Most business owners who call us don’t want a lecture on electrical theory. They want a number. And the honest first answer is the one nobody likes: it depends on what you’re actually having done.
So instead of giving you a vague hourly rate and calling it a day, I pulled real numbers from commercial jobs we and other licensed shops around Downers Grove have quoted this year. Panels, circuits, lighting, EV charging. What it costs, what moves the price, and where you can save without cutting corners that’ll fail an inspection.
I’m Alexandr Godonoaga. I own Cob Services LLC, and we do commercial electrical work across Downers Grove and the surrounding suburbs under Illinois license #26-00032356. Here’s what the work runs in 2026.
First, how commercial electricians actually charge
Two models. Most jobs with a clear scope get a flat project quote: you know the price before we start, and that’s what you pay. Service calls and diagnostic work usually run hourly, and in the Chicago suburbs a licensed commercial electrician’s labor lands somewhere around $90 to $150 an hour, higher if the job needs a second electrician or after-hours work.
A flat quote is almost always better for you on a defined project. It puts the risk on us, not you. If the job takes longer than I expected, that’s my problem, not a surprise on your invoice. Be a little careful with anyone who only wants to work hourly on a big, well-defined job. That’s usually a sign they haven’t scoped it.
One thing that trips people up: the cheapest quote and the most expensive quote on the same job are often quoting different work. One includes the permit, the inspection coordination, and patching the drywall afterward. The other doesn’t, and you find out on day three. Get the scope in writing and compare line by line.
Commercial electrical panel upgrades
This is the big one, and it’s where the spread is widest.
A straightforward residential-style panel swap runs roughly $1,300 to $2,000 in the Chicago area. Commercial is a different animal. You’re often dealing with three-phase service, higher amperage, and a meter base or service entrance that has to be coordinated with ComEd. A commercial panel upgrade in Downers Grove typically starts around $2,500 and climbs from there. Bigger service, more circuits, or a full service upgrade that pulls in the utility can run $5,000 to $15,000 or more.
What actually drives the number:
The amperage and phase. A 200-amp single-phase job is one thing. Stepping up service or going three-phase for heavy equipment is another, and it usually means ComEd has to disconnect and reconnect, which adds time to the schedule even when it doesn’t add a fortune to the bill.
Permits and inspection. In Downers Grove and most nearby suburbs, a panel upgrade needs a permit and a city inspection. Permit fees commonly run $50 to $300, and the inspection is mandatory before you’re energized again. A real quote names this. If a quote doesn’t mention permits at all, ask why.
Condition of what’s behind the panel. If your wiring or meter base also needs work to handle the new panel, that’s real cost the bargain quote conveniently left out.
Dedicated circuits for equipment
If you’re adding a piece of equipment that needs its own line, a commercial kitchen appliance, a compressor, a server rack, a dedicated circuit usually runs a few hundred dollars per circuit, call it $300 to $800 depending on the wire run and how far it is back to the panel. A short run in an open ceiling is cheap. A long run fished through finished walls in an occupied retail space is not.
The thing worth saying here: putting heavy equipment on a shared circuit to save the cost of a dedicated line is how you end up with a tripping breaker and a service call every other week. The dedicated circuit is cheaper than the downtime.
Commercial lighting and LED retrofits
Lighting is where the math actually works in your favor, so it’s worth a real look rather than a flinch at the quote.
Swapping a commercial space over to LED isn’t free up front, but it pays back twice: a lower power bill every month, and fixtures you’re not replacing every few months. A retrofit is priced per fixture plus the design and labor, so a small office is a modest job and a warehouse with high ceilings is a bigger one, partly because getting to the fixtures safely at height takes equipment and time.
If you’re still running old fluorescent tubes or metal halide, you’re paying for it on the utility bill whether you notice it or not. The fastest way to know what a retrofit saves you is an energy audit, where we walk the building, look at what’s drawing power, and tell you which changes pay for themselves first. No giant spreadsheet, just where the money’s going.
Commercial EV charging stations
This one’s changed enough in 2026 that the old numbers floating around online will steer you wrong.
For a Level 2 charger, the kind that makes sense for most Downers Grove offices, retail, and restaurants, expect roughly $3,500 to $15,000 per port installed. The hardware itself is a small slice of that; the labor, the conduit, and any panel work are what move the price. Install several ports at once and the per-port cost drops, because you’re sharing the trenching, the panel work, and one permit across all of them. A multi-port install can come in closer to $3,500 to $6,000 per port for that reason.
Two things are worth knowing before you budget for this.
NEC 2026 closed the handyman loophole. If the charger is hardwired rather than plugged into a receptacle, a licensed electrician has to do the work. It’s not optional, and skipping it can void your insurance if there’s ever a claim. So the licensed-electrician cost isn’t an upsell here; it’s the requirement.
Load management can save you a panel upgrade. The current code lets us size the install to the managed load instead of the full nameplate load. In plain terms, that often means we can add several Level 2 ports to your existing service without paying for a panel or transformer upgrade. That’s the single biggest cost-cutter on the table, and it’s worth asking any electrician whether they’re designing for it.
There’s also a 30% federal tax credit on the equipment that, for most projects, sunsets June 30, 2026. If EV charging is on your radar this year, the timing matters. Talk to your accountant, but don’t sit on it assuming it’ll be there in 2027.
So what should you actually budget?
If you want rough planning numbers for a Downers Grove commercial property in 2026:
A commercial panel upgrade: $2,500 to $15,000, depending on amperage and whether the utility gets involved.
A dedicated circuit: $300 to $800 per circuit.
An LED lighting retrofit: priced per fixture, with the payback usually showing up on your power bill within a couple of years.
Level 2 EV charging: $3,500 to $15,000 per port, less per port if you do several at once.
Service and diagnostic work: around $90 to $150 an hour for a licensed commercial electrician.
These are planning ranges, not a quote. The only way to get a real number is to have someone walk your building, because the price lives in the details, the condition of your existing service, the wire runs, the permits, the access. Anybody who gives you a firm price over the phone without seeing the space is guessing, and you’ll pay for the guess one way or another.
A note on hiring cheap
The lowest bid wins a lot of commercial jobs, and sometimes that’s fine. But for electrical work, a cheap quote that skips the permit or uses an unlicensed installer doesn’t really save you money. It just moves the cost down the road. You pay it later when the work fails inspection, or when an insurance claim gets denied because the install wasn’t to code. We’ve been the ones called in to fix that kind of job more times than I’d like.
Ask for the license number. Ask if the permit’s included. Ask what happens if it fails inspection. A real commercial electrician will answer all three without flinching.
If you want a straight quote on commercial electrical work in Downers Grove, panels, circuits, lighting, EV charging, or anything else, call us at (630) 427-5923. We’ll come look at the actual job and give you a real number.
Alexandr Godonoaga is the owner of Cob Services LLC, a licensed commercial and residential electrical contractor serving Downers Grove and the surrounding Illinois suburbs. Illinois electrical license #26-00032356.