Danny Purcell: Basis Smart Panels Co-Founder on their replacement for traditional switchboards

A new start up that could drastically reduce your power bill will soon be available in homes. 

Designed to replace the current switchboards, Basis Smart Panels aim to provide Kiwis with greater control over their electricity consumption. 

With over 7,500 orders already contracted, the company plans to install 50,000 panels in the next 24 months. 

Co-Founder Danny Purcell told Mike Hosking the panel provides full visibility as to how electricity is consumed in your house, which customers can use save money and make their homes safer. 

He says the panel pays for itself fairly quickly, and they expect the payback period to be around 15-18 months for the average customer.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New startup for you might end up in your house.
In fact, it's a smart panel could reduce your power bill.
Basically it replaces your switchboard. Now Danny Purcell is the
founder of Basis Smart Panels and is with us Danny Morning, Morning, Mike.
So it's ready to be installed, which means what, how
long has the journey been to get here?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Oh, I've seen a long journey where well over four
years of product development, testing, prototyping, and yeah, we have
product available in New Zealand sitting with electricians ready to
be installed at homes and it's an exciting step.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's supported by an app, so from what I'm reading,
it essentially allows you or tells you what you're using
how you're using it. So you've got some sort of
input into that.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Is that right? There's absolutely correct. So once the panel's installed,
you'll have full visibility into how electricity is consumed in
your house. Do you understand appliances and how they're use
but you also have a really good understanding of the
electrical health of your home. So it's a tremendous amount
of information that our houses contain and the way we

(01:03):
use electricity, and we're bringing all of that to lights,
the customers can save money and make down safe.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
What's the conversion in the sense that it will cost
me money to do that, and therefore I do save money.
What was it twelve thirteen hundred dollars potentially a year.
Does it pay for itself?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, pays itself back pretty quickly. So as an early
startup launching costs the production will be at their absolute highest,
we would expect the payback period to be around fifteen
to eighteen months for the average customer. And the kind
of delta and cost to a traditional electrical panel being
fully installed is around fifteen hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
It's three bucks a day, which is twelve hundred dollars annually.
Who's interested? I mean some at three bucks a day,
some are, some aren't.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, and so from a pure power
savings perspective, you'd be surprised. Power is disproportionately used by
people with higher incomes and they care about it when
they're exposed to it. I would say I was someone
who didn't really care about it. I've had a panel
in my house and I've already figured out how to

(02:08):
save fourteen hundred dollars a year. And I've acted on that.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
But is that because you're a geek and you go, oh,
if I adjust that turne that on switch, that move
that here is and look at me, aren't I calls
it become a game in that sense?

Speaker 2 (02:22):
I don't think so. I think the actions to save
money are relatively simple and easy. You don't need to
do a lot to save a lot. You just need
to shift a few high loads in your house. You
don't need to monitor it constantly, and it's really just
moving the large, large loads in your home. Like hoult
water use. It's pretty simple. It should be hands off
and it should be run for you fantastic.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Are you in a crowded market of people doing similar
things that are you going to bleed here?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
So in the product category, it's absolutely crowded. In the
incumbent world, there is tens of millions of electrical panels
installed around the world every year. We are the first
that has ever digitized safety and this is really important
for electricians. A core part of our founding story was

(03:09):
electrification and rising electricity costs were bringing a world of
pain into the design and installation of system and an
innovation that's world first out of new Zealand by some
incredibly smart engineers. Is how we can figure safety, and
that's all done through an app for electricians. I like
it completely step fantastic.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well go well that, Danny. I hope it works a
trade for you, Danny Purcell, who's the founder co founder
of Basis Smart Panels. For more from The mic Asking Breakfast,
listen live to news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays,
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