Service size is something that often gets confused. I'd like to start with the basics here.
How much power is needed? There are two basic ways to answer this:
- You can do calculations, based upon appliances, square footage, etc; or,
- You cam measure the actual current used during peak times, and see how much is being used.
The size of the panel is largely irrelevant. Quite often, folks choose a "200 amp" panel because they want a lot of separate circuits; that doesn't always mean they'll actually use any more electricity.
