Review of the Google Power Meter Software Device

There’s a new piece of software you can use to monitor your energy bills online from Google called the power meter. Here’s our review on this new piece of technology.

There’s a lot of information in the press about smart meters and certainly in the UK the government is keen for us all to have one in our homes to be able to see at a glance how much energy we are using in the form of electricity.

What’s a Smart Meter and What About Energy Monitors?

An energy monitor is something you have in your home and you can see how much electricity you are using at a glance and on average in the past week or so. This enables you to check what’s happening in your home. This is a basic understanding which provides some information. A smart meter replaces your current “dumb” meter (where someone comes out every so often and takes a reading of the numbers and passes that back to your energy provider) and is linked directly to your energy supplier and automatically takes readings on your behalf.

This not only means that no one will ever have to read your meter again but provides instant readings back to your supplier and then you can delve into the the information and data that is collected. This raw data can either be managed by your energy provider and in general you can log into your online account and take a look or other pieces of software can analyse your readings and provide some powerful reports, and this is where the Google power meter comes into play.

So What is the Google Power Meter Software?

This is an opt in piece of online software that you simply access via your standard Google account so long as your utility company has partnered with Google and you have a smart meter installed in your home to be able to send the data back to be collected and analysed.

The only utility company in the UK to have such an arrangement at present is First Utility and this is generally only for customers in the Midlands.

This service from Google is completely free for the home owner and for utility companies so you’ll probably see more sign up for the service. As a home owner you’ll be able to see your energy costs hour by hour and compare them with previous periods as well as against averages to see how your home is performing.

It shows you what you would expect to use on a daily basis and if you are on target. You’ll also be able to see how much energy your home uses during the night which might be an eye opener for you.