Quick Answer — Smart Panel Options in NJ (2026)
Three different products get called "smart panels," and they solve different problems. The SPAN Panel ($6,500–$10,000 installed in NJ) replaces your whole panel and meters and controls every circuit — the strongest pick for homes with a battery, solar, or an EV. Leviton's smart load center approach ($3,500–$6,500 installed) uses a conventional panel with smart breakers you add circuit by circuit — the budget path to monitoring and remote control. The Square D Energy Center is Schneider Electric's whole-home energy platform — it makes the most sense when you're buying into the Schneider Home ecosystem (battery, inverter, EV charger) as a package.
"Smart panel" has become a catch-all term, and NJ homeowners regularly call us comparing three products that aren't really the same thing. Here's how a SPAN-authorized installer in Hudson County actually breaks down the choice.
What Each One Actually Is
SPAN Panel: a full panel replacement. The SPAN MAIN 40 is a 200A-rated, 40-circuit panel where every circuit is individually metered and individually controllable from the app. It layers battery and solar orchestration on top — during an outage it can automatically shed low-priority circuits so a single Tesla Powerwall stretches two to three times further. There are no separate smart breakers to buy; the intelligence is in the panel itself.
Leviton smart load center: a conventional Leviton panel that accepts Leviton's 2nd-generation smart breakers. You choose which circuits get a smart breaker — each one adds energy monitoring and remote on/off in the My Leviton app. You can start with four smart breakers and add more later. It does not natively orchestrate a battery the way SPAN does.
Square D Energy Center: Schneider Electric's entry, built around the Schneider Home ecosystem — a backup interface and energy hub designed to pair with Schneider's own inverter, battery, and EV charger. It's less a standalone smart panel than the electrical heart of a packaged Schneider energy system, and it's typically sold and quoted that way.
Head-to-Head for NJ Homes
| Factor | SPAN Panel | Leviton smart load center | Square D Energy Center |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical NJ installed cost | $6,500 – $10,000 | $3,500 – $6,500 (depends on smart-breaker count) | Varies — usually quoted inside a Schneider Home battery/solar package |
| Per-circuit monitoring | Every circuit, built in | Only circuits with smart breakers | System-level, strongest within Schneider ecosystem |
| Remote circuit control | Every circuit | Smart-breaker circuits only | Backup-managed circuits |
| Battery orchestration | Excellent — works with Tesla Powerwall and most major batteries | Limited | Excellent with Schneider battery; limited outside it |
| Upgrade path | All-at-once panel swap | Incremental — add breakers over time | Package purchase |
| Best fit | Battery + solar + EV homes; outage-prone areas | Monitoring on a budget; phased upgrades | Committed Schneider Home buyers |
How We'd Choose, Scenario by Scenario
You have (or are adding) a Tesla Powerwall, solar, or an EV: SPAN. Circuit-level load management is what makes a single battery genuinely useful during a multi-hour outage, and SPAN plays well with Tesla equipment — relevant since we install Powerwall 3 systems across North Jersey as a Tesla Powerwall Certified Installer.