Guide to Smart Electrical Panels, What They Are and Why You Need One

Recent innovations in electrical panel technology are introducing advanced features available to homeowners, enabling them to monitor their energy consumption and manage multiple power sources actively.

These smart panels are revolutionizing electrification and giving homeowners more control over their energy consumption than ever.

Here’s what you need to know about smart electrical panels and their benefits.

What is a Smart Electrical Panel?

A smart electrical panel is a modernized version of the traditional gray breaker box found in most homes. While it performs the same essential safety function—preventing circuit overloads—it is equipped with integrated hardware and software that allows for digital monitoring and control.

It acts as the “central nervous system” of a high-tech home, connecting high-energy appliances, solar arrays, and battery storage to a single digital interface.

Every home with electricity has an electrical panel. It’s that thin metal box with a door and a bunch of circuit breakers hidden away in a garage, basement, or out-of-the-way corner. You rarely think about it except on the rare occasion when you need to flip a breaker switch. A smart, state-of-the-art panel is an electrical panel on steroids. It’s filled with technology that will enable you to monitor and control your power use around the clock. As a result, you can reap savings on your energy costs.

Whether your home relies on a traditional or smart electrical panel, you couldn’t turn on the lights or wash a load of clothes without it. The electrical panel is the heart of your home’s power system, drawing energy from the main grid and distributing it throughout your home. It also regulates voltage and amperage, ensuring each circuit receives a safe and consistent flow of electricity.

What Makes Smart Electrical Panels Different?

The primary difference lies in connectivity and granularity. Traditional panels are “dumb” devices that only trip a physical switch when a surge occurs. Smart panels feature built-in Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity and sensors on every circuit.

This allows homeowners to see exactly how much energy each room or appliance is using in real-time and toggle specific breakers on or off remotely via a smartphone app.

Smart electrical panels also outshine traditional panels with their advanced safety features. Equipped with built-in controls, these panels can actively monitor energy usage and shut down a circuit before it reaches an unsafe threshold.

This proactive feature can prevent power surges and will address any potential issues before your circuit breakers interrupt the flow of power, ensuring a safer and more reliable electrical system for your home.

What Are Energy Loads?

In electrical terms, a “load” is any device or component that consumes electricity. Your home is comprised of various energy loads, which are typically categorized into two types:

• Critical Loads: Essential items like refrigerators, medical equipment, or security systems.

• Non-Essential Loads: Items that can be temporarily powered down without major disruption, such as dishwashers, clothes dryers, or pool pumps.

It is also important to understand that your home’s electrical panel can only handle energy loads up to a certain threshold. For instance, if you have a 100-amp panel, the total sum of the energy used by your appliances can’t exceed that amount of power at any given time.

As your power load approaches 100 amps, you will likely run into issues such as flickering or dimming lights, tripping breakers, buzzing sounds, or even an unpleasant smell coming from the electrical wires which is often a sign of melting components and can lead to an electrical fire.

When choosing a new electrical panel for your home, it’s essential for your licensed electrician to perform a load calculation. The panel’s capacity should align with your typical energy consumption.

However, as more homeowners invest in at-home EV charging and other electrification solutions, the average energy load tends to increase, so it is smart to plan ahead for the future by future-proofing your home.

A Level 2 EV charging station can draw 30 amps or more, which can quickly overload a 100-amp panel if you have other appliances running. To avoid any overload, many homeowners opt for 200-amp panels to accommodate their increased energy usage.

In addition to investing in a panel with a higher capacity, EV owners can also explore other solutions such as load shedding to better manage their energy consumption.

How Do Smart Panels Manage Loads?

• Smart panels manage loads through “load shedding” and prioritization.
• When the total demand for power exceeds the available supply (such as during a grid outage or when running on a limited home battery), the smart panel can automatically turn off non-essential circuits.
• This ensures that the available power is reserved for your most important appliances without requiring you to manually flip switches in the garage.

For instance, you can configure your smart panel to shut off the circuit powering your living room at night to prevent phantom or accidental energy draws and prioritize the circuit you use to charge your EV overnight.

A smart panel’s advanced energy management features also allow you to automatically balance loads whenever electricity usage reaches a certain threshold.

Load management is a complex topic, and it’s important to keep in mind that every household has different needs when it comes to energy consumption. You should discuss your specific needs with a licensed electrician to determine the ideal panel capacity for your home and explore active load management with a smart panel.

What Can You Do with a Smart Panel?

Beyond basic safety, a smart panel allows you to:

• Monitor Consumption: View live data on which appliances are costing the most to run.

• Remote Control: Turn off a forgotten oven or space heater from your phone.

• Automate Schedules: Program heavy appliances to run only during specific times of day

• Integrate Renewables: Seamlessly manage the handoff between grid power, solar panels, and EV chargers.

A smart panel also includes advanced energy management features that give you control over where the panel draws power from and where it distributes it. In other words, you can choose to prioritize one energy source over another or determine which circuits the panel will power first.

For example, you can switch between power from the grid and a renewable energy system, or prioritize EV charging over other circuits.

How Can You Save Money With a Smart Panel?

Smart panels help reduce utility bills through “Time-of-Use” (TOU) optimization. Many utility companies charge higher rates during peak evening hours. A smart panel can be programmed to automatically shift heavy energy usage—like charging an electric vehicle—to late-night hours when rates are lowest.

Additionally, by identifying “vampire loads” (devices that pull power even when off), you can eliminate unnecessary waste.

Related Reading: What Are Time-of-Use Rates?

Gain Visibility Into Your Energy Consumption

The panel lets you monitor and manage the energy load using smartphone or computer apps. It shows how much power each circuit is drawing. This allows the homeowner to turn circuits on and off as needed. It also enables owners to prioritize or schedule circuits.

Areas of the home with critical power loads, such as the refrigerator or heater in the winter, can be prioritized to remain on. An EV can get plugged in when you get home, but the panel can delay charging until utility rates are most favorable.

Gaining visibility into your home’s energy usage can help you identify opportunities to reduce consumption. A smart panel has the ability to reveal areas that you wouldn’t be able to spot, such as an old appliance that draws excessive electricity or unnecessary energy wasted on heating or cooling when you are away from home.

By identifying these areas for optimization and improvement, you can make informed decisions to optimize your energy use and lower your bills.

Once you have a better idea of your family’s energy consumption habits, you can create an automated schedule to have your smart panel automatically shut off some circuits you don’t need at night or when no one is home.

Smart Panels and Renewable Energy Sources

You can save even more by using a smart panel to manage different sources of energy.

More homes now have solar panels or a battery storage system. In these homes, today’s smart panels let you switch between different power sources to control electricity use around the house. With this flexibility and the data provided by the panel’s sensor boards, you can maximize efficiency and minimize utility bills.

For example, you can use solar power to charge your electric battery system. Then you can use the power from the battery system when the sun is not shining. You can also choose to draw power off the batteries when utility rates are at their peak to save money but only direct that power to part of the home or particular appliances. This helps keep energy costs contained on hot summer days.

Can a Smart Panel Support Energy Resiliency?

Yes, they are a cornerstone of home resiliency. During a power outage, if you have a backup solar or battery system, a smart panel can instantly “island” your home from the grid. It then manages your stored energy by cutting power to heavy-drain, non-essential items, significantly extending the life of your battery backup so your lights and refrigeration stay on longer.

Some smart panels also feature battery load management capabilities. This lets you automatically keep your backup battery at an optimal level and ready to use.

Nearly one in four new residential solar systems nationwide are now paired with battery storage, with that number exceeding 60% in leading markets like California, home storage solutions are growing quickly.

As the cost of storage and solar systems continues to decrease, investing in a reliable backup system has become more attractive than ever, especially with the increasing frequency of rolling blackouts and extreme weather events across many regions.

A smart electrical panel will increase resiliency and make your battery last longer by prioritizing some circuits over others during an emergency. It can also automatically manage battery charging to ensure you always take advantage of low energy rates to maintain a full charge.

On a broader level, smart panels can support resiliency by managing your energy consumption during peak hours. As electrification continues to accelerate, many utility providers have to amp up their power production and distribution capabilities.

What Are the Main Benefits of Smart Panels?

• Enhanced Safety: Real-time alerts if a circuit is behaving abnormally or overheating.

• Sustainability: Easier integration of heat pumps, solar, and EV chargers, supporting a transition away from fossil fuels.

• Visibility: Complete transparency into energy spending and habits.

• Future-Proofing: Prepares a home’s infrastructure for the increasing electrical demands of modern technology.

Summary of Smart Electrical Panel Benefits

Smart panels are a safe, reliable solution for electrification projects. They’re the best option for projects that increase electricity usage or draw the most power, such as at-home EV charging or an electric HVAC system.

They can prioritize essential circuits when using battery backup systems and provide short circuit and surge protection of traditional panels.

Eventually, they will become standard, much like smartphones have replaced landlines. These panels are also an excellent option for multifamily rental properties and commercial buildings seeking more load management capabilities.

How to Install a Smart Electrical Panel

Upgrading your home with a smart panel isn’t a DIY project and an improperly installed electrical panel of any type can lead to catastrophe, whether immediate or in the future. It is crucial to hire a qualified professional to oversee this project as it deals with high-powered voltage and requires a deeper understanding of electrical work.

How Can a Licensed Electrician Help?

A licensed electrician can assess your needs, recommend the best smart panels, and design a customized electrification solution for your home. They will pull the necessary permits for the electrical work and follow best safety practices to ensure the panel works as intended.

More importantly, a licensed electrician with skills and experience installing and servicing energy transition technologies such as a smart electrical panel will ensure your panel is safely installed and properly integrated with any other technologies, devices, or appliances in your home.

Look for a trusted electrician with extensive experience with smart panels since these appliances require advanced skills for configuring their connected components or interfacing with renewable energy systems.

The installation process will require contacting your utility provider to temporarily cut power to your home. Your electrician will then remove the old panel, perform any necessary wiring upgrades, and connect the new panel. This process also entails extensive testing and configuring of the new system.

To avoid potentially costly issues and ensure everything is done correctly and to code, it’s essential to have a qualified expert handle the installation.

How Much Do Smart Panels Cost?

The cost of a smart electrical panel typically ranges from $2,000 to $5,000 for the hardware alone. When including professional installation, permit fees, and potential wiring upgrades, the total project cost often falls between $4,000 and $10,000.

At the state level, you may qualify for rebates or sales tax exemptions depending on the programs available where you live and additionally, your utility provider might also offer rebate & incentive programs.

Getting Qualified Help with Qmerit’s Home Electrician Network

Smart electrical panels are quickly emerging as a key component in building the power grid of tomorrow.

Beyond giving you more visibility and control over your energy consumption, these panels will play an essential role in creating a modern energy grid where utility providers are more reactive and communities can leverage their own energy resources.

With the largest and most qualified network of certified electricians in North America, Qmerit is the trusted smart electrical panel installation partner recommended by manufacturers. Rated #1 in customer satisfaction, we’ve completed over 86,000 electric panel upgrades and Qmerit’s network of licensed contractors is actively supporting electrification across the country.

You can count on us to deliver quality electrification solutions adapted to your unique needs, starting with a thorough energy assessment to determine if a smart panel is the right choice for you.

Request a quote for home electrical services today to learn more about smart panels and get in touch with a local electrician.