100-Amp vs. 200-Amp Panel: Which Does Your Bonner County Home Need?

Most homes in Bonner and Kootenai counties need a 200-amp panel today. A 100-amp panel still works for a small cabin with minimal electric loads, but it falls short for a modern house with central air, an electric range, a heat pump, or an EV charger.

Here's how to think about the difference and figure out which one fits your place.

What 100 amps actually covers

A 100-amp panel was standard in homes built before the 1990s. It can run basic lighting, a fridge, a washer and dryer, and a few small appliances without much trouble. Plenty of older cabins and small seasonal homes around Sagle, Priest River, and Sandpoint still run on 100 amps just fine, especially if there's no electric heat or air conditioning.

Where it struggles is anything electric-heavy. Add a heat pump, an electric water heater, a hot tub, and a couple of space heaters in winter, and a 100-amp panel gets maxed out fast.

What 200 amps gives you

A 200-amp panel doubles your capacity and gives you room to add circuits without juggling what's already running. It handles central air, electric ranges, workshop tools, EV chargers, and a whole-home generator setup with breathing room left over.

For new construction and most remodels in North Idaho, 200 amps is now the default. Builders spec it because buyers expect it, and it avoids a costly upgrade five years down the road.

Signs your current panel is too small

You don't need an electrician to spot the warning signs. Watch for:

• Breakers that trip when you run the microwave and a space heater at the same time

• Lights that flicker or dim when the AC or well pump kicks on

• A panel that's still rated 60 or 100 amps and already feels crowded with double-tapped breakers

• Plans to add an EV charger, hot tub, or whole-home generator and no open slots left

Any one of these on its own might not mean much. Two or three together usually mean the panel is undersized for how the house is actually being used.

What drives the cost of an upgrade

A straightforward panel upgrade in this area typically runs in the low thousands of dollars. Where you land in that range depends on a few things:

• Service size - jumping from 100 to 200 amps costs more than a simple panel swap at the same amperage

• Meter location - if the meter base needs to move or be upgraded too, that adds labor and material

• Utility coordination - Avista or your local co-op has to schedule a disconnect and reconnect, and that timeline isn't always same-day

• Wall access - open framing is quick; finished walls mean cutting, patching, and repainting

• Distance from the panel to the service drop or meter - longer runs mean more wire and more labor

• Permit and inspection fees - every panel upgrade in Bonner and Kootenai counties needs a permit, and that's a real cost, not paperwork for its own sake

If you're also adding a generator inlet, an interlock kit, or a transfer switch, budget separately for that. Those projects run anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a basic interlock to a couple thousand for a full transfer switch setup with a dedicated generator panel.

When the upgrade gets triggered

Most upgrade calls we see aren't random. They follow a specific change in how a home is being used:

• Installing a whole-home generator that needs more capacity to manage transfer loads

• Adding an EV charger, which alone can pull 40 to 50 amps on a dedicated circuit

• Switching from a gas range or water heater to electric

• Finishing a basement or shop with new circuits for tools, lighting, and heat

• Buying an older home and finding out the existing 100-amp service is already at capacity

If any of these describe your situation, it's worth having the panel evaluated before you commit to the new appliance or charger. It's a lot cheaper to plan the upgrade alongside the project than to find out afterward that nothing fits.

Cabins and second homes are a different case

Not every property needs 200 amps. A seasonal cabin with baseboard heat, a few lights, and a small fridge can run comfortably on 100 amps for years. The math changes if you're planning to winterize the place, add central heat, or eventually convert it to a year-round home. In that case, upgrading now while the walls are open during a remodel saves money compared to doing it later as a standalone project.

The honest tradeoff

200 amps costs more upfront. There's no way around that. But it's not just about running what you have now, it's about what the house might need in five or ten years. Heat pumps, EV chargers, and generators are becoming standard requests, not rare ones. A 100-amp panel that's fine today can turn into a bottleneck the moment you add one more electric-heavy appliance.

If you're not sure which category your home falls into, Sageland Electric can look at your panel, your service size, and what you're planning to add, and give you a straight answer on whether 100 amps still works or it's time to move to 200.

Questions about anything covered here? Sageland Electric is local and happy to help — or contact directly.