Houston, TX
Houston electrical permit cost
Houston does not price electrical permits off project valuation.
Bldg. Code Sec. 118.6 sets a fee for each item of work: so much for the meter loop and service, so much per panel, so much per outlet. The permit fee is the sum of the items on the permit.
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 meter loop and service up to 50 kWPermit fee | $94.00 flat fee | Every permit of this type | — |
| Electrical outletPermit fee | $1.34 per outlet | Each outlet on the permit | — |
| Electrical panel with 8 or more circuitsPermit fee | $9.39 per electrical panel | Each electrical panel on the permit | — |
| Lighting or appliance fixturePermit fee | $1.34 per lighting fixture | Each lighting fixture on the permit | — |
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: one meter loop and service up to 50 kW, plus the outlets being added on the same permit. Houston prices these as separate items, so more than one row appears in the total.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of outlets | 40 |
Example total
$147.60
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 2Rules considered 7
| Component | How it is calculated | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Electrical meter loop and service up to 50 kWPermit feeBldg. Code Sec. 118.6.1 — meter loop and service, up to 50 kW.Show the working
| $94.00 flat fee | $94.00 |
Electrical outletPermit feeBldg. Code Sec. 118.6.1 — fee per electrical outlet.Show the working
| $1.34 per outlet | $53.60 |
| Total | $147.60 |
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 panel with 8 or more circuits — electrical panel count was not provided, so this component could not be calculated.
- Lighting or appliance fixture — lighting fixture count was not provided, so this component could not be calculated.
- Minimum permit fee — Rule status is "draft".
- Minimum permit fee (plumbing) — Rule status is "draft".
- Permit or license administrative fee — Rule status is "draft".
Limits of this estimate
- electrical panel count is required by at least one fee rule and was not provided (input "custom.panels").
- lighting fixture count is required by at least one fee rule and was not provided (input "custom.lighting_fixtures").
Assumptions
- Calculated from 2 fee rules in effect on 2026-09-28.
- Amounts are rounded to the nearest cent, once, at the end of each component.
The outlet count is the example's, not the City's. Note what the total does not include: the panel row and the lighting or appliance row are in the schedule but absent from this example, because the work described has neither. Houston's $91.06 minimum permit fee is not added either — see the note on the minimum below.
What is different in Houston
The main building blocks in the published schedule are a meter loop and service up to 50 kW at $94.00, each electrical panel with 8 or more circuits at $9.39, and each outlet at $1.34. Levels above 50 kW and 250 kW are priced separately at $100.71 and $107.42.
Because the schedule is written per item, the two numbers that matter most are how many items your project has and which of the schedule's rows describe them. A service change and a room addition can both be 'an electrical permit' and cost very different amounts.
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 covers the electrical rows we have transcribed: meter loops and service, panels, outlets, and lighting or appliance fixtures. Bldg. Code Sec. 118.6 also publishes separate rows for EV charging outlets by level, motors by horsepower, electrical signs, ball park and parking lot light poles, temporary saw poles, reconnection, and annual maintenance permits. Those are in the schedule and are not modelled here.
Service drops, fire alarm, and any work administered by other City departments are also outside this figure.
Common questions
How many outlets can I put on a permit?
The schedule gives no limit per permit; it charges $1.34 per outlet. The practical constraint is that the permit has to describe the work being inspected, so the count on the permit should match the work.
Is a panel with fewer than 8 circuits charged?
Not under this row. Bldg. Code Sec. 118.6.1 prices an electrical panel with 8 or more circuits at $9.39 each. The schedule's row is scoped to panels of that size.
Does Houston have a minimum electrical permit fee?
The schedule publishes a $91.06 minimum permit fee under Bldg. Code Sec. 118.1.3 for all permits except plumbing. That figure sits alongside the per-item rows, and the schedule does not state how the two interact for a small permit. We do not add it to the calculated total; expect the permit fee to be at least the minimum.
Source and verification
The documents behind every figure on this page, with the dates that make them checkable.
- City websiteCityPrimary source
Authoritative current fee schedule for all City departments. Each row carries a statutory authority (for example 'Bldg. Code Sec. 118.2.1'), the amount or a 'Calculation' note, and an 'As Of' date. The HPW department section was read in a browser; the page renders its tables client-side, so it cannot be fetched as plain HTML.
Verification
Last verified against the official source in Sep 2026.