Kris Johns with T.A.K Electric has worked as an electrician and solar panel installer for 20 years. But he’s never seen anything as sophisticated as the new Smart Distribution Panel he’s selling.

Johns says he’s the only installer in California certified to install the panel, produced by Computerized Electricity Systems out of Israel.

“When I first saw a demonstration of it, I couldn’t pick my jaw up off the ground,” he said.

While it stands to reason he would promote a product he’s selling, he spoke about it with the wild enthusiasm usually only displayed by small children at Christmas time. And listening to him describe the system, it does sound like it will, as a he says, “change everything.”

The Smart Distribution Panel is basically the computerized, all-knowing and all-controlling electrical brain of a home, Johns said.

“Most people have no idea how much energy they’re using. They don’t know what breakers are connected to what room,” Johns said. “This technology lets a homeowner look at their whole home on a computer screen.”

He said the smart panel application shows exactly how much power is being drawn from which outlets and allows the owner to cut and turn on power to specific areas of the home using a remote or even a smart phone. Owners can set timers for when they are away, cut the power off completely when they aren’t around and start it up again however they want remotely, Johns said.

“People don’t realize that they’re drawing power,” Johns said. “That microwave that’s always on because of the clock. The TV, even when it isn’t on. Knowledge is power.”

He said the system is especially useful to those homeowners who install solar arrays because the smart panel also measures the cost of power and will draw from the least expensive supply at any given time.

That particular element of the technology, Johns said, makes it especially applicable for those homeowners with solar arrays and electric vehicles because the homeowner can simply plug the car in and the panel will draw from whichever source is cheapest at the time—solar or the grid.

He said the panel could also assist in the revolution many solar industry speculators are looking forward to, where electric vehicles will be able to provide battery backup to intermittent solar power.

“The panel has this function where it can feed energy into the home from solar panels, from the grid, from a generator or from battery backup,” Johns said. “If someone wanted to use their car as battery backup during peak demand, they could do that. This panel will do anything you want it to.”

Johns said the system costs $6,000 to $7,000 installed and can save the average homeowner 20 to 30 percent on his or her utility bills, more if they are really paying attention and using the technology, he said.

Image courtesy of Computerized Electricity Systems.