Free Electrical Panel Schedule Template & Load Balancing Planner

Build and download a free electrical panel schedule — lay the panelboard out circuit by circuit, let the phase column fill itself in from the panel’s own numbering, and watch the three legs balance as you type. Connected load rolls up to an NEC demand total and a demand current. PDF, Excel, or Word export.

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Enter the panel and its circuits. Phase assignment, per-phase load and demand totals are calculated as you type.

Panel Schedule & Load Balancing Planner

Electrical · 120/240 V 1Ø

Circuits

0/1

Enter circuit loads to calculate phase balancePhase balance: Not calculated
1Schedule & project detailsIdentifies the sheet so it stands on its own as a record.
Schedule #
Date
Project nameoptional
Prepared byoptional
License #optional
2Contractor & clientBoth blocks print at the top of the finished schedule.
Contractor
Client / site
3Panel & ratingsThe system type sets how circuit numbers map to phases, so pick it before entering circuits.
Panel name
Locationoptional
System
Bus rating (A)
Main, AIC & enclosureMain circuit breaker
Main type
Main breaker (A)optional
AIC rating (kA)optional
AIC basisoptional
Fed fromoptional
Mountingoptional
Enclosureoptional
Slotsoptional
4Circuit scheduleEnter the starting circuit number and poles. The phase is derived from the panel's numbering, and a multi-pole breaker's load is split across the phases it touches.
Not set
5Demand factorsApplied to the connected loads to produce the demand total at the foot of the schedule.
Notesoptional

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Free · no signup · fully editable

What's included

  • A full panelboard header — panel name, location, fed from, system voltage, and slot count
  • Bus rating and main breaker rating as separate fields, because a 225 A bus behind a 200 A main is both legal and common
  • AIC rating with a fully-rated or series-rated flag, which most free templates leave out entirely
  • Support for 120/240 V single-phase, 208Y/120 V three-phase, and 480Y/277 V three-phase panels
  • Automatic phase assignment from the circuit number, following standard odd-left / even-right panelboard numbering
  • Correct multi-pole handling — a breaker occupies adjacent slots on its own side, stepping by two, not one
  • Multi-pole load split evenly across the phases the breaker actually touches
  • Slot clash detection, so two breakers cannot silently claim the same space
  • Validation that catches a 3-pole breaker placed on a single-phase panel, and circuits that run past the last slot
  • Per-phase connected load, line current, and deviation from the mean
  • Phase imbalance calculated by the NEMA maximum-deviation method, with the formula printed on the sheet
  • Connected-versus-demand rollup grouped by load type — receptacle, specific purpose, motor, lighting, and HVAC
  • Optional NEC 220.44 receptacle demand break and NEC 430.24 largest-motor adder
  • Demand current and bus utilisation, so an overloaded panel is obvious before it is built
  • A circuit preset menu that cites the NEC section behind every load figure it fills in
  • Export to PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or Word (.docx)

How to use this template

  1. 1

    Set up the schedule

    Add your company, the client and site, the schedule number and the date, so the finished sheet stands on its own as a record of what was installed.

  2. 2

    Describe the panel

    Enter the panel name, location and what feeds it, then pick the system. The system choice is what decides how circuit numbers map to phases, so set it before you start entering circuits. Record the bus rating and main separately, and add the AIC rating with its fully- or series-rated basis.

  3. 3

    Enter the circuits

    For each circuit, give the starting number, a description, the pole count and the connected VA. The phase fills itself in. A two-pole breaker takes the next slot on the same side and its load is split across both legs; a three-pole breaker lands one pole on each of A, B and C.

  4. 4

    Balance the legs

    Watch the per-phase totals and the imbalance figure as you go. Ten percent is the widely used design trigger — it is a specification target rather than a code requirement, and moving a couple of single-pole loads between phases is usually all it takes to clear it.

  5. 5

    Apply demand factors and download

    Turn on the receptacle demand break for non-dwelling panels and the largest-motor adder where motors are present, check the demand current against the bus rating, then export to PDF, Excel or Word.

Why the phase column is the part worth getting right

A panel schedule is two documents in one. It is a directory — the thing somebody reads at two in the morning to find out which breaker feeds the compressor — and it is a load calculation, the evidence that the panel can carry what has been hung on it. Most free templates only do the first job. They give you a grid of circuit numbers and descriptions and leave the arithmetic to a separate spreadsheet, which is how a panel ends up with forty amps more on one leg than another and nobody notices until the neutral runs hot.

The part that trips people up is the phase column, because the numbering is not intuitive. Circuits run odd down the left and even down the right, but the two circuits in a horizontal pair share a phase, and the phase only advances when you drop to the next row. That is why a two-pole breaker takes slots one and three rather than one and two — those are the adjacent positions on the same side, and they sit on different legs, which is exactly what a 240-volt load needs. Get that backwards and every balance figure downstream is wrong. This builder derives the phase from the circuit number and the panel type, so the column is never a typing exercise and never a guess.

The demand side follows the same idea. Connected load and demand load are not the same number, and the difference is a set of factors that depend on what kind of load each circuit is carrying: lighting is a continuous load and gets carried at a hundred and twenty-five percent, non-dwelling receptacle load takes the first ten kVA at full value and the remainder at half, and the largest motor on the panel picks up an extra twenty-five percent. Tagging each circuit with a load type once, as you enter it, is what makes that rollup possible — which is why the load type sits on every circuit from the start rather than being bolted on at the end.

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Panel Schedule & Load Balancing Planner FAQs

What is an electrical panel schedule?

A panel schedule is the directory and load record for a panelboard. It lists every circuit by number with what it feeds, the breaker size, the conductor size and the connected load, alongside the panel’s own ratings — bus amperage, main breaker, voltage and phase configuration, and interrupting rating. Most jurisdictions expect one inside or beside the panel door, and inspectors read it to confirm the panel is not loaded beyond its bus.

Circuits run odd numbers down the left and even numbers down the right. Both circuits in a horizontal pair sit on the same phase, and the phase steps forward one position on each new row. So a single-phase 120/240 V panel repeats A, A, B, B, and a three-phase 208Y/120 V panel repeats A, A, B, B, C, C. This builder derives the phase from the circuit number and the panel type, so the column matches the physical bus without you having to work it out.

A multi-pole breaker takes adjacent positions on its own side of the panel, which means it steps by two — a two-pole breaker at circuit 1 occupies slots 1 and 3, and a three-pole breaker at circuit 1 occupies 1, 3 and 5. It does not bridge circuits 1 and 2; those are on opposite sides of the panel. Because the phase advances every row, a two-pole breaker always lands on two different legs and a three-pole breaker always covers all three, which is why three-phase loads are inherently balanced.

This builder uses the NEMA maximum-deviation method: take the average of the phase loads, find the phase furthest from that average, and express that gap as a percentage of the average. Some contractor-facing material instead divides the range — highest minus lowest — by the average, which produces a noticeably higher number for the same panel. Because the two conventions disagree, the formula is printed on the exported sheet so the figure can be checked.

Ten percent is the figure most commonly used as a design trigger, and this builder flags anything above it. It is worth being clear that this is a design guideline and often a job specification — no NEC section mandates a balancing percentage. It is also a different measurement from the one percent voltage-unbalance limit associated with motor terminals, which concerns supply voltage rather than the connected load on a panel and does not apply here.

Connected load is the straight sum of everything wired to the panel. Demand load is what it is realistically expected to draw at once, after applying the factors in NEC Article 220. Lighting is treated as a continuous load and carried at 125 percent, non-dwelling receptacle load takes the first 10 kVA at 100 percent and the remainder at 50 percent under 220.44, and the largest motor is carried at 125 percent under 430.24. The builder shows both figures side by side so you can see what each factor changed.

Only for non-dwelling panels. The 10 kVA break in NEC 220.44 applies to receptacle load in commercial and similar occupancies. Dwelling-unit receptacle load is handled through the general lighting and small-appliance calculations instead, so leave the option off for residential work or you will understate the demand.

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