Of all the things that turn a straightforward heat pump project into an expensive one, electrical service is the most common — and the easiest to check early.
It is also the one people find out about last, usually at the point where three quotes have already been collected and only one of them mentioned it.
What to look at first
Go and find your panel. It is usually in the garage, the basement, or a utility cupboard.
Look at the main breaker — the big one at the top, usually. It will have a number on it: 60, 100, 125, 150, 200. That is your service size in amps.
Count the free spaces. Not just empty slots — look for whether the panel is already full, and whether any circuits are doubled up on tandem breakers.
That is enough to place yourself roughly:
- 200A: you are almost certainly fine for anything.
- 125A or 150A: usually workable, depends on what else is electric.
- 100A: this is the interesting case, and it is extremely common in Lower Mainland houses built before the late 1990s. Sometimes fine, sometimes not.
- 60A: you are going to need an upgrade for a whole-home heat pump.
Why 100A is the interesting case
A 100A service can often support a heat pump. Whether yours can depends on what else is drawing from it.
The load calculation adds up your existing demand — range, dryer, water heater, hot tub, EV charger, any electric baseboards — and checks whether the new equipment fits inside what is left. Two identical houses with 100A panels can land on opposite sides of that line because one has a gas range and gas dryer and the other does not.
Things that push a 100A house toward needing an upgrade:
- Electric range and electric dryer
- Electric water heater
- An EV charger, or plans for one
- A hot tub
- Existing electric baseboards you are keeping in some rooms
Things that help:
- Gas range, gas dryer, gas water heater
- A dual-fuel setup, where the gas furnace still carries the peak heating load
- Ductless mini-splits zone by zone rather than a whole-home system
The EV charger question
Worth thinking about now even if it is years away. If you are likely to add an EV charger within the life of this heat pump, that changes the calculation — and doing the panel work once is considerably cheaper than doing it twice.
We ask about this on every heat pump assessment for exactly that reason. It is a five-second question that occasionally saves several thousand dollars.
What a service upgrade actually involves
If you do need one, it is not just a new panel. Depending on the property it can mean new service conductors from the utility, a new meter base, permitting, an electrical inspection, and coordination with BC Hydro. It is a real project with a real timeline, not an afternoon.
There is a CleanBC rebate aimed specifically at electrical service upgrades required to support a heat pump. Whether you qualify is decided by the program, not by us — our rebate tool will tell you whether your situation points at it, and it links you to the body that actually decides.
How to avoid the late surprise
Three things, in order:
1. Photograph your panel before you get quotes. The main breaker rating and the inside of the door, where the circuit directory usually is. Send it with your enquiry.
2. Ask every contractor whether their quote includes the electrical work. If a quote does not mention the panel at all on a 100A house, either they checked and it is fine — in which case they should say so — or they did not check. Those quotes are not comparable to one that did.
3. Ask who does the load calculation. It is not optional and it is not a guess. It should exist as a document.
Where this ends up
Most Lower Mainland houses we look at can take a heat pump without a service upgrade, particularly with a dual-fuel or ductless approach. A meaningful minority cannot, and for those the honest thing is to say so in the first conversation rather than the fourth.
We check the panel on every heat pump assessment before we talk about equipment, because the answer sometimes changes the recommendation. If you want to know where your house stands, get in touch — send the panel photo with it and we can usually tell you roughly before anyone drives anywhere. The rest of the heat pump picture is easier once that one is settled.