Our Core Purpose

In 1942, Carl Basler began Basler Electric in a shop in his father’s garage in the small industrial town of Highland, Illinois. Early work is primarily rewinding and repairing electric equipment. By 1947, Basler Electric had become incorporated and employed 120 people.

Basler soon began manufacturing power supplies and rectifiers. In 1959, Basler introduced its first ever solid-state voltage regulator known as the SR-5. Thousands of SR regulators are still in service today.

Basler Electric designed and sold its first solid-state protective relay for the oil-exploration and drilling industries. Basler also began manufacturing Class 2 transformers.

In 1974, Basler Electric developed its first static excitation system for controlling large utility-scale electric power generation. The design of Class 2 transformers were revolutionized by introducing bobbin winding with welded lamination, spray impregnation, and base plate construction

In 1984, William L. Basler became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Basler Electric.

A new facility was opened in Taylor, Texas, which now manufactures sophisticated protection, control, and regulation products.

In 1990, Basler Electric expanded its transformer manufacturing capabilities by opening a new plant in Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The 1990s would later see Basler introduce the first family of DECS (Digital Excitation Control Systems), BE1 numeric multifunction protective relay systems, and, in 1997, its first microprocessor-based multifunction genset controller known as the DGC-2000.

In the 2000s, international operations expanded. Basler opened a new sales and technical office in 2004 located in Suzhou, China. The addition of ECS2100 expanded Basler’s capabilities to include large-scale excitation systems

In 2004, Basler launched the first iteration of the BE1-700 protective relay to support high performance, low-voltage applications such as data centers, which were responding to the increasing need for fast internet connectivity.

BESTCOMSPlus® led the way for graphical logic and settings in power equipment. Its initial release came in 2006.

Basler introduced the high-performance DECS-250: the next generation in microprocessor-based voltage regulators.

Basler then launched the DECS-2100 digital excitation control system to enhance the performance and reliability of utility-level power generation facilities.

In 2015, Basler continued to meet the demand of data centers, releasing the ES Series Protection Relays. They offer many high-end features not typically found in a low-cost device.

In 2017, Basler acquired E2 Power Systems to include engineering design and turnkey installations services.

Greg Basler is promoted to Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Basler Electric in January 2018.

The BE1-11d DC Power Protection System hit the market in 2019.

We developed the DECS-450 in 2020. The DECS-450 is a microprocessor-based, high performance, extremely reliable excitation controller for both positive and positive/negative forcing excitation systems.

In 2021 we launched the revolutionary BE1-FLEX Protection, Automation, and Control System. The BE1-FLEX can cover a wide application spectrum as it can be configured for any combination of functions available, reducing costs of ownership and simplifying operations.

2025 brought two new offerings from Basler. The BESTdata software release and the CEM-125. BESTdata challenges the norm by introducing a powerful solution for analyzing complex power systems.

The CEM-125 Contact Expansion Module delivers seamless 125 volt I/O for Basler excitation system controllers, enabling large and complex logic schemes while eliminating the need for costly external relays and devices.