1. Welcome to the PanelWizard

Your Home Electrification Planning Tool

PanelWizard is a tool that helps homeowners/users plan to fully electrify their home without an electrical panel upgrade. Electric panel upgrades are expensive and time-consuming; upsizing a home's electrical service (details here) can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000 and take between 3 and 18 months (report here).

This tool is designed to help homeowners assess whether they have sufficient electrical panel capacity to fully electrify their homes and better understand their options for whole home electrification based on existing electrical panel capacity, historical energy data over the last 12 months and a list of customized appliance options.

Project Management

Start a new project or open an existing one from a file.

Start a New Project

Create a new electrification project from scratch.

This name will be used for your project file

Open Existing Project

Continue working on a previously saved project file.

Select a PanelWizard project file (.json)

2. Electrification Goals

Which of these are needed to fully electrify your home?

Let's identify which appliances are needed to fully electrify your home.

To future proof your home, we recommend building a plan that includes ALL of your possible electrification needs upfront, then you can decide and stage them at your convenience. There's no need to do them all at once, but since electric capacity is limited it's best to plan for all of them upfront.

Replace these natural gas appliances:

Select the natural gas appliances currently at your home.

BTU/h capacity BTUs per hour (Btu/h) is a measure of heating capacity of natural gas heaters. It usually appears on a label directly on the unit, sometimes inside the front cover. Usually it is some multiple of 6,000 BTU/h (½ ton units).ⓘ
with a new electric heat pump. A heat pump is a device that transfers heat from one location to another, rather than generating heat directly. It provides both heating and cooling, and is more efficient than a gas heater.ⓘ

Additional considerations:

3. Current Electrical Equipment

Your Current Electrical Panel Size

Please enter your current electrical panel size in amps. This information is required to help us calculate your panel's capacity for electrification.

Enter a value between 10 and 1000 amps

Note! This application assume a 240 volt panel. If you have a 120 volt panel, do not use this tool.

Not sure about your panel size?
To find out, look for the CL number on your meter, see instructions here, or watch this video. Or try using the Kopperfield panel schedule tool - it can help determine your panel size from a photo!


Additional Equipment Information

Later you may want to gather more information about your electrical panel, including:

  • Is your existing electric panel dangerous? Some panel types are dangerous and need to be replaced, like Federal Pacific, Zinsco, Stablock & Pushmatic. Note: a panel replacement is much easier than upsizing a panel.ⓘ
  • How many available breaker slots do you have? These open slots can be used to add more appliances to your panel.ⓘ
  • Are tandem breakers already being used? Tandem (or twin, slim or duplex) breakers are two breakers occupying a single breaker slot. This is a common way to save space on a panel.ⓘ
  • Can some of the existing breakers be combined? It is often possible to combine lighting circuits since modern LED lights are very low power.ⓘ
  • Is there physical space available to add a subpanel? A subpanel is a smaller electrical panel that is connected to your main panel. It can be used to add more electrical capacity to your home.ⓘ
  • Do you have any unused 240 volt outlets (like for an unused electric dryer or cooktop)? These unused 240 volt outlets can possibly be used by the new appliances you're adding.ⓘ
  • Do you have any existing 240 volt outlets that can be shared using a smart circuit splitter? A smart circuit splitter can be used to share a 240 volt outlet between two appliances. This is a common way to avoid upsizing your panel.ⓘ

These details are not required for an initial electrification assessment.

4. Current Load Analysis

Now we need to analyze how much remaining panel capacity you have for electrification. This step is required to proceed.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) provides two different ways to calculate your available panel capacity. You can use either or both methods:

  1. Top-down approach: Use your actual electricity usage data to determine your available panel capacity.
    This method follows the NEC 220.87 code section.
  2. Bottom-up approach: Calculate your available panel capacity by adding up your current electrical loads.
    This method follows the NEC 220.83(B) code section.

The first approach is easy if you have a smart meter, but it's not always available. The second approach always works, but it's more time-consuming.

4.1 Top-Down Approach

Use your actual electricity usage data to determine your available panel capacity. One way to do this:

  1. Visit the Panel Capacity Calculator
  2. Upload your smart meter data into that tool
  3. Enter your existing panel size (from step 3)
  4. Run the calculator to see your available capacity and enter it below

Enter the available capacity shown by the Panel Capacity Calculator

4.2 Bottom-Up Approach

Calculate your available panel capacity by adding up your current electrical loads:

  1. Visit the Kopperfield Load Calculator
  2. Enter your home's details and electrical equipment
  3. Run the calculator to see your available capacity

Enter the available capacity shown by the calculator

5. Natural Gas Analysis -- Optional

If you have your home's natural gas usage data for the past year it's possible to do some additional analysis, including:

  • Estimating the impact on your bill of switching from natural gas to electric appliances
  • Estimating the size of a new heat pump for heating your home

Please note these calculations will result in only rough estimates, and you should always consult with a professional to get a more accurate analysis.

We can do this several different ways, and you can use whichever method works best for you:

5.1 Home Energy Academy Electrification Calculator

Use the Home Energy Academy's free electrification calculator tool to analyze your gas usage data:

  1. Visit the Electrification Calculator
  2. Enter your natural gas usage data
  3. Follow the tool's instructions to get cost impact estimates

5.2 PG&E HomeIntel Service

Use PG&E's HomeIntel service for natural gas analysis (free for PG&E customers):

  1. Sign up for PG&E's HomeIntel service
  2. Authorize access to your PG&E energy data
  3. Follow the tool's instructions to get detailed analysis results

5.3 Spreadsheet Method

Use a simple spreadsheet tool for natural gas analysis:

  1. Download a copy of this spreadsheet which includes instructions
  2. Enter your monthly natural gas usage data into the spreadsheet
  3. Answer other questions about your home and natural gas usage
  4. See the results in the spreadsheet

6. Select New Electric Appliances

Table of Appliance Options

Based on your electrification goals, the table below shows an example configuration of low power electric appliances available in our database. Feel free to change the product selections using the dropdown menu(s) in the table.

As you change selections, you will be able to see the Panel Load and Remaining Capacity change in real time, below the table.

Appliance Type Name Panel Amps (240V) CF Cost Range Details
Total Cost Range: -

Calculation Methods

Top-Down Approach (NEC 220.87)

Available Capacity: - amps

Total New Panel Load: 0 amps

Remaining Capacity: 0 amps

Bottom-Up Approach (NEC 220.83)

Available Capacity: - amps

Total New Panel Load (CF-adjusted): 0 amps

Remaining Capacity: 0 amps

Note: CF (Coincidence Factor) is used in the NEC methods to account for the fact that not all appliances are used at the same time.

Click the "📋 Details" button for any appliance to see comprehensive product information, including all available data from our database.

7. Next Steps

Implementation Strategy

Your roadmap to electrification:

  • Timeline planning: which of these projects do you want to do first?
    • If you're using the bottom-up load calculation (NEC 220.83), you can do it all at once
    • If you're using the top-down load calculation (NEC 220.87), it helps to break up your project into phases and check your new peak load after each phase. For example, you might upgrade your heating system first, then your water heater, then your cooking appliance. Between each project you can take 30 days to recalculate your remaining panel capacity
  • Budget considerations: what is your budget for this project?
    • More efficient appliances might cost a bit more upfront, but they will save you money in the long run
    • Installation costs can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the project and the contractor you hire
  • Incentives and rebates: what incentives and rebates are available for your project?
    • There are many rebates and incentives available for electrification projects
    • Check for Federal, State, Local and utility rebates
    • Find incentives by zip code at SwitchIsOn.org
  • Contractor selection: who will you hire to do the work?
    • Check for contractors who specialize in electrification
    • Check for contractors who have experience with your type of project
    • Find a list of experienced contractors at SwitchIsOn.org
  • Finalize appliance selection: what appliances will you be buying & installing?
    • Check availability of appliances in your area
    • Confirm the size you need for your project; this is particularly important for heat pumps and water heaters -- get expert help!
    • Confirm the cost of appliances and installation details
    • Check with your contractor for appliance maintenance
  • Permit requirements: what permits are required for your project?
    • Check with your local government for permit requirements
    • Check with your utility for permit requirements
    • Check with your contractor for permit requirements