The right sequence for whole-home electrification (and why most guides get it wrong)

I've now helped four neighbors plan full electrification projects and done my own. The most common mistake isn't choosing the wrong equipment — it's doing things in the wrong order and either paying twice for electrical work or buying a heat pump that your panel can't support yet.

Here's the sequence I recommend, with the reasoning behind each step.

Step 1: Get a load calculation before you buy anything
Pull your last 12 months of utility bills. Note your peak electric demand (kWh in your hottest and coldest months) and your gas consumption (therms). This tells you what you're replacing in energy terms. A Manual J load calculation — either from an HVAC contractor or a DIY tool like CoolCalc — tells you what size heat pump you actually need. This number is almost always smaller than your existing gas furnace, because furnaces are routinely oversized 40–60%.

Step 2: Assess your panel before scheduling any installs
A standard 200A service can handle a full electrification if loads are managed correctly, but you need to know your current connected load before adding a heat pump, EV charger, and heat pump water heater simultaneously. Use the NEC Article 220 load calculation method, or hire an electrician for a service load calculation. If you're at 150A+ of calculated load already, you're looking at a panel upgrade or smart load management (Span panel, Lumin, etc.) before adding new loads.

Step 3: Heat pump water heater first
The HPWH is the easiest win and the fastest payback. It requires a 240V 30A dedicated circuit, at least 700 cubic feet of surrounding airspace, and a condensate drain. In a basement or utility room it's usually a straightforward install. The Rheem ProTerra and A.O. Smith Voltex are the community favorites — both are available at big-box stores, both qualify for the $300 25C tax credit (and often state rebates), and both have COP ratings of 3.5–4.0, meaning they produce 3.5–4 kWh of heat for every 1 kWh of electricity consumed. Install this first because it's fast and the savings help offset costs while you plan the bigger projects.

Step 4: Induction range
If you're on gas cooking, induction is the highest-satisfaction switch most people make — better performance than gas for most cooking tasks, no combustion products in your kitchen air, and the electrical requirement is modest (typically a 240V 50A circuit, same as a dryer outlet but on a 50A breaker). Install this before the heat pump because it's a smaller scope electrical job and your electrician can combine it with other panel work.

Step 5: Heat pump for space heating/cooling
This is the big one and the one that requires the most planning. If you have existing ductwork in reasonable shape, a ducted cold-climate heat pump (Mitsubishi Hyper-Heat, Bosch IDS, Carrier Infinity) will replace your furnace and AC in one shot. If you don't have ductwork or want zone control, a multi-zone mini-split system works but the DIY install complexity increases significantly. Budget for a Manual J to right-size the system — an oversized heat pump short-cycles and doesn't dehumidify properly in shoulder seasons.

Step 6: EV charger
I put this last not because it's unimportant but because it's the most flexible load. Smart EVSEs (ChargePoint Home Flex, Emporia, Wallbox) can throttle output based on available capacity, so they're more forgiving of a constrained panel than a heat pump or water heater. A 60A dedicated circuit (48A EVSE) is the gold standard, but a 40A circuit (32A EVSE, ~7.5kW) is plenty for overnight charging of most EVs.

Happy to go deep on any of these steps. What's everyone's current situation — existing ductwork, gas or oil heat, panel size?