I have all of these on 200A with amps to spare. But I have a small house. I suppose if I had multiple EVs, dryers, or heat pumps, or 3000sqft it would be a different story.
It's spending a small additional amount now (on wire) to avoid an enormous expense (trench digging) in the future.
Oh, and you know that 3" conduit required for the 400amp ? Make it 4".
Oh, and you know that trench you just dug ? Throw in double 1.5" and double 3/4 conduits right in there with it.
Oh and you know that first two feet of dirt you filled in ? Now throw two more 3/4 conduits on top of that because you never know when a common carrier on that same pole will have fiber up on it ...
Future you will be very happy you did.
The future could also look like large batteries on-site that charge slowly, and then provide power at high amperage when needed, like slowly compressing a spring, then suddenly releasing it.
This is already what Electrify America and Freewire (https://freewiretech.com/) are doing with EV Fast chargers when the electric utility can't provide a higher power connection in a reasonable time-frame. As battery prices drop, that could be a viable way to power heavy home appliances.
I've never heard of a UK house having a larger than 100A service (although I imagine they exist here and there - it's certainly not common).
UK: 100 A x 230 V = 23,00 W
US: 200 A x 120 V = 24,00 W
Edit: I am wrong in my understanding of US Voltages. It's 200 A per leg, which the US has two of.
> UK: 100 A x 230 V = 23,00 W
> US: 200 A x 120 V = 24,00 W
That's incorrect. The service drop in the US is 220V. It gets stepped down at the main load center to 120V for most of the regular circuits. So it's more like 48000W service in US houses.
Houses and apartments in Denmark have 3 phase service. My apartment's main breaker is labelled 40A @ 380V.
I believe the oven and hob make use of it, but I haven't looked myself.
I run an induction stove on 220V single phase every day here in the US.
240V. Since we're throwing around numbers, let's be accurate. This is a pet peeve of mine. We've been standardized at 240V since 1967, and it was higher than 220V years before that.
However, it seems like 220V was the standard before that [1], which is why it's still common parlance, referring to the "higher" voltage. Certainly I've heard many people in the trades still refer to it with the older term, even if the circuit is actually 240V.
So when you install a 400A panel in the US, it's 400A*240V which is 96,000W.
One thing I keep learning about the EU is ... do not generalize using Germany as the baseline. There are many areas where Germany is the odd one out, not the standard.
It's not about having 400 amps per se but about sizing the wire you put in the ground. Maybe you'll have a 200a main breaker and you'll only ever use 200 amps, etc. - but the hard part was digging and future you or other future yous will be happy that the wire was upsized when it was put in.
Same with conduit. Same with number of conduits.
I can't tell you how many times I have been very please with myself that I threw in that extra 3/4 conduit line when we dug that one trench that one time ...
You can also get a separate meter installed instead or alongside, this can be useful it the property could be dual purpose (think: duplex, house + machine shop, etc). This can increase costs because of double baseline but it can also reduce costs because of double "low tier" - depends on the market.
EDIT: Yes, you may not need 400A immediately, but if you're doing an upgrade, the cost delta between the conductors for 200A vs 400A is not substantial except for very long runs. Also, some utilities will cover the cost of a service upgrade to the meter; from the meter onward into the home is your cost. Balance cost with future needs, future labor costs, etc. Very similar to dropping a whole bunch of cheap fiber in a trench just in case you need it in the future.
I usually recommend people combine this work with a solar PV install, to capture the 30% federal tax credit towards the work (if you can justify the upgrade as necessary, which you can if your current service is less than 200A).
[1] https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/otps/policy_brief_dig_once.p...