Your home’s electrical panel is like a main switchboard for your home’s electricity. Incoming power from the utility company is distributed through each circuit to provide power to your outlets, switches, lights, appliances, and other devices. The electrical panel provides the necessary amount of power to each section or area of the home based upon the load needed to power the appliances, outlets, and lighting installed at the time the panel was installed, or at the time of the home’s construction. If your power needs change or if you add on to your home, you will need increased power to accommodate your higher load.

Your electrical panel is in a metal box that has a hinged door or a lid that lifts. When you open the door, you’ll see circuit breakers for the entire house. They should be labeled by room, appliance, or section. You may have a smaller panel called a subpanel if you have a large home, a guest house, a workshop, or a detached garage. Each circuit breaker has a lever that can be flipped to on or off. An overload of the electrical panel will cause the lever to flip to the off position to prevent an overload, short circuit, or fire. The front cover that goes over the levers can be removed to access the wiring. These wires include the hot bus bars, neutral bus bar, main bonding jumper, and ground bus bar.