Tallahassee, FL Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

LDC § 3-181 sets out the city's special electrical installation requirements. Before work starts on most projects, a complete set of electrical plans must go to both the electrical inspection division and the electric department for approval; the plans must show the service location, whether it is overhead or underground, and a feeder diagram giving the square footage served, the connected load, demand factors, and the size and type of conductors. Single-family detached and duplex dwellings are exempted from this plan-submission requirement, though a permit is still needed.

No electrical permit will issue until every plan correction the reviewers flag has been resolved, and any change to the electrical service's location or size must be approved before the city will permit the work. Before a service entrance goes into any building, the customer, builder, or contractor must get the electric department's approval of the point of service connection, and before permanent connection, the building or house number must be permanently mounted on the meter can in numerals at least one inch tall in a color that contrasts with the can.

Permanent electrical service cannot be connected until all fees, charges, and assessments due before a certificate of occupancy are paid, and until that certificate issues, the building official may, on 48 hours' written notice to the contractor and owner, order the power disconnected for cause. Connections from the city's electric lines are made by the city itself at the scheduled fee, provided overhead wire is used; underground conduit connections are made at the consumer's expense.