Consumer Advocate Tool
Is your EV charger installation quote fair?
Pick the line items from your quote, enter your ZIP, and see what a fair bid should cost based on public electrician labor units and state wage data.
Want to see the math first? View the full data tables & methodology →
Want the full picture?
Not sure if you even need the panel upgrade?
ChargeRight’s full $12.99 assessment uses NEC 220.82 load calculations and AI panel photo analysis to tell you if you actually need an upgrade — before you pay for one you don’t need.
Get the $12.99 Panel AssessmentHow we calculate the fair bid
Labor
Per-task labor hours sourced from publicly available trade references: RSMeans 2024 summaries, Mike Holt Enterprises forum consensus, and US DoE / DoL electrical estimating guides. NECA’s Manual of Labor Units is copyrighted and never used verbatim — all values trace back to a public source cited in each line item.
Wages
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024 release, SOC 47-2111 (Electricians), state-level median hourly. Public domain.
Labor hours
Per-task hours use the NECA labor-unit standard — the industry reference for code-compliant, professionally-installed work — applied against your state’s median electrician wage. This gives a single fair estimate for quality work, not a two-tier comparison.
Burden multiplier
Base hourly wage is multiplied by a state-specific burden factor (1.30–1.45x) to account for benefits, truck, tool, and overhead costs. Default 1.35x is the national industry-typical rate for residential electrical work.
ZIP to state
US Census Bureau ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) to state mapping, derived from published USPS prefix ranges. Public domain.
Materials
Per-unit material costs are retail averages from Home Depot and Grainger (April 2026). Contractor pricing may differ, but retail establishes an upper bound for a fair-bid sanity check.
Disclaimer
Estimates are derived from publicly available trade references. This tool is not an official NECA Manual of Labor Units calculation. Actual prices vary by contractor, region, material cost fluctuation, site conditions, and job complexity. Use this as a sanity check, not a binding quote. ChargeRight is a consumer transparency tool, not a licensed electrical contractor.
Full data tables with sources for every number behind the estimate.
Already got a quote that feels off? Report it here to help other EV owners.