Updated October 2026. We refreshed this article with current guidance for DFW homeowners.
B&B Electric is led by Robert, Texas Master Electrician (License #361128).
Your electrical service size, usually 100, 150, or 200 amps, is how much power your home can draw at once. For a long time, 100 amps was plenty. Today a lot of DFW homeowners are adding things their original service was never sized for: an EV charger in the garage, a heat pump, a pool, or a whole new room. Here’s how to tell whether an upgrade to 200-amp service makes sense for your home.
How to Check Your Current Service Size
Open the door on your main electrical panel and look at the main breaker, usually the large breaker at the top. The number printed on its handle, such as 100, 150, or 200, is your service size. If there’s no main breaker in the panel, or you can’t find a number, an electrician can confirm it quickly.
What’s Driving 200-Amp Upgrades Today
EV chargers
A Level 2 charger needs its own 240-volt circuit, often 40 amps or more. That’s a big new load, and on a 100-amp service already running central air, an electric dryer, and a range, it can push the panel past what it can safely handle.
Heat pumps and electric heat
Switching from a gas furnace to a heat pump, or adding one, shifts heating onto your electrical service. Heat pumps with backup electric heat strips can draw heavily on the coldest mornings, exactly when the rest of the house is waking up too.
Pools, spas, and outdoor living
Pool pumps, heaters, hot tubs, outdoor kitchens, and landscape lighting all need dedicated circuits. In North Texas backyards, they add up fast.
Home additions and remodels
A new bedroom, a garage conversion, a home office, or a kitchen remodel with new appliances all add circuits. If your panel is already full, there may be nowhere to put them.
Older 100-amp homes
Many homes across Fort Worth and the Mid-Cities were built when 100 amps was standard and household loads were much smaller. These are also the homes most likely to have an aging panel, or a known problem brand like Federal Pacific Stab-Lok, which is its own reason to replace it.
Signs Your Home Has Outgrown Its Service
- Breakers trip when several large appliances run at once
- Lights dim or flicker when the AC, dryer, or microwave starts
- No open breaker spaces left in the panel
- Lots of power strips and extension cords doing permanent work
- A contractor or installer told you your panel can’t handle a new appliance or charger
Do You Actually Need 200 Amps?
Not always, and a good electrician should tell you that. The right answer comes from a load calculation, which adds up what your home actually uses and what you plan to add, following the National Electrical Code. Sometimes the existing service has room once the panel is cleaned up. Sometimes a load management device can let an EV charger share capacity with other appliances. And sometimes an upgrade is clearly the right call. We’ll walk you through the numbers and the options before you decide.
If your real problem is a single breaker that keeps tripping or a panel that’s showing wear, it may be a repair, not an upgrade. See our electrical panel repair and circuit breaker repair pages.
What a 200-Amp Upgrade Involves
- Assessment and load calculation. We look at your current panel, meter base, wiring, and grounding, and what you want to add.
- Clear pricing before work begins. You get a clear, itemized price before any work starts.
- Permit and utility coordination. Service upgrades need a city permit, and the utility has to disconnect and reconnect power. In much of DFW, that utility is Oncor.
- Installation. A new panel and breakers, and a new meter base or service conductors when the job calls for it. Current code generally calls for whole-home surge protection when a service is replaced.
- Inspection and walkthrough. The city inspects the work, and we show you your new panel and label the circuits.
Ready to plan it? Read more about our electrical panel upgrade and replacement service.
Never a DIY Job
Service upgrades involve the wires coming in from the utility, which can’t be shut off at your main breaker. This work belongs with a licensed electrician, done under permit and inspected.
Talk to a Licensed Electrician
Adding an EV charger, a heat pump, a pool, or an addition and not sure your panel can keep up? Call B&B Electric at (817) 600-8376 or contact us online. We’re licensed Texas electricians (Master Electrician #361128, Electrical Contractor #41151) serving Fort Worth, Euless, Keller, and the DFW Mid-Cities, and we’ll give you a clear price before any work begins.