Make a Plan
How to make an electrification Plan
Transitioning to efficient electric technologies is a process, not a single project. An informed plan will help you electrify, whether you want to swap systems as they fail or you’re ready to get off fossil fuels and improve your home’s performance right now.


Take an inventory
Using the checklist in our Get Started Guide, or an online tool such as the Rewiring America Home Electrification Planner, take a tour of your house to see what you currently have in place. What types of systems do you currently have installed? What condition are they in? Are they good candidates for upgrading? You may find a few things you can swap out right away!

Check your electrical panel
One of the first things to do is check the size of your home’s electrical service. Whether you’re electrifying one appliance or all of them, you’ll likely need an electrician to pre-wire your home. To electrify everything, you need at least 100A service, and you may need 200A. With some planning, most homes can electrify everything in their home on their existing panel.
With your inventory and priorities in hand, talk with a few electricians about the state of your panel and the pros and cons of pre-wiring for all of your projects ahead of time vs. wiring for each project separately. Pre-wiring all at once can save you a lot of money, since you get charged every time an electrician comes to your home.

Get an energy audit
Get the full picture of your home’s energy use, and the best opportunities for improving efficiency, comfort and safety.
A home energy audit can act like a roadmap to increasing your home’s efficiency, showing you exactly what needs upgrading and what only needs to be sealed or repaired. It can help you determine how much energy your home uses, where your home is inefficient, and which problem areas and fixes you should prioritize to save energy and improve the comfort of your home. It also results in recommendations that take your home’s entire ecosystem into account. It should also include a Manual J Calculation to properly size your HVAC system.
Find a contractor here who can perform an energy audit, and read our full blog post to find out more about energy audits.

Consider your priorities
What is your motivation for electrifying? Knowing this can help you decide where to start and what to prioritize:
- Lower your climate impact: Swapping out your car, your home heating, and your water heating will have the biggest impact on reducing carbon emissions.
- Maximize health and comfort: A heat pump will keep your home at a comfortable temperature year-round, and swapping out your gas stove for induction will greatly improve your indoor air quality.
- Lower your energy bills: Replacing resistance electric heating with a heat pump will guarantee energy bill savings. Heat pump water heaters are the most energy efficient water heaters on the market, leading to hundreds of dollars per year of savings for the average household.
- Upgrade older equipment: Start with what is most near its end of life. if you have an older furnace or water heater, don’t wait for them to break down before replacing. Start the switch before your current system fails.
- Quick easy changes: If you want to start electrifying quickly and on a budget, switch to an electric grill and to electric yard tools. Get an portable induction cooktop.

Get estimates from trusted contractors and explore available incentives
Compare multiple estimates, and get the details on available incentives and rebates that will make your projects more affordable.
- Read reviews carefully, ask friends for referrals.
- Get estimates from at least two contractors for each project. Use written contracts.
- Request price, payment terms, project schedule, and if you’ll need to do any prep work before they can begin (e.g. get an electrician to add a circuit).
- Make sure you’re working with someone who‘s experienced with and enthusiastic about electrification technologies, such as heat pumps or heat pump water heaters.
- Ask for information about local, state and federal incentives, resources for low/moderate income households, and an AHRI Certificate rating from your HVAC contractor to ensure that the proposed system is efficient enough to qualify for federal tax credits.
- If you find a contractor you like, ask them for referrals to other trades you’ll also need.

Plan replacements over time
You don’t have to do everything at once. Plan to replace old appliances as they begin to age out, or think about making one big electrification upgrade annually.