $12.00". The unit is the meter, not the service — a service with two meters is $24.00 — which is why this row reads the dataset's meter count rather than its service count.Show the working
| $12.00 per meter | $12.00 |
Electrical permit — $75.00 minimum feePermit feeSubsection C.11: "Minimum fee (each permit) ... $75.00 (Including permit for the installation of any electrical system or part thereof, including but not limited to the installation of both new electrical systems and additions, alterations and repairs to existing electrical systems, the installation of electrical fixtures, equipment and devices and appurtenances thereto, temporary services, etc.)" — a floor that catches a one-outlet permit at $75.00 rather than $6.00.Show the working
| $75.00 minimum on calculated permit fee, less the $20.00 calculated | $55.00 |
| Total | $75.00 |
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.
- Electrical permit — emergency re-connection of service, $102.00 each — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — service release, commercial or industrial, $102.00 per riser — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — service release, residential, $75.00 per riser — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
- Electrical permit — electric signs, $20.00 each (service excluded) — sign count was not provided, so this component could not be calculated.
- Electrical permit — $50.00 reinspection fee — This fee does not apply to the inputs provided.
Limits of this estimate
- sign count is required by at least one fee rule and was not provided (input "custom.signs").
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.
Subsection C.1: twelve outlets are ten for $6.00 plus two at $1.00 — $8.00. The service, "new installation, increasing size, or relocation, per meter", is $12.00. The permit computes $20.00 and pays the $75.00 minimum: subsection C.11's floor is charged as the shortfall, so the permit is $75.00 rather than $20.00.
A service release is a different permit on the same table: $75.00 for each service riser at a one- or two-family dwelling or a condominium, $102.00 commercial or industrial, and $102.00 for an emergency reconnection — priced by occupancy class, one riser at a time. And a job that needs the panel ladder is where this page stops: panels are priced per panel by the panel's amperage class, which is a count-by-class shape the fee rules here do not yet express. Those rows are transcribed in the research record and named on the page rather than approximated.
What is different in Nashville
The list is written subsections, not a table, and each subsection is a count at a fixed price: outlets (ten for $6.00, then $1.00 each), motors and generators by horsepower, ranges at $20.00 residential and $25.00 commercial, water heaters at $15.00 and $20.00, electric heat and appliances by kilowatts, dryers at $10.00 and $14.00, signs at $20.00, services at $12.00 a meter, distribution panels by amperage class from $10.00 to $145.00 plus $3.00 per additional 100 amperes, and a catch-all $9.00 row for "any wiring, device, apparatus, appliance or equipment not specifically covered herein".
The minimum is the floor the whole permit stands on: ten outlets compute $6.00 and pay $75.00, because subsection C.11 says so — and its parenthesis is long enough to be the permit's definition: "Including permit for the installation of any electrical system or part thereof ... temporary services, etc." The service rows are priced by occupancy rather than by amperage: $75.00 for each service riser at a one- or two-family dwelling or a condominium, $102.00 commercial or industrial, and $102.00 to reconnect a service in an emergency.
Two things on this page are deliberately not charged. The class-based rows — motors by horsepower, heat by kilowatts, panels by amperage class — price each item by its own rating, a count-by-class shape this site's per-unit facts do not yet express, so they are named rather than approximated. And subsection B's penalty is a multiplier on the fee, not a fee: "the permit fees shall be tripled" wherever electrical work began before a permit issued.
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 is the electrical permit fee Metro Code 16.20.250 charges. It excludes:
- The class-based rows — motors and generators by horsepower ($2.00 one horsepower or less, $8.00 two to ten, $14.00 over ten, $20.00 motor generator sets), electric ranges and water heaters by occupancy, electric heat and electrically heated appliances by kilowatts ($8.00 to $20.00), electric dryers ($10.00 residential, $14.00 commercial), and the distribution, lighting and switch panel ladder by amperage class ($10.00 at 200 amperes or less to $145.00 at 3,001–6,000, plus $3.00 per additional 100 amperes or fraction thereof) — each priced per item by the item's own rating class, and all transcribed in the research record.
- The catch-all wiring row — "the installation of any wiring, device, apparatus, appliance or equipment not specifically covered herein, such as but not limited to disconnects, 220 volt receptacles, each ... $9.00": a real row, named rather than charged, because a permit's count of it is not a fact the page asks for.
- The tripling penalty — "the permit fees shall be tripled" for work begun before a permit issued: a multiplier on whatever was owed.
- The re-inspection fee — $50.00 each when an inspection is repeated, carried as an inspection component rather than as part of a permit's price.
- The licence and registration requirements — contractor licensing and the e-permits system's registration are requirements of their own, priced separately from the permit.
What you need before applying
- Unpermitted electrical work triples the feeRequired
Metro Code 16.20.250 B, in full: "In addition to any other penalty imposed for failure to obtain a permit where electrical work of any type, for which a permit is required, is commenced before a permit is issued, the permit fees shall be tripled." The tripled amount is the fee the schedule would have charged, multiplied — a penalty on the price rather than a separate price, and it is named on the page rather than modelled.
Common questions
How much is an electrical permit in Nashville?
It is a price list with a $75.00 minimum: $6.00 for ten or fewer outlets and $1.00 each beyond, $12.00 per meter for a new, enlarged or relocated service, $75.00 or $102.00 per service riser depending on occupancy, $20.00 per electric sign, $9.00 for wiring and devices the list does not otherwise cover, and higher rates by class for motors, ranges, water heaters, dryers and panels. Most small permits pay the $75.00 minimum.
How are outlets counted?
"Lighting circuits or any circuit where outlets are intended to be installed for low-voltage holding devices or lamp-holding devices and receptacles for the attachment of small, portable electrical devices and appliances; 130 volts or less: for the installation of 10 or fewer such outlets ... $6.00; for additional outlets over 10, each ... $1.00." Ten outlets are $6.00, eleven are $7.00, and the permit's $75.00 minimum governs until the count reaches seventy-nine.
What is a service release?
A permit issued when an existing service is released or re-energised rather than installed, priced per service riser by occupancy: $75.00 for a one- or two-family dwelling or a condominium unit, $102.00 for commercial or industrial premises, and $102.00 to reconnect a service in an emergency. It is priced on the same service count as an installation but is its own permit, which is why the calculator asks for the permit's scope.
What happens if electrical work is done without a permit?
Subsection B: "In addition to any other penalty imposed for failure to obtain a permit where electrical work of any type, for which a permit is required, is commenced before a permit is issued, the permit fees shall be tripled." The penalty is a multiplier on the fee the schedule would have charged, and it is named on this page rather than computed into a price.
Why are the panel and motor rows not in the calculator?
Because they price each item by the item's own rating — a motor by horsepower, a panel by amperage class, electric heat by kilowatts — and a permit can carry items of several classes at once. That is a count-by-class shape the fee rules here do not yet express, and approximating it with one class would misprice the ordinary commercial permit. The rows are transcribed in the research record and named on the page.
Is there a minimum fee on an electrical permit?
"Minimum fee (each permit) ... $75.00 (Including permit for the installation of any electrical system or part thereof, including but not limited to the installation of both new electrical systems and additions, alterations and repairs to existing electrical systems, the installation of electrical fixtures, equipment and devices and appurtenances thereto, temporary services, etc.)" — a floor, not a base: it is charged only when the permit's own rows compute less.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- Fee schedule (PDF)CityPrimary source
Metro Nashville Codes Fee Schedule (Metro Code 16.28.110 – 16.20.250, with ICC valuation data)
Read 2026-09-25 with pdftotext in -layout mode (the text is single-column and reads cleanly). The first four lines are the whole building mechanism: "The total permit cost for a building permit includes: Zoning Examination Fee of $25 / Building Valuation Fee: See below (Valuation Table is on last page) / Codes Tech Fee: 10% of the Building Valuation Fee / Building Plan Review Fee: See below". Then the Metro Code itself: 16.28.110 (building permits — residential $5.00 per $1,000; the commercial ladder; moving $252; signs; trailers; use and occupancy $55; re-inspection $50; plans examination with its $275,000 seam and its exemptions), 16.12.220 (plumbing — $75 minimum, $11 fixtures, the thirty-two-item fixture classification list), 16.16.400 (gas/mechanical — $75 minimum, appliance rows, $32 per 100,000 Btuh), 16.20.250 (electrical — outlets, motors, ranges, water heaters, heat by kilowatts, dryers, signs, services per meter, panels by amperage, the $75 minimum, service releases and emergency reconnection), and the ICC Building Valuation Data (February 2025) with its per-square-foot construction costs and worked permit-fee multiplier example. The sheet cites its own legislation: BL2022-1215 (fee schedule) and BL2022-1254 (codes tech fee).
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.