“They’ve come onboard not just as an investor but as a key partner for scaling our products in the market, particularly in the residential ecosystem,” Rao said. “We’re able to support electrification of all types of existing homes with main-panel replacement, subpanels, load controls, EV charging, and heat pump integration.”
Just as important, Ryan said, Eaton has “expansive manufacturing capabilities and a very strong supply chain. We’ll be collaborating together to help drive down the cost of these solutions and make it more affordable.”
That last point addresses the big question mark for smart panels and circuit breakers: cost. Span’s marquee smart panel retails for about $3,500, well above the $1,000 to $2,500 all-in cost of installing a traditional electrical panel.
In general, digitally enabled panels and circuit breakers cost roughly twice as much as old-fashioned electromechanical equipment does. The price differential has been a barrier to more widespread adoption of these kinds of products, which have already seen one major contender exit the market. Schneider Electric, the French electrical-equipment giant that competes with Eaton in global markets, recently discontinued its Schneider Pulse smart panel.
Other technologies could well offer a cheaper route to doing what smart electrical panels do, according to Ben Hertz-Shargel, global head of grid edge at research firm Wood Mackenzie. In a 2024 opinion piece, he highlighted options ranging from next-generation utility smart meters to controls embedded in EV chargers, batteries, and electric appliances themselves.
“Low-cost smart meters with plenty of compute [capacity] are being deployed at scale today,” Hertz-Shargel told Canary Media in an interview this month. “The question is, do we need more dedicated energy hardware in the home? The lowest-cost solution will always rely on software. It seems a smart meter and an EV charger, or a battery, are the only devices you need.”
Rao pushed back on that proposition. While individual devices can throttle their power use, smart panels offer a more holistic way to oversee and control a home’s overall power demands, he said.
And utility smart meters are “not purpose-built for avoiding a service upgrade, or for adding new electrical loads to your home, most of which require not just sensing, but real-time controls,” Rao added.
Span has been working with a number of utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric in California, that are interested in using its technology in concert with smart meters and grid control platforms for the additional home device-management flexibility it offers, he noted.
Span and Eaton also plan to launch “joint solutions” that combine both companies’ technologies in the second half of this year. “There are obviously a lot of interesting opportunities for technology partnerships,” Rao said, though he declined to provide details.
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