EV Chargers, Generators and Panels: What Miami-Dade Permits Show

Research › Miami-Dade electrical permits

By KRW Electric · Published November 12, 2026 · Updated November 12, 2026 · Data: Miami-Dade County building permits, January 2020 to October 2026

Permits for home EV chargers issued by Miami-Dade County rose from 11 in 2021 to 202 in 2025, then fell to 106 in January to October 2026, from 181 in the same months of 2025.

These are residential electrical permits issued by Miami-Dade County’s building department, which covers unincorporated Miami-Dade. Cities such as Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, South Miami and Pinecrest issue their own permits, so their homes are not in these counts. How we sorted the permits, and what that can miss, is further down the page.

Key numbers on Miami-Dade electrical permits

• 202home EV charger permits issued by the county in 2025, up from 11 in 2021Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County building permits
• 106EV charger permits in January to October 2026, down 41% from 181 in the same months of 2025Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County building permits
• 170generator permits in 2025, down 35% from 262 in 2020Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County building permits
• 181permits for panels and service upgrades in 2025, within a range of 181 to 209 a year since 2021Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County building permits
• 7,400residential electrical permits of every kind in 2025, down 22% from 9,536 in 2022Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County building permits

EV charger permits climbed for five years, then fell in 2026

We found no residential electrical permits described as EV charger work in 2020 and 11 in 2021. The count rose every year after that: 24 in 2022, 73 in 2023, 199 in 2024 and 202 in 2025. Since 2024, the county has issued more permits for home EV chargers than for generators (199 against 191 in 2024, 202 against 170 in 2025).

In January to October 2026 the county issued 106 EV charger permits, against 181 in the same months of 2025, a fall of 41%. The count was lower than in the same month of 2025 in 8 of the 10 months, so the fall is not down to one unusual month. Permit records say what work was approved, not why it was or was not done, so these figures cannot tell us what is behind the change.

Generators, panels and repairs

Generators. The county issued 262 residential electrical permits for generators in 2020 and 170 in 2025, 35% fewer. January to October 2026 had 93, against 151 in the same months of 2025.

Panels and service upgrades. Permits for new panels and for upgrading, replacing or moving the electrical service stayed between 181 and 209 a year from 2021 to 2025, after 130 in 2020. January to October 2026 had 144, against 156 a year earlier.

Service and meter repairs. Permits for repairs to the service and meter, safety checks and reconnections ran between 401 and 492 a year from 2020 to 2025.

Together these four types made up 13% of the 7,400 residential electrical permits the county issued in 2025. The rest cover other work such as pools, new homes, additions and temporary power for construction. Residential electrical permits of every kind peaked at 9,536 in 2022 within these years and were 22% lower in 2025.

Each permit is counted once, in the first type it matches in the order shown. Source: KRW Electric count of Miami-Dade County’s permit data. Monthly counts are in the CSV below.

Which homes these permits cover

Miami-Dade County’s building department issues permits for unincorporated Miami-Dade, areas such as Kendall and Westchester that are not part of any city. Cities with their own building departments, including Miami (and so Coconut Grove), Miami Beach, Coral Gables, South Miami and Pinecrest, issue their own permits, and their homes are not in these counts. Of the permits in this data that carry a property folio number, 99.9% have the municipality code for unincorporated Miami-Dade.

Not sure which side of the line your home is on? The folio number on your property tax bill tells you: in Miami-Dade, folio numbers that start with 30 are unincorporated. Our guide to Miami-Dade electrical permits explains the county process and lists the city building departments.

What this means if you are planning the work

• An EV charger is permitted work. A new circuit for a charger needs an electrical permit and an inspection, whichever building department covers your home. Our guide to EV charger permits in South Florida covers what the application needs.
• Check the panel before the charger. Whether a charger fits on the existing panel depends on the service size and what the home already draws. See does my panel have room for an EV charger and panel upgrades.
• A standby generator is connected through a transfer switch or interlock, never fed back through an outlet, and the connection is permitted like other electrical work. See generator installation and storm readiness and backup power.
• Counts are for a large area. These are county-wide totals for unincorporated Miami-Dade; they say nothing about any one street or house.

Method, sources and limits

How we built it

We downloaded every permit in Building Permits Issued By Miami-Dade County (Miami-Dade County Open Data Hub) with the permit type for electrical work and the residential flag: 54,475 permits issued from January 2, 2020 to November 5, 2026, retrieved November 12, 2026 (the county last updated the data on November 7, 2026). We took only the permit number, dates, work type, description and work categories, and the first two digits of the folio number (the municipality code). We did not download names or addresses.

Full calendar years run from 2020 to 2025. 2026 is compared January to October with the same months of 2025, because November was not complete when we took the data.

How we sorted the permits

The county does not label EV chargers or panel upgrades as such, so we sorted permits by their short work description and the county’s own work categories. Each permit is counted once, in the first of these types it matches:

1. EV chargers: the description mentions an EV charger, a car or vehicle charger, an EV outlet or circuit, or a charger for a named car brand. Not counted here when the description is about rooftop panels or batteries, or also mentions a generator.
2. Generators: the county’s work category for a standalone generator for an existing building, or a description that mentions a generator, a standby unit or an automatic transfer switch.
3. Panels and service upgrades: the description mentions a panel, load center or main breaker, an upgrade, replacement, change or move of the electrical service, or a service size in amps. Pool and fire alarm work is left out, and so are rooftop panel jobs unless the service itself is upgraded.
4. Service and meter repairs, safety checks and reconnections: meter work, repairs to the service, safety checks and reconnections. A description that starts with “repair” goes here even when it gives an amp size, unless it also mentions a panel or an upgrade.

Permits to remove or demolish equipment are not counted in any of the four types. Everything else is “all other”. Descriptions are short and often abbreviated or misspelled, so we read every distinct description placed in each type; those lists are kept with our data.

How we checked it

We asked the county’s data service again for each year’s total, and ran a separate keyword search on its server for the EV charger and generator permits, and both gave the same counts as our download. The county’s count for its own generator work category matches too. The 2025 counts by type also match an earlier export of the same dataset, to within one permit in the total.

Limits

• County permits only. Homes in the cities that run their own building departments are not included, as explained above.
• Sorted from short descriptions. A job described only in general terms, such as a new outlet or circuit, falls into “all other” even if it was for a charger or a generator. The counts are permits clearly described as that work.
• A permit is not a finished job. It shows that work was approved to start; some permitted work is never completed.
• Electrical permits only. Other permits a job may need, such as for gas or structural work, are not counted.
• The county’s data changes. The dataset is updated as permits are issued or corrected, so a later download can differ slightly. We will update this page as the year’s data comes in.

Sources

• Miami-Dade County, Building Permits Issued By Miami-Dade County, 2 Previous Years to Present, Miami-Dade County Open Data Hub, retrieved November 12, 2026: gis-mdc.opendata.arcgis.com
• Miami-Dade County, municipal building departments and their municipality codes (county data layer): services.arcgis.com

Cite this study

Adding an EV charger, a generator or a bigger panel? KRW Electric (EC13012832) works in Pinecrest, Coconut Grove, South Miami and Miami Beach, and pulls the permit for the work. Call (305) 359-7312 or send us a message.

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