AlertMe Energy monitor and Google PowerMeter January 2010

AlertMe Energy monitor and Google PowerMeter

The AlertMe Energy 'smart meter' is the first self-install system to be compatible with Google's PowerMeter - the free online energy monitoring service. We haven't fully lab-tested the AlertMe Energy, but here are our first impressions from November 2009, having set the system up in our test house.

AlertMe's Energy monitor system connects to your home broadband and constantly measures the amount of electricity used in your home. It then links to your secure AlertMe online account where you can keep track of your energy usage and how much it costs in real time. You can login to the website wherever you are - at home, at work, on holiday, or even on the move, via a mobile phone.

Setting up AlertMe Energy

The small white control unit - the Nano Hub - has a separate plug-in power supply. This unit connects to your broadband router via a supplied ethernet cable. There's also a wireless meter reader, which has a separate battery power unit that uses two D batteries.

It's important to note that the term 'meter reader' might be misinterpreted, as the system doesn't show the reading on your electricity meter, just the amount of power being used at any specific time.

Set-up is extremely simple, helped by a handy step-by-step instruction sheet - it took us around ten minutes. 

First, clip the meter reader to any of the mains electricity cables running to your meter and then connect its battery supply.Then, plug in the Nano Hub to your home broadband network and switch it on. 

You'll need access to a computer for the next step where you login to the AlertMe site using an account that's set up when you buy the kit. You'll then register your hub's unique ID online, and search for connected devices.

After a few minutes, the hub will pick up the signal from the meter reader. You can also buy separate plug-in energy monitors (Smartplugs) to measure the electricity used by individual appliances, and these will also appear as connected devices in the web-based online control panel.

AlertMe online dashboard

The AlertMe Energy online dashboard shows electricity usage and costs

Logging in to the AlertMe site brings up a dashboard of four items: a dial showing your current power usage in kW; an estimated cost of electricity usage for that day; a link to graphs of past electricity usage (by day, week, month or year); and a link to set up and check the status of the AlertMe system.

Having seen how many kW we were using in a two-bedroom house, our first instinct was to turn off lights and appliances to see how low we could get our electricity reading - turning off the bathroom lights saved 200W and the changes were quickly reflected on-screen on our laptop that we carried around the house. We felt that the system would be more useful if we could also view our power usage on a simple wall-mounted or handheld display, such as those found on wireless energy monitors.

Our first impression is that the benefits of AlertMe Energy will probably be larger if you're new to home energy monitoring - if you're already energy-conscious, don't leave appliances on standby and turn off the lights in rooms you're not using, the potential cost savings won't be as significant.

On the first day of using the AlertMe Energy, our background energy usage was around 400 Watts through the night or when no-one was home. There were noticeable peaks, however, of around 3,500 Watts when using an electric oven, kettle, hairdryer or washing machine.

As the central heating in our test home uses a gas boiler, our electricity usage was no higher because of cold weather, but if you use electricity to heat your home, or use portable electric heaters as back-up, the AlertMe could prove invaluable in finding out how much energy and money they're using.

Connecting AlertMe Energy to Google PowerMeter

Google PowerMeter graphs show background electricity usage and compare it to average homes

Connecting to Google PowerMeter is reasonably straightforward -  a link from your AlertMe account allows you to authorise the company to send your data to your Google account. You then add a widget to your iGoogle homepage that, it claims, will be updated every 15 minutes with the latest data from your smart meter.

First impressions are that Google PowerMeter doesn't offer many benefits over monitoring your energy usage in your AlertMe account. The graph is slightly easier to read, it compares your energy usage to that of average-sized houses and it can send you weekly emails summarising your electricity consumption.

But is this any use if you think you might have left the iron or hair straighteners on? No, you'll be able to spot high energy usage, but you won't be able to see which appliances might be the culprits. 

One solution is to buy additional AlertMe Smartplugs, which can monitor the electricity usage of an individual socket. At £25 for each Smartplug, you're unlikely to equip every appliance with one, although they do enable you to switch a connected appliance on or off remotely via the AlertMe web interface. 

If you want to measure your energy usage online using Google PowerMeter, the AlertMe is the only compatible smart meter available in the UK you can fit yourself. As an alternative, if you switch to energy supplier First Utility's 'smart tariff' you'll get a smart meter installed that is compatible with PowerMeter. Visit Which? Switch to find out how much you could save by switching energy suppliers.

The Google Powermeter weekly summary graph shows breakdown by time of day

Update - 5 December

Having used the AlertMe Energy system for a few weeks, the usefulness of its ability to work with Google PowerMeter has become more apparent.

If you opt in, Google sends you a weekly email summary which presents your electricity usage on a graph, split by day and time of day so it's easy to see your daily background energy usage, and how it varies.

In the graph on the right, for example, the 'always on' electricity remains fairly constant across the week, but shoots up at the weekend when more home cooking and laundry are done.

AlertMe shows the electricity usage and cost for individual Smartplugs

We've also now installed a couple of Smartplugs, which took only a few minutes, to work out the electricity used by specific appliances or lights. In the AlertMe online interface they appear as separate devices, and their power usage can be viewed separately on a graph.

The online dashboard now shows the total energy and cost for each plug over your chosen time period. For example we can see that our TV, Freeview PVR and Wi-Fi router use 40W when in standby, or 169W when in use, and account for about 10% of our total weekly electricity.

We've also noticed that the light on the AlertMe hub changes colour to indicate how much electricity your home is using at that moment. It's a nice touch, but not particularly helpful to see a red light when you boil a kettle, for example.

Update - 13 January 2010

AlertMe has launched its 'Swingometer' - a visual indication of how much energy both your home, and the UK in general, are using. As well as being visible in your AlertMe online account, they've designed it so you can share it on Twitter, Facebook, via email or anywhere you can embed it online. Here's the sample Swingometer for the Which? test house:

We'll continue to give regular updates on our experience with the AlertMe Energy monitor to see what impact it has on our home electricity bills over a longer timescale.

The AlertMe Energy system costs £69 plus £2.99 per month for a 12-month contract. The company is currently offering a 12-month subscription for the price of ten months when you buy online at the AlertMe shop.

Pros: Easy to install and use, simple way to monitor electricity usage

Cons: Web access and computer required - no standalone display, kit and accessories not cheap

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