This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re examining the seemingly humble—but absolutely critical—piece of hardware that could accelerate electrification, unlock virtual power plants, and save homeowners thousands of dollars: the electrical panel.
My guest is Arch Rao, founder and CEO of Span, a company building smart electrical panels that replace your old breaker box with real-time power management, whole-home circuit-level visibility, and the ability to electrify without a costly service upgrade.
If you’ve ever been told you need a new 200-amp panel before installing a heat pump, EV charger, induction stove, or home battery… Span thinks you don’t. And utilities are starting to agree.
We get into:
- Why most of America’s 100-amp homes don’t actually need expensive utility upgrades
- How Span’s digital panel manages loads in real time—throttling certain appliances for a few minutes a year to avoid tripping limits
- What changes when every circuit in your house is visible and controllable (down to the second)
- Span as grid infrastructure: how utilities like PG&E see smart panels as a cheaper alternative to billions in grid upgrades
Links:
- Span: https://www.span.io/
- All episodes: https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/
- Subscribe to the Everybody in the Pool newsletter: https://www.mollywood.co/
- Become a member for the ad-free version of the show: https://everybodyinthepool.supercast.com/
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