Solar + battery + EV charger + electrical work for heat-pump conversion, all designed as one project. The lowest-friction path off natural gas — and the best path for homeowners planning a 5–10 year stay.
Whole-home electrification is the all-in configuration: solar oversized for current and future load, battery for backup and time-of-use shifting, Level-2 EV charger, and the electrical work to support heat-pump conversion when your existing furnace and water heater retire. It's expensive upfront. The lifetime economics are the best of the four configurations for a homeowner staying 10+ years.
10–15 kW of panels — sized for current consumption plus future EV charging plus future heat-pump conversion. Most premium-suburb roofs can accommodate this.
20–27 kWh total — typically two 13.5 kWh batteries. Provides backup for critical loads through extended outages and enables full time-of-use shifting.
11.5 kW charger with smart load management — charges from solar when available, draws from battery in evening, optionally pulls from grid only when both are exhausted.
200A or 400A main service if not already present. Whole-home electrification needs the headroom — otherwise you'll hit panel capacity limits when you eventually add the heat pump.
240V circuits run to where your future heat pump (HVAC) and heat-pump water heater will live. Doesn't include the heat pumps themselves — those go in when your existing equipment retires, separately.
Same as panels + battery configuration, but sized for whole-house backup capability if budget allows (some homeowners back up only critical loads to keep cost down; others back up the whole house).
Federal ITC (30%) applies to solar, battery, and EV charger. The Inflation Reduction Act's Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (Section 25C) covers heat pumps separately ($2,000 max/year). State and local incentives can stack significantly — California's TECH Clean California program, Massachusetts Mass Save heat pump rebates, and New Jersey's Clean Heat program all add several thousand dollars to a whole-home electrification project. Net cost depends heavily on your specific state and utility.
A typical premium-suburb whole-home project: $60K list, $42K net after federal ITC, ~$36K net after state-level incentive stacking. Lifetime electricity savings of $1,800–3,200/year depending on rate inflation. Avoided gas bill of $800–1,800/year once heat pumps replace the furnace and water heater. Avoided gasoline of $1,800–3,000/year for two-EV households. Total operating savings of $4,400–8,000/year. Payback 12–18 years; lifetime savings (25-year horizon) substantially positive even before accounting for added home value.
Worth noting: this configuration is genuinely expensive upfront and the payback is the longest of the four. The right buyer is the homeowner thinking about the next 15–25 years in the home, not the next 5.