Anderson was built in two big waves. The natural-gas boom of the late 1880s filled the blocks around downtown and the West Side with tall frame houses, and the General Motors years, when Delco Remy and Guide Lamp employed much of the city, added street after street of modest homes from the 1920s through the 1960s.
That history shows up in the electrical. A lot of Anderson homes still run on services and panels sized for a few lights and a refrigerator, with two-prong outlets, cloth-covered cable in the basement and decades of additions spliced onto the original circuits.
Anderson · Madison County
What we see in Anderson houses
Ungrounded two-prong outlets
Common in pre-1960 homes. They can be grounded, or protected with GFCI and labeled, depending on what the wiring allows.
60- and 100-amp services
Fine in 1955, tight once you add central air, an electric range, a hot tub or an EV charger.
Knob-and-tube and cloth cable
Still found in the oldest gas-boom era houses, often buried under attic insulation.
Basement and garage add-ons
Extension-cord-style wiring added by past owners, usually the first thing an inspector flags at sale time.
Local notes
Good to know in Anderson.
Your utility
Inside city limits, electricity comes from Anderson Municipal Light & Power, the city-owned utility. Meter and service work is coordinated with them.
Permits
Inside Anderson, the City of Anderson issues electrical permits and licenses electrical contractors. Panel changes, service upgrades and new circuits need a permit.
Weather
Spring and summer thunderstorms roll across Madison County every year. Lightning and outages are why surge protection and generator hookups come up so often here.
Questions
Anderson electrical questions.
Answers specific to Anderson. For more, see all 34 electrical questions.
Sparks, a burning smell, a hot panel or half the house dark? Turn off the breaker or the main if it’s safe, then call. For fire or smoke, get out and call 911. For a downed line, stay clear and call your utility.
Who supplies electricity in Anderson, Indiana?
Most homes and businesses inside Anderson city limits are served by Anderson Municipal Light & Power, a utility owned by the City of Anderson.
Some addresses outside the city are served by Duke Energy Indiana, Indiana Michigan Power or a cooperative. Your bill shows which one serves you, and that is who to call for an outage or a downed line.
Do I need a permit for electrical work in Anderson?
Yes, for most work beyond replacing a device. Inside city limits the City of Anderson issues electrical permits for jobs like new circuits, panel replacements and service upgrades.
A permit means an inspector checks the work, which protects you at resale and with your insurer. Outside city limits, the town or Madison County handles permits.
My older Anderson house has two-prong outlets. Is that a problem?
Two-prong outlets are ungrounded. They are not automatically dangerous, but they give no ground path for a fault and should not be swapped for three-prong outlets without a ground.
The usual fixes are running a ground, rewiring the circuit, or installing GFCI protection and labeling the outlets 'No equipment ground', which the electrical code allows. Which one fits depends on the wiring behind the wall.
Does Kishpaugh Electrical work on Anderson’s north side?
Yes. Kishpaugh Electrical is based on the north side of Anderson and works throughout the city, from the north side to downtown, the West Side and the south side.
Call (765) 635-6779 to describe the job.
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