Circuit-level monitoring and control — smart panels installed and configured on your existing service.
A Span panel is a load center whose breakers can be switched and prioritized from an app, and that matters most at one particular moment: when the grid is down and a battery is carrying the house. Instead of a fixed critical-loads subpanel wired the day the solar went in, the list of what stays on becomes a setting you can change — refrigeration and lights now, the dryer and the EV charger later. What a particular panel will actually do during an outage, and how it decides, is the manufacturer's specification rather than ours; read it and get it in writing before you settle on a model. Our half is ordinary load-center work done carefully: feeders, grounding and bonding, circuit transfers, permit, inspection — and then a commissioning step where the panel comes online, every circuit is named against what it truly feeds, and the outage priorities get set with you rather than left at defaults.
We install these and we are glad to. What we will not do is tell you that you need one. A smart panel costs meaningfully more than a conventional load center, and it adds a software dependency to a piece of equipment that otherwise has none. The feature that earns the difference is load management during an outage, and that only matters if you have a battery or are planning one. Without a battery, what you are buying is circuit-level visibility and remote switching — genuinely useful, and a matter of taste rather than necessity. Siemens is what we install by default on conventional panel work, and for most homes it is still the right answer. When a Span is what you want, we install it properly, configure it, and hand it over labeled.
Outage planning is a conversation about tiers, and it is worth having before the equipment is ordered rather than during the first shutoff. A battery holds a finite amount of energy and can deliver only so much at once, so the useful question is not what you would like to keep on — it is what you want still running at hour twelve. That list is usually short: refrigeration, a few lights, the well pump if you are on one, medical equipment, the internet. Below it sit the loads you would take back when the sun is out and the battery is recharging: the heat pump, the range, the EV charger. Which of your circuits can sit in which tier depends on where the panel lands in your service, because a panel can only manage the circuits that pass through it. We settle that before we order, and we design it alongside the battery instead of bolting it on afterwards.
One question worth asking before you buy. Some homeowners look at a smart panel as a way to add an EV charger, a heat pump, and induction without upsizing the service — letting the panel shed loads instead of buying more capacity. That can be a legitimate design and it can also be wishful, and which one depends on the load calculation for your specific house and on whether your building department will accept a managed-load approach. For most addresses in this area that department is the County; only Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley, and Watsonville run their own. Run the Panel Load Calculator to see where you actually stand, and expect us to confirm the approach with the jurisdiction before we design around it rather than after.
A tech looks at your existing panel and service, runs the load numbers, and asks the question the rest of the job hangs on: what do you want running when the power is out. You get a written report and a real quote either way, including what the conventional route would look like.
We settle what the panel has to be able to manage, and therefore where it sits in your service, then coordinate with the battery or generator side of the project, order the equipment, pull the permit, and line up PG&E if the job touches the service.
Power off, panel in, circuits transferred and re-landed, grounding and bonding brought to current code, and the building-department inspection coordinated. Where the job touches the main service there is a no-power window, and you will know its length before the day rather than on it.
The panel comes online, every circuit gets named against what it feeds, and we set the outage priorities with you standing there — what the battery carries first, what sheds, and what you would rather it never tried to run at all. Then the app walkthrough, and the workmanship warranty registered.
Two things move a Span quote, and they move it by very different amounts. The first is the equipment: a smart panel costs a good deal more than a conventional load center, that difference is set by the manufacturer, and shopping around does not change it much. The second is how much of your service the panel has to be able to manage. A panel that only needs to carry a short backed-up list can sit downstream of what you already have, and the job stays contained. A panel that has to be able to shed the dryer, the range, and the EV charger has to be in the path of those circuits, which usually means it takes the place of the load center — and in this county that carries the full service rebuild, a PG&E shutdown, and the permit that comes with any main panel job. It also depends on whether the house already has a subpanel: swapping that subpanel for a Span, instead of the main, keeps the main service out of the job, though the Span then manages only the circuits that subpanel feeds. We tell you which one your house is before we quote, and we will say plainly when a conventional Siemens panel would do the same electrical work for less.
“Thank you to the Sunrise Electrical Contracting team for updating the new main electrical system on my mom's home after the storm damaged the power lines and home equipment this winter… They replaced Main Service Upgrade Overhead, and added a Sub-Panel Install/Replacement Outdoors… the team of Branden, Jimmy, Ian, and Tylor worked long hours during the storm for a few days to get us up and running again before the next storm arrived.”
“Sunrise Electrical rewired our house, replacing the old knob-and-tube wiring with seamless, safe, and up-to-code wiring at a very reasonable price. They were incredibly efficient, worked cleanly, and addressed all our questions and concerns with care. We can't recommend them highly enough!”
“Branden & his experienced crew installed a Level 2 electric charger together with an extra 240v outlet in our Live Oak garage. They were informed, congenial, & professional and their work was timely and permitted as required by the County. (The cost of the County permit was 53% of the entire project cost — no 5 stars for the County.) I highly recommend Sunrise Electrical!”
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Look for a CSLB-licensed C-10 contractor near you and verify at cslb.ca.gov. Ask how they would decide your backed-up circuit list, and ask the manufacturer what the panel does when the grid drops and the battery runs low. Both answers matter more than the brochure does.
Browse our field guidesFor most homes without a battery, it would, and it costs less. Our 200-amp page covers what a main panel job actually includes in this county — the full service rebuild, the permit, and the PG&E coordination.
See the 200A panel upgradeA free inspection gets you the load numbers and an honest read on whether outage load management earns its cost in your house. You keep the written report either way, and there is no obligation to schedule anything.
Schedule a free inspectionFrom Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
Free inspection, the load numbers, and a written quote — including what the conventional panel would look like instead.