Federal Pacific Electric panels
The most widely installed problem panel in American housing, and the one insurers are most likely to refuse.
Installed roughly 1950 to 1990, most commonly 1960s and 1970s. Labelled Federal Pacific Electric, FPE, Stab-Lok.
What actually goes wrong
Independent testing of Stab-Lok breakers has repeatedly found failure-to-trip rates far above other equipment: a meaningful proportion do not open under a sustained overload or a short circuit. A breaker exists to interrupt current before the wiring behind the wall reaches ignition temperature, so one that does not trip is not a degraded protection, it is an absent one. The panel can look and behave perfectly normally right up until the moment it matters.
Is there a recall?
There has been no CPSC recall of FPE panels. The Commission closed its investigation in 1983 citing insufficient data and budget to establish the defect to the legal standard, not a finding that the equipment was safe. This distinction gets misreported constantly in both directions. What did happen: a New Jersey court found in a class action that the company had knowingly mislabelled breakers as UL approved when they did not meet the standard.
How to tell if this is what you have
- The panel door or the label inside it reads "Federal Pacific Electric" or "FPE".
- Breakers are marked "Stab-Lok", usually on the breaker face.
- Breaker handles are commonly red-tipped, though colour alone is not conclusive.
- The panel cover is often a dull beige or grey with a distinctive centre latch.
- If the house was built or rewired between roughly 1960 and 1985, it is worth checking.
All of that is readable from the panel door or the label inside it. Do not remove the cover. The service conductors behind it stay live with the main breaker off, and an electrician can confirm the brand in minutes.
What usually forces the decision
Most owners do not go looking. They find out because a home inspection flagged it during a sale, or an insurer declined to write or renew a policy. Several carriers treat an FPE panel as an automatic decline, and a buyer's lender will not complete without insurance, so it tends to surface at the worst possible moment in a transaction.
What replacement costs
Replacing an FPE panel is a standard service change, generally $1,500 to $4,500 installed. What moves it: whether the service is being upsized at the same time, the distance from the meter, whether the meter base and service entrance need replacing too, and the permit and inspection cost in your jurisdiction. Replacing individual breakers is not a fix, because compatible replacements come from the same design.
There is no federal tax credit to offset this. The 25C credit covered up to $600 of a panelboard, but only alongside other qualifying work rather than for a standalone replacement, and it expired for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. State and utility programmes may still help, particularly for income-qualified households, and those vary by where you live.
Work out what size service you should replace it with →Sources
We are not electricians and nothing here is a substitute for an inspection by someone who is. What this page is for is making sure that when you have that conversation, you already know what the actual documented issue is and what it is not. How we source this.