Load Shedding (Load Management)
Automatically dropping or delaying big loads (AC, water heater, EV charger) so a smaller generator, or a smaller electrical service, can handle a home that would otherwise overload it.
Load shedding is how a 14 kW generator backs up a house that "needs" 22: smart modules watch the generator's output and momentarily shed the second AC, the water heater or the dryer when the load peaks, restoring them as room appears. Most homeowners never notice the choreography. It turns generator sizing from "add up everything" into "what must run simultaneously," often dropping a full size tier.
The same idea now serves panels and services: EV charger load-management devices pause charging while the dryer runs, letting a 100-amp home add a charger without a $4,000 service upgrade. It is one of the quietest money-savers in residential electrical work.
Talking to a contractor about this?
Run the project past a licensed electrical pro first. Calls are answered around the clock and routed to a pro serving your area.
- Portable Generator : A wheeled gasoline (or dual-fuel) generator in the 3 – 12 kW range that you start manually during an outage.
- Inverter Generator : A generator that produces clean, electronics-safe power by converting its raw output through an inverter, throttling its engine to match the load.
- Transfer Switch : The device that switches your home between utility and generator power while making it physically impossible to be connected to both, protecting your equipment and the utility crews on the lines.
- Interlock Kit : A sliding plate on the panel cover that physically prevents the main breaker and the generator backfeed breaker from being on at the same time: the budget alternative to a transfer switch.