The Home of the Future

SMARTEN UP YOUR HOME

The home of the future isn’t just about gadgets, though. It’s also about being more aware of what your house is doing and the habits of the people inside it. We’re constantly told about how much power the average household wastes, but for most people it’s hard to quantify that waste. When our utility bills come in, they’re either a nasty shock or a pleasant surprise, but more often than not, you’ll receive an estimated bill, leaving you none the wiser about how much you actually owe.

Now, you can change all that. Technology can ensure that you never receive another estimated bill, while also avoiding those knocks on the door from meter reading men or women, which always seem to come at the most inconvenient times. But most importantly, you can keep accurate track of all the power usage in your home from pretty much anywhere in the world. All you need is a smart meter.

First:utility customers can keep track of their electricity use via their iGoogle home page

First:utility has been offering its customers free smart meters for some time now, and the company is planning to roll this service out to most of the UK this year. A smart meter will replace your traditional electricity and gas meters, and send regular data back to first:utility via a dedicated remote link. This means that no one has to come and read the meter because it is being constantly read remotely.

The real beauty of the smart meter is that first:utility makes all the data available to the customer. That means that you can check on your power usage via the company’s online portal anytime you like. Electricity readings are updated every half hour, while gas readings are taken on a daily basis. Not only does this give you an accurate indication of what your bill will be, but it also means that you can monitor power usage in your home and, hopefully, find ways to reduce it.

To make monitoring your power usage even easier, first:utility has recently partnered with Google, allowing its customers to view their usage via Google’s PowerMeter gadget. It integrates with a user’s iGoogle home page, and gives an updated reading of electricity usage every half hour. Google PowerMeter doesn’t show gas usage, but considering that only updates once per day, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

An Energy Monitoring Unit costs £35 and gives a comprehensive breakdown of electricity use

The combination of a smart meter and Google PowerMeter gives consumers all the tools they need to make a positive change to their power usage. Changes in behaviour can be seen on a day-to-day basis, helping consumers to reduce their utility bills by changing the way they live in their houses. And if you want to keep track of your usage while you’re relaxing on your sofa and don’t want to break out your laptop, worry not. First:utility offers a remote Energy Monitoring Unit that can sit on your coffee table and tell you how much electricity you’re using while watching your 50in plasma TV. It’s not as accurate as the smart meter but it provides a live reading of how much electricity is being used second-by-second, along with the cost per hour and even the amount of carbon dioxide being generated by your electricity consumption.