The answer to this question is a minimum of 100 amps. This is the minimum service in homes. However, most of the new homes built today are going with 200 amps. With all the new electronics and electrical devices, homes can easily use a 200-amp service. By putting in the 200-amp service, you have potential for future additions to the service panel. To put the electrical service in your home, you need to have a professional electrician or electrical contractor since the service loop has to be replaced. This needs to be done by someone licensed and insured as well as experienced.
Whether you will be upgrading your existing service or rewiring and upgrading your service, you can spend upwards of fifteen hundred dollars for upgrading and four thousand for rewiring and upgrading. This rough estimate will give you some idea of what it might cost. Get an estimate from two or three electrical contractors before deciding on the electrical company to do the work. If you have a larger home with mostly electrical item or at least a large amount of electrical items to run, consider the 200-amp service in your home. Talk it over with a professional electrician who can assess your needs and point you in the right direction.
You will find that starting out with a 200-amp service is going to give you more freedom to add even more electrical items to you home. It seems that everything today runs on electricity. Computers, appliances, picture frames, aquariums, printers and all your bathroom appliances use electricity. Even the new odor eliminators now plug into outlets. You would be wise to install a 200-amp service. The way technology is heading, every home may need to upgrade to 200-amp services in the future. It is better to it now than later and save future costs of upgrading.
