When does a house shed loads?
| Situation | The limit | What usually gets shed |
|---|---|---|
| Normal day on a busy service | The service rating, or the setpoint your electrician designed to | EV charger, then dryer or pool heater |
| Outage on a standby generator | The generator's output | Air conditioning, EV charger, dryer |
| Outage on a battery | What the battery and inverter can supply | Everything outside the essentials |
How does it work?
A module sits on each managed circuit, and a Current Track Module on the main feed measures what the whole house is drawing. As the total climbs toward the limit, it switches off the lower-priority circuits you chose. When the total falls, it brings them back on. Savant's January 2025 description of Smart Budget says the app is used to "monitor live consumption, shed unnecessary loads, and balance usage within a limited electrical service." Savant's service upgrade avoidance was approved in October 2026, so the same logic can keep a house within its electrical service when the load calculation allows it and the electrician, inspector and utility sign off.
Savant's own EV charger takes this further: with a Power Module, the app can turn its maximum charge rate down instead of switching it off, so the car keeps charging slowly.
How do you set priorities?
We sort circuits into three groups when we plan a Savant system.
- Always on. Heat, the refrigerator and freezer, the well or sump pump, medical equipment, the network and security.
- Can wait a few minutes. Water heater, dryer, dishwasher, a second oven.
- Can wait hours. EV charger, pool and spa heaters, snow melt, a workshop.
Savant also uses energy scenes for this. Its examples include an Essentials scene that runs automatically when the grid goes down and a laundry scene that limits power in entertainment spaces.
Why does it matter?
Load shedding is what lets a smaller service, a smaller generator or a smaller battery do the job. The 2023 National Electrical Code even lets the electrician count an energy management system's setpoint in the service load calculation (section 220.70). See how to avoid a service upgrade and Savant Power with a standby generator.
