It says that by giving Kiwis greater visibility and control over their energy usage, the system can enable the average home to save $1200 annually on electricity bills.

The company says its app also analyses over 3000 power plans, ensuring homes are matched with the best plan for their energy footprint.

The product has taken five years to develop.

Co-founder Danny Purcell had a Basis Smart Panel installed in his home last month.

“Over 60% of my electricity bill currently goes to hot water, which costs around $2990 a year.

“By setting a simple routine to turn the hot water off during peak periods, we’re expected to reduce our electricity bills by $1500 a year – almost halving it.”

Co-founder and former electrician Julyan Collet said the panel enabled smarter energy use, advanced safety and lasting customer benefits.

Collet said the system would also allow electricians to find faults quicker.

To reach the point of installation, Basis had to meet rigorous safety and certification requirements, successfully passing over 100 regulatory tests.

Tests were followed by a third-party review by Global Mark, one of Australia’s leading conformity assessment bodies.

Basis will be testing its smart panels in new markets such as the UK, Europe and parts of Asia in late 2025, after which it will begin a global rollout in 2026.

Purcell told the Herald the product would mean big changes for the sector.

“We’ve had a lot of support from the Powerbase Group [a large electrical wholesale chain] and some other large developers, such as Fletcher Living,” he said.

Purcell said compliance and governance rules can get complicated for anything connected to a household.

“A lot of the compliance rules and governance rules that support the safe installation of those technologies are complicated and so the product aims to minimise the complexity of those, and it does that in lots of different ways.

“It integrates thousands of different safety configurations into an app for electricians and provides them with the means to diagnose faults on those appliances remotely.

“And it streamlines the installation process more broadly.”

The next cab off the rank for Basis is to have its panel integrated with solar and battery systems so that a household’s “energy world” can be managed.

“There are a lot of things that customers can do to change their footprint. We give them the tools to do that,” Purcell says.

“We have real-time insights into how you consume energy for all your appliances and allow customers the ability to set routines and automations.

“They’re controlling a hot water cylinder and those types of large load devices, your EV [electric vehicle] charger, and it’s the movement of those devices which then fundamentally changes your electricity profile.

“Our expectation is that customers would be able to save thousands of dollars off a typical solar and battery installation once they’ve got a smart panel installed.”

The panel also supports bi-directional flows of electricity, allowing power to be sent back into the grid when there is a surplus.

“Everybody’s electricity profile is unique and everyone’s unique footprint needs to be assessed differently.

“And there are a lot of things that customers can do to change their footprint,” Purcell said.

“We give them the tools to do that.”

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.