I am staring out the office window hoping for some inspiration for this blog post and what I am staring at is vertical rain, not teaming down, rather it is drifting. It is decidedly snow-like rain, and it sure feels cold enough to be snow.
Most of you will have noticed your power consumption increasing over the past few weeks as winter has approached. At first it starts increasing gradually as the days get shorter and the lights are on longer, and as you spend more time at home watching TV or on the computer. Then the first cold southerly blast comes through and the heaters get cranked up, and the “leckie blankets” get pulled out from the back of the linen cupboard. You know then that your power (and/or gas) bills are going to really start biting – I spotted this on twitter this morning “so begins the mortgage payment sized powerbills”. You want to keep warm, so to some extent these bills are unavoidable. But with Powershop there are a few things you can do to try and make a difference.
Avoid bill shock
You know you’re going to be using more power, but do you know exactly how much more, or how much this is likely to cost you? Now is the time of year you can really benefit from entering your meter readings once a week to see how your usage is tracking and how much you’re spending.
Also, you may find it valuable or comforting to buy some power in advance so that you know that at least some of your winter power costs have already been covered.
Here’s a few tips:
- Check your meter once a week and enter your reading. Do it when you put out the rubbish.
- Relate your consumption to your power behaviour. Were you doing more clothes drying or were cold temperatures making the heat pump work overtime?
- Try shutting off some of your power vampires - appliances that sit on standby when they’re not in use.
iPhone App
For those of you with iPhones, entering a meter reading couldn’t be easier. Download either the Powershop demonstration app or the Powerkiwi Flower Power app (details of both of these are available on our iPhone page), link the application to your account and you can check your balance, enter meter readings and top up your account, all from your phone.
We are also aware that there is at least one developer out there using our API to develop an application for Android phones to provide similar functionality.
Monitor your usage
If you are entering your meter readings each week you will quickly see when you start using more power and this may help you identify what is causing the increase and things you might need to change to help reduce your consumption and how much you are spending.
Set a savings target
Whether or not you are a Powershop customer you can set yourself a power savings target and use our Powersaver application to track progress towards this target. Remember, you will use more power at this time of year, so be realistic when you set your target. Try a little bit first and see how you go, then gradually increase your savings target. Why not run a savings competition with a group of friends? Powersaver lets you share your usage with your friends. If you are a Powershop customer you can automatically link your account, if you are not you can enter meter readings straight into PowerSaver.
There are plenty of websites out there with tips on how you can save power (such as Smarter Homes) You can enter your own power saving tips into PowerSaver for others to see too.
Google PowerMeter
Some of you may have heard of Google PowerMeter. This is a project being run by the philanthropic arm of Google. They are working with device manufacturers worldwide to measure appliance and household power consumption, and like our PowerSaver application present this information back to electricity consumers and their friends.
Earlier this year Google made their API (Application Programming Interface) public. This means that anyone can collect electricity consumption information and feed it into Google PowerMeter. It is early days yet, but we have been experimenting with Google PowerMeter to assess the value of linking Powershop accounts into Google PowerMeter. Connecting into PowerMeter now will allow our customers to treat current and future innovations by Google as an extension of their power account.
Anyway folks, rug up, keep warm, keep an eye on your power usage, and watch those pennies.
Tags: google, iphone, powermeter, powersaver, readings
Right now i am about to buy a spring is sprung special but have the message “We estimate...
I take number 2 back. I’d completely forgotten about the “Available unit...
I didn’t know you have that saver.powershop.co.nz site. Being a new customer I’m curious if I signup for that site will my power readings etc come across from the main site? (saving me entering it twice)
June 16th, 2010 at 11:43 am@Drew:
Yes, go over to PowerSaver and signup. Once you have signed up you can log in and go to the “My Settings” tab and link your new PowerSaver account to your Powershop account (this will transfer all of your Powershop history across). From then your Powershop meter readings will be sent to PowerSaver once a day.
June 16th, 2010 at 11:48 amAri: nice to see your winter warmer special. Unannounced specials do give me incentive to read the meter more often, and thus check out whether there are new specials - and this gives me excellent monitoring of our power usage.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:55 amI’ve signed up for PowerSaver, but it seems not to be able to access the extensive history of meter readings. Can it be made to?
I’ve wanted to figure what c/kWh I’ve paid since joining Powershop last November. Ideally I’d like a “reading” for each month. But even for a global reading, I’d have to subtract the pre-paid units. This may be quite a programming job - but it would be a fantastic advertisement for Powershop to say, “since I joined I’ve paid an average of (say 21c/kWh) compared to (29.5c/kWh for 5000 kWh per year), from my previous supplier).
Are your computer-geeks up to the task?
@Molly:
Hi. I’ll address your questions in turn.
Yes, it is possible to link your Powershop history to your PowerSaver account. Go to the “My Settings” tab on PowerSaver and there is a box there that allows you to link your Powershop account. When you link it your history should upload immediately, and it will be refreshed daily from then on.
I think most of the pricing information you are after may already be available. If you go to the “My Account” tab in Powershop you will see a list of reports on the left hand side. The “Average Unit Prices” report gives you a monthly breakdown of your prices based on the products “used” - it also gives you an annual average. Doing the comparison with other retailers is a little more problematic as it requires monitoring of changes to other retailer tariffs (as you know there are a lot of these, particularly if you include multiple areas).
June 17th, 2010 at 11:07 amI was watching for the gradual increase in my power use in the autumn, but it didn’t happen. Declining consumption by the fridge (separately measured with one of those plug-in meters) apparently offset the steady increase in lighting and other loads. Instead of a gradual climb, it was more of a vertical take-off when the space heating season arrived. It hadn’t ocurred to me before that the fridge would be a seasonal load, but I guess it’s obvious.
Why mention this? It made me realise that the primary impact of moving electricity retailing online (via smart meters, Google PowerMeter, Powershop, etc.) may be that the industry starts getting a lot more attention from its customers. I never thought to see power being given away free just to drive traffic to a website (the Google model, incarnate!), but apparently it’s thinkable at at least one retailer.
June 17th, 2010 at 12:43 pm@Geoff:
You’ve got it in a nutshell. That’s exactly what we’re striving to achieve - making engaging with electricity usage and purchase simple enough that is seen as valuable and not a chore. And of course with more engagement in the “product” itself follows more interest/influence on the industry - if nothing else, the internet has definitely shifted the balance of power back to consumers. It has happened or is happening in most other industries - the energy market is long overdue for disruption and we’re happy to be leading the charge!
June 17th, 2010 at 12:50 pmDo it, If you don’t I’ll change to another power provider…
I hope you *aren’t* even considering *not* linking into google powermeter.
July 14th, 2010 at 9:43 am@Tony:
We definitely intend to link to Google Powermeter, and even if we weren’t you could do it yourself using our API
July 14th, 2010 at 9:55 amGoogle PowerMeter really requires live-connected smart-metering at the minimum to be useful. I know a few Auckland homes are now updated to smart meters over the cellular network (and this rollout continues), are Powershop tied into those readings where a customer’s home has one?
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:12 pm@Gareth:
You are correct, ideally PowerMeter would have a live feed of 30 minute, or hourly usage information. The smart-meter providers in NZ do not currently provide real-time (or even near real-time) information and are unlikely to over the GPRS cellular network. However, Google PowerMeter can provide some useful information even without this level of information - this is essentially what we are prototyping.
There are also other technologies around that are not accurate enough to use for “billing” customers, but that are useful in providing real-time information to help customers understand their usage patterns and behaviours.
In answer to your question about access to smart meter information, yes, Powershop does get usage information from the major smart meter owners. For some meters we get daily usage readings, for others we get half-hourly usage information (but only supplied once per week) ie. neither are neal real-time.
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:21 pmThanks Ari, interesting stuff. The smart meter rollouts are purely about internal cost reduction at the moment (no need to pay an MRO) rather than a value play for customers - I guess given that customers can churn and take that smart meter investment with them, retailers aren’t keen to make it.
July 22nd, 2010 at 3:04 pmWill watch with interest though, cheers.
@ari I could. you should give me a job.
Also, I don’t agree entirely with the need for totally real time data. Capturing the data (near realtime), storing and uploading once a week sounds like a good compromise and efficient use of resources.
Does anybody see the irony in a full-featured centameter/smartmeter type device with always on internet and constant power to a radio transmitter… in every single house in the country?
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm@Tony:
I agree you can gain a lot of value without having real-time data, but the closer to real time you get, the more you will influence behaviour change.
I see what you’re saying (the irony) of smart meters in every home, but I would hazard a guess that the electronics in the meter and comms network probably still use less energy than spining the dial on an old style meter - at the end of the day these are a mechanical device driven by an inefficient motor.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:21 pm@Ari:
I have been looking into the power thing for a while now. In the next few weeks it seems the currentcost bridge and envi-r will be available in NZ. These have the capability to upload directly to Google’s PowerMeter. This would be an ideal situation for me if your site was able to import data from PowerMeter. Presumably ongoing accuracy could be managed by continued meter readings, although I here these units are pretty good.
The alternative is waiting for Genesis to put in a “smart” meter at my place and then make the switch, but this relies on them doing the work (apparently according to their website my suburb has already been done), and doesn’t necessarily provide “real-time” data.
Any thoughts?
August 19th, 2010 at 10:59 am@Jon:
There is no technical reason that meter reading data from Google PowerMeter couldn’t be used to provide meter reading data to Powershop - we would treat these readings as the equivalent of “customer readings” - they would be used to update balance information, but not generally for account reviews. This could be done by writing a small piece of code that linked the Google PowerMeter API to the Powershop API. We don’t currently have plans to do that because we are concerned about the accuracy of data from “clip-on” style meters - even high quality meters are probably only +/- 5%. So they are good for giving you an indication of when you use your power, and you may be able to link this to the appliances you use etc, but we have reservations about the quality of data for other purposes.
Depending on what area you live in, we are happy to install a smart meter for you - just call us on 0800 1000 60 and ask to speak to Steve or Nikos and they can work through your options.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:36 pm> There is no technical reason that meter reading data from Google
> PowerMeter couldn’t be used to provide meter reading data to
> Powershop
Interesting, that would be going the other way. I hadn’t thought about it, yet
http://techno.emanueleziglioli.it/2010/05/google-power-meter.html
http://groups.google.com/group/powershop-developers/browse_thread/thread/54460039ec71fa1b
I think the utility of a smart meter for the end user depends on who provides it.
August 20th, 2010 at 2:22 amIn my case, having had one since may, the readings that appear on powershop have still got roughly a monthly frequency.
So I haven’t been able to track detailed usage as I wished.
@Emanuele:
Yes, I think doing “back-to-front” is the better way to integrate for devices that are set up to supply information to Google PowerMeter already. I haven’t looked at this in detail, but I would think it would be sensible to ensure regular “calibration” of PowerMeter data with actual meter readings.
And you are right, the frequency of information supplied by different smart meters providers does vary - at the moment. I think this will change over time, most smart meters that have been installed in NZ are capable of providing half-hourly consumption information on a frequent basis. There are 2 main reasons why that information is not currently available:
1. Other than Powershop, no other retailer has the ability to do anything with this data, so the meter owners have not developed their Meter Data Management (MDM) systems to provide it yet.
2. Cost/reliability of communications. Many of the meters communicate across the GPRS network which is relatively expensive, and has some reliability issues.
However, I expect that within the next 3-5 years we can expect more frequent and reliable smart meter data.
August 20th, 2010 at 4:31 pmThanks Ari,
incidentally, while upgrading to the smart meter, the installer had discovered that our ‘controlled meter’ was in reality ‘uncontrolled’ (non out fault, we’ve just been in this house for a year…).
So the unit price went up 4c/unit. But then thanks to the smart meter we’ve been able to switch to night/day so the price has gone down again (I think about 2c/u). So yai for the smart meter!
Let me mention this project: http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/
August 20th, 2010 at 8:23 pmYou can build a smart power meter yourself! one for each room if you like. And then upload the data to Google Power Meter or even Powershop
@Ari, @Emanuele
Thanks for your help Ari, I have signed up, talked to Nikos, who was very helpful, and he has arranged a smart meter install.
It would be interesting to know if the smart meter could be coupled to a device that I could connect to my router, which could send information to the powershop servers. This would get around the cost issue for using the gprs network, but provide semi realtime data for those who are interested. Currentcost’s bridge does this for their Envi. DAta could then also go out to Googles Power Meter at the same time. Will have a look at tweetawatt.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:52 am@Jon:
As far as I know none of the NZ smart meter providers allow any interconnection, and they do not yet include a Home Area Network (HAN) chip (but I understand they are capable of it). We are probably ahead of ourselves by 3 years or so
In the meantime, the ENVI/Current cost bridge is probably the best commercially available option, although it is quite expensive. It is an area they is evolving quickly and I don’t think it will be too long before lower cost options come to market.
August 26th, 2010 at 11:01 am