With consumer demand for home energy monitoring devices anticipated to grow -- and regulators expected to require utilities to provide consumers with access to the devices and the data needed to make them useful -- the race is on to see which providers place their products in consumers' homes.

In that race, some providers are joining with utilities to obtain consumers' energy usage data.

Giants Microsoft and Google are clearly in the lead. Microsoft has formed partnerships with four utilities and Google has inked agreements with 10 utilities in four countries. Under the partnerships, the utilities offer Microsoft and Google products for free to their customers.

To maximize the use of these home energy monitoring devices, the device providers need access to utility usage data, preferably through advanced metering systems. That's why signing partnerships with utilities is so critical. However, it's possible to bypass the utility altogether -- and both Microsoft and Google suggest to consumers options for doing that.

Microsoft Hohm gives consumers online energy use data and tips for saving energy, while the Google PowerMeter displays energy usage on the iGoogle home page. Many other companies offer similar products -- most of which come with a price tag.

A report by Pike Research says that 28.1 million consumers will be using home energy management tools worldwide by 2015, according to Clint Wheelock, managing director of Pike Research.

Reacting to studies that say that access to energy usage data helps consumers reduce their energy consumption by 5 to 15 percent, regulators are beginning to require utilities to share the data. In late December, the California Public Utilities Commission required Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to share electricity pricing information with consumers by the end of 2010, and to give third parties approved by consumers access to the data by the end of 2010. Regulators are getting involved because some utilities need a push in this direction.

"A lot of utilities don't want to be involved in the process. They have real qualms about being involved on the customer side of the meter and providing equipment inside customer homes. They are conflicted about their own roles," says Wheelock.


To circumvent the utilities altogether, Microsoft Hohm users have the time-consuming option of manually inputting their usage data from utility bills. They can also nominate their utilities to partner with Microsoft, says Jon Arnold, managing director for Microsoft's Worldwide Power & Utilities Industry.

"Several hundred thousand people have done this. That shows how much interest there is," he says.

Google, on the other hand, has taken a different approach. It has partnered with the manufacturers of the Energy Detective, a $200 product that collects the necessary data by using a transmitting device to measure the amount of electricity coming into the home as it is used. Google informs consumers that they can buy the Energy Detective and pair it with the PowerMeter.

Customer Loyalty

Jamie Yood, a spokesman for Google.org -- which is actively seeking partnerships with utilities -- says that Google's not worried about alienating utilities because they will soon be required to share the consumer data, anyway.

Google and Microsoft have entered the business for different reasons. As smart grid efforts expand -- integrating renewable energy and electric cars -- Microsoft wants to be on the ground floor, and then later offer products that utilities will need.

"There's a lot of information that needs to be processed and interpreted, and utilities can't build these tools themselves," says Arnold. "They will need help from a technology leader to help them innovate more quickly and cheaply."

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, wants to do good by helping consumers save energy, says Yood. "We're focusing on the technological and engineering problems we can help address and have a lot of influence," he says. If people put the PowerMeter on their iGoogle home page, they will see their energy usage a few times a day and will be motivated to save energy, he says.

Utilities that offer the Google PowerMeter and other products say they're doing it because customers want them.

"They're the wave of the future," says Chip Deaver, director of product innovation for TXU Energy. In some parts of its territory, TXU already has the advanced metering systems necessary to allow consumers to best take advantage of the PowerMeter, he says. The company offers customers both the PowerMeter and one of its own products, the TXU Energy Power Monitor.

"We have committed to helping customers save money, even though they aren't using as much electricity and it reduces revenues per customer. We think it builds customer loyalty in a competitive market," says Deaver.

Some utilities are launching programs with technology from other vendors. Portland General Electric, for example, is in the midst of installing smart meters and plans to couple them with a product called the Energy Prism, says company spokeswoman Elaina Medina. Customers in PGE's territory are demanding such products, she says.

Not all customers are expected to jump into home energy monitoring systems. And they're not exactly flocking to them in droves just yet. Seattle City Light, a Microsoft Hohm partner, has seen "a couple hundred" customers sign up for Hohm, says company spokesman Scott Thomsen.

"I think the two classes who use it are those with high energy bills and those who are environmentally conscious," says Arnold, the Microsoft managing director.

However, he bets that will change soon enough.

"As the price of carbon gets better-defined and the price of electricity increases, the interest from consumers will increase," he says.

Utilities can then be expected to follow suit. And the competition for energy-saving devices can begin.


 

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