Smart electric panels aren't a new concept. We saw similar products at last year's CES and others already exist on the markett CES 2025, Savant, the brand that owns GE Lighting and Savant Power Systems, showed us something new: It showcased its new Smart Budget system as a way to take control of your home energy usage by choosing which parts of your home get energy and when. Â
Smart Budget consists of the Savant Power Modules that can be added to an existing electrical panel. It includes software that regulates the electrical panel's power output so the demand never exceeds a home's capacity. It's considered an alternative to more costly electric service upgrades allowing consumers to use certain high energy draw appliances -- like an EV charger or a washer and dryer.Â
The app shows you the load and lets you prioritize and schedule power usage to keep you within your limit.
Normally, if you tried to add these electrical demands, you'd be limited by your utility's service line. For instance, I live in a prewar apartment building with 60-amp service. There's no way for me to get 100 amps or 200 amps without convincing my utility to do a major upgrade to the service line, which would cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars for the entire building. That's obviously not going to happen, so I'm stuck not being able to use certain demanding appliances. In fact, even my gaming PC sometimes proves to be too much of a pull.Â
With the Savant Smart Budget, in theory, you won't need to upgrade your utility line. The Savant app lets homeowners prioritize what devices are getting power and when. You can also prioritize how power is used, monitor live consumption, shed unnecessary loads and balance usage within your service line limit.Â
The Savant module should plug right into your existing panel.
All this will cost you $1,500, and it should be available in the second quarter of 2025. That said, while ease is the name of the game, we don't recommend trying to DIY install the Savant power modules. A licensed electrician is best. Electrical panels can be incredibly dangerous if you don't cut power from your main breaker before removing the cover.Â
Aside from the Smart Budget, Savant isn't sleeping on the rest of the smart home space either. In other CES announcements, the company is rolling out an extensive lineup of lighting and smart home devices, including proprietary GE reveal LED bulbs in 2025, an expansion of the Cync Dynamic Effects Family of lights and outdoor light strips, the Cync Smart Keypad Dimmer and Smart Paddle Dimmer, and Proseo lighting and shades.Â