Load management is intelligent control of which circuits draw power, and when. Instead of upgrading your electrical service to make room for a battery, EV charger or heat pump, a smart panel or smart breaker monitors your home in real time and sheds or staggers the largest loads so your existing service is never overloaded.
The National Electrical Code recognizes energy management systems and controlled loads in service load calculations, which means a managed load can be treated differently from an uncontrolled one. For many Gulf Coast homes, that is the difference between adding battery backup this month and waiting on a utility service upgrade.
A panel swap or utility service upgrade can cost thousands of dollars and add weeks of utility and permitting delay. Managed loads often let you add new equipment on the service you already have.
During an outage you choose exactly which circuits stay energized — and you can change your mind from your phone. Non-essential loads drop automatically so stored battery capacity goes to what matters.
Circuit-level monitoring shows what each appliance actually costs you, so efficiency decisions are based on data instead of guesswork.
With loads under control, we can often specify a smaller, less expensive battery that still covers everything you care about during an outage.
The SPAN Smart Panel replaces your existing electrical panel with a fully digital one. Every circuit is individually metered and individually controllable from the SPAN app — no separate “critical loads” subpanel required.
Solar Alternatives is a SPAN Premier Installer — a designation SPAN reserves for partners with proven installation volume, training and workmanship. We have installed SPAN panels in homes across the Gulf Coast and throughout the Community Lighthouse resilience hubs in New Orleans, where smart load control keeps critical shelter loads running for days. Read more in our post on energy management with the SPAN electrical panel.
Not every home needs a full panel replacement. Eaton smart breakers drop into a compatible Eaton load center and add metering and remote control to the individual circuits that matter — a lower-cost, lower-disruption path to the same result.
| If you… | Best fit |
| Have an older, full or undersized panel and want whole-home visibility and backup control | SPAN Smart Panel |
| Have a serviceable Eaton panel and just need to add an EV charger or one or two large loads | Eaton smart breakers |
| Are adding battery backup and want to reduce the battery capacity you need | SPAN Smart Panel |
| Are building new or doing a whole-home remodel | Either — we design it in from day one |
| Are not sure what your electrical service can support | Start with a free load assessment |
We review your panel, service size and actual usage, then run the code load calculation to see what you can add today.
Our in-house engineering team specifies the smart panel or smart breaker package, along with any solar, battery storage or EV charging you are planning.
We handle permits, inspections and utility interconnection across the Gulf Coast.
Licensed electricians install and commission the system, then set up your app, backup priorities and monitoring with you.
Local service and monitoring support for the life of the system — you are not handed off to a national call center.
In many cases, yes. Because the code recognizes controlled loads in service load calculations, managed equipment can be treated differently from uncontrolled equipment. Every home is different — the load assessment is what tells us for certain.
No. Many customers install a smart panel or smart breakers purely to add an EV charger, a heat pump or a hot tub, or simply to see where their electricity is going.
With battery storage, the smart panel automatically keeps your priority circuits energized and drops the rest. You can reshuffle those priorities from your phone at any point during the outage.
Usually. We review your inverter and interconnection to confirm compatibility before proposing anything.
Across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. See our Areas We Serve page for your city.
Free load assessment from a SPAN Premier Installer with in-house engineering and licensed electricians. Call 877-7SO-LALT or request a quote.
