Why you should monitor your energy usage
Nowadays, many businesses are perceived as faceless entities. Here at PBT, we aim to challenge that perception. We consider ourselves consumers just as much as tradespeople. After all, everyone needs their boiler serviced every now and then. We want to unite consumers and tradespeople by providing education as part of our service. Our customers should be able to make informed decisions about their households or businesses. Therefore, we believe that everyone should monitor energy usage in their household.
Fundamentally, we want to ensure that our customers make the right investment. For example, consumers with solar PV panels are often told that installing a solar battery can save the excess electricity they generate. However, we can’t guarantee a Return on Investment if we don’t know the daily energy usage for that household.
Therefore, we strongly believe that our customers should stay informed about their energy usage. This would allow you to calculate exactly how an investment would affect your energy expenditure. We recommend installing technology that monitors your energy consumption in real-time.
How can you monitor energy usage?
‘Engage’ is a product by Efergy that does just that. It provides a rich interface with analytics for you to understand and monitor energy usage. This can be used to track an entire home, as well as individual appliances and circuits. Instant access to your energy usage means that you can easily monitor your outlay. You can also set a monthly target that will show exactly where you are in relation to that.
Installation is easy: a sensor is simply clipped onto the live feed cable of your breaker panel. A lead from the sensor is connected to the transmitter, which then sends real-time data wirelessly to the Engage Hub. Finally, the Hub is connected to your Internet router via an Ethernet cable. The live feed can subsequently be accessed from your computer, smartphone or tablet.
The software can also compare your energy consumption with your power generation. Therefore, this technology is particularly useful for those who have already installed solar panels.