List of Energy monitoring tools : devices, software and home automation

Home Energy Monitors

With all the buzz from the announcement Google made regarding their partnership with Energy, Inc. and the TED 5000 I decided now would be a good time to provide a summary of all the companies in the residential energy monitoring space. This list was compiled with the help of articles I read posted on Earth2Tech and Open4Energy. I'm not doing an in-depth review of each company, just a link to their site and a few thoughts. This list is a work in progress so please let me know if I am missing products or if you have experience using any of them.

***Update 10/8/09 - I've updated the list with companies focused mainly on solar PV monitoring as well.

***Update 10/28/09 - Two companies on this list have teamed with Google and their PowerMeter software. See my posts here: TED 5000 and iGoogle and AlertMe.

***Update 12/31/09 - If you are new to Energy Monitoring see our post on Energy Tools for Newbies - Real-time Energy Monitors!

Entire Home Energy Monitors now available in U.S. for purchase without the need of a smart meter:

Black and Decker Power Monitor
Energy Owl
PowerCost Monitor by Blue Line Innovations
The Energy Detective
The Meter Reader by Energy Monitoring
Efergy E2 and Efergy Elite - In Canada, efergy energy monitoring products are available at www.energymonitoring.ca and in the United States at www.energymonitor.com

Entire Home Energy Monitors now available in U.K for purchase without the need of a smart meter:

Full List of energy monitoring products:

Agentis Energy Acuity Solution - Software + Smart meter + Utility. Looks like Trilliant.
AgileWaves - Device. Monitors Electricity, Natural Gas, and Water. Higher end. Looks amazing.
AlertMe - Device. Based in UK. Not sure if available in U.S. or how their visual display works.
Aztech In-Home - Device + Smart meter. Also do natural gas and water. Need smart meter for electricity
Black and Decker Power Monitor - Device. Digital Meter reader. No web based software. Part of their energy series. Looks like PowerCost Monitor.
Breezeplay - Device, dashboard, with web component.
Computerized Electricity Systems - Smart panel board. Energy monitoring. home automation. non-original name.
CurrentCost - Device. Based in UK. Looks like the TED 5000 but sleeker. As of today they have 619,526 units sold!
Dreamwatts - Energy Management. Interface with smart devices. Zigbee. Smart thermostats.
Ecobee - Internet programmable thermostat device. Smart thermostat. See my Ecobee review blog here.
Ecodog - Device. Monitors individual circuits! Looks promising.
EcoView by Advanced Telemetry - Device + home automation. touch panel. Looks like Ecobee with energy monitoring?
Efergy E2 - Similar to TED 5000. U.K. based. We have a blog on it here.
Energate - Device + Smart meter. Home energy management. Smart thermostat.
Energy Aware - Device + Smart meter. PowerTab. Based in Canada.
Energy Engage by eMeter - Utility. customer engagement for utilities.
EnergyHub -Energy management display + Utilities. Smart thermostat. soon to be available.
Energy Joule by ambient - Device monitors price of energy. Doesn't help if you have constant rate.
Energy Owl - Device and software. meter reader. Cheap solution!
Ewgeco - Device + Smart meters. Electricity, Natural Gas, Water.
Fat Spaniel - PV monitoring and software. Looks to be focused on Utility scale systems. Started in residential.
Google Power Meter - Energy Management software. Interfaces with smart meters or devices. Partnered with TED 5000.
Greenbox - Energy Management. not sure if software or device? soon to be available
Green Energy Options - Devices. Multiple energy monitoring devices: Minim, Solo, Duet, Trio. UK based.
GridPoint - Energy Management software.
Grounded Power - Device and Energy management software. How does one buy?
iMeter Solo by Smarthome - Device monitoring + Insteon home networking.
Kill-A-Watt by P3 - Device for Appliances only. nice and low cost. Only for individual outlets. Also have Kill-A-Watt power strip.
Locus Energy - PV monitoring device and software. PV, Solar thermal, and electricity monitoring. Focused on fleet management for installers. Great support.
Lucid Design Group - Software. Interfaces with third party devices. Very good looking graphics and reports. Higher end.
Meterface - wireless Digital meter reader . Open source project. In development
Onzo - Device + Utility. Coolest name on the list. UK based
Owl - Devices. wireless electricity monitor and other devices. UK based. Don't see any software.
Plogg - Device + Appliance. Like a TED and Kill-A-Watt combined. UK based. Web-based software. Zigbee. Bluetooth. Second coolest name on the list.
PowerCost Monitor by Blue Line Innovations - Device. Digital wireless Meter reader. I don't believe they have software or web based! Looks like Black and Decker.
PowerGuide by SolarCity - monitoring software. Consumption and Solar. Pretty nice graphics. Also SolarGuard for just PV.
Powerhouse Dynamics eMonitor - Device + Display software. Monitors each circuit, but they don't show how? I'd like to see more info on the actual product.
Powernab - Energy monitoring software. Looks cool, but how many devices are available with it?
PowerPortal by Comverge - Device + Utility.
TalkingPlug by Zerofootprint - Device + Software. Control and monitor individual outlets!
Shaspa - Device + Control. Easily Tweet/Facebook your energy usage. Looks promising but not yet released. Mentioned in this post.
The Energy Detective - Device + Energy management software. Makes the TED 1000 and TED 5000. Solar PV as well. Have teamed with Google Power meter.
The Meter Reader by Energy Monitoring - Device. Recently upgraded their website and product offering
Tendril - Device + Utility. Home energy management. Home Automation. Smart thermostats. Only available through Utility?
Trilliant - Software +Utility. Advanced metering, network, demand response.
UFO Power Center - Device + Software. A 110-V power strip that allows you to monitor each device that's plugged in wirelessly with your computer. Made by Visible Energy.
Wattson - Device. Stylish. UK and Australia
Wattvison - Soon to be released. Looks like a combination of TED 5000 and PowerCost monitor i.e. a web enabled meter reader. Has the potential to be more popular than TED 5000 because you dont have to install it in an electrical panel.

I was surprised to see how far along the UK was in this area. I will say that companies that dont have a web based component (i.e. log on to your computer or iPhone to see energy consumption) probably wont last long unless they are cheap. I believe energy monitoring is most effective if it is done with history tracking, which is best achieved with web monitoring.

What other companies are out there? How many of you have tried the devices on this list?

***If you like this post, check out our post on smart home communication protocols.

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/25/2011 - 09:27

Thanks for the information, Chris.

Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 09/18/2011 - 11:16

I want to add unique monitoring solution - SolGuard™ -(http://amitec-g.com/InnerPage.aspx?PageName=Solar_Monitoring) Covers all the needs of management multiple solar sites (For EPC , O&M, Owner) : Integrating all solar site aspects: monitoring, performance improvement, security, safety and maintenance management. Thanks Hanita

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/01/2011 - 03:09

I am looking at the Owl from 2saveenergy for my home use. Have you had any experience with this product? I like it due to the cost and it looks simple to use. Thanks

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/13/2011 - 15:13

Hi, I am researching for a professor friend of mine and wondering what solutions there are for a combined water and electricity monitoring. So far, I'm finding a lot of JUST electricity. I know LUCID and Agilewaves do both (and more) but i can't find a price, and they seem geared towards commercial applications (which will make them cost prohibitive for residential applications). Thanks! Martha

Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/25/2011 - 10:50

Another UK based offering is METERology (<a href="http://www.meterology.co.uk" title="http://www.meterology.co.uk" rel="nofollow"> http://www.meterology.co.uk</a>). Although this is primarily focused on industrial/commercial customers it can also be used in high end domestic applications. It uses the pulse output from existing meters, stores the data in a SQL server database (which can be SQL Express) and the data can then be queried through a browser.

Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/25/2011 - 13:57

I was reading this thread and wanted to ask a question of either the moderator or anyone who is seeing my post. I am interested in reviewing and researching companies who offer energy monitoring products, either hardware/software solutions or some sort of a turn-key self-contained plug & play device like a Linux based LCD monitoring panel which interfaces to yoru conventional/alternative energy system. If anyone out there is aware of such a device, please let me know. Thanks. Andre

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/08/2011 - 08:22

John, We have been using EKM Metering smart meters to remotely meter our industrial machinery over the internet in real time. We now have years of data about our usage and can spot trends and problems. The meter gives us more information accurate to 0.5%: voltage, amps, power factor, watts, and total kWh every few seconds. Very reasonably priced as well - http://www.ekmmetering.com

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/09/2011 - 15:52

Has anyone used EnergyPrint? It's a great business tool that's practical, unbiased, and works great for auditing a building improvement.

Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/07/2011 - 20:08

Hello all, Does anyone know which one of the devices mentioned above has the ability to program (4)tier rates and a constant weekend rate? In Ontario we now have 3 different rates (low, mid, high)throughout the day. The low rate is in affect on weekend and holidays. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/20/2011 - 23:59

What about the SunSentry PV monitoring sofware? http://SunSentry.com

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