Google Steps in to give UK customers what they need.

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 09:49

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Google announced that it is able to provide energy usage information without involving a customer’s utility company.  The search giant has partnered with smart meter manufacturer Energy Inc to provide the new service.

Google’s PowerMeter energy monitoring software, coupled with The Energy Detective (TED) 5000 smart meter device, allows for anyone to reap the benefits of smart metering without any interference from the utility company.  Consumers don’t have to wait for a major smart meter installation project to come their way to get a better handle on their energy consumption.

“Today, we’re very excited to announce we have secured our first official device partner,” Google announced in an October blog posting.  “For the last several months, a few hundred Google employees have been testing a number of in-home electricity monitoring devices.”

The TED 5000 is designed especially for providing energy consumption information to consumers, according to Energy Inc.  The company claims other smart meter devices are designed to improve the bottom line for utilities.

“Smart meters are designed primarily for the electric utility industry so they can better manage the supply-and-demand of electricity,” said the company in an official statement.  “TED is designed specifically for the consumer, so that one can better manage the use and costs of electricity.  TED puts you in charge.”

Cisco, HP, and IBM, among other tech giants, have focused on the development of smart meters and smart grids.  Ultimately utilities lose revenues as consumes make better destinations regarding how they use energy.

“Utility companies do think about consumers in this debate and believe that if they don’t help consumers with energy management someone else will,” said Christian Feisst, director of smart grids at Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group in an interview with eWeek Europe UK.  “But smart grid is about improving the efficiency of the system and reducing consumption which by definition lowers revenue for you and it’s the utilities that have to do the investment if you want to have a smart grid becoming a reality.”

Google is open to partnering with other smart meter manufacturers.  The company announced in May that it was testing its PowerMeter software with several utility companies.  “Our initial partners include utilities with millions of customers as well as smaller ones,” wrote Google engineer Ed Lu in a May 19 post.  “For now, Google PowerMeter is only available to a limited group of customers, but we plan to expand our roll out later this year.  Our utility partners are leading the charge to make the electricity grid smarter and we look forward to working with them and others.”

The Energy Saving Trust released an October report that showed consumers preferred smart meter displays that clearly represent real-time energy consumption data.

In August, the Local Government Association (LGA) accused power companies of lobbying to block the inclusion of display units within a national smart meter installation scheme.  The LGA believes the UK energy industry doesn’t want consumers to know exactly how they are using electricity or natural gas.

Google
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
http://www.google.org

Energy Inc
9030 W. Sahara Avenue, Suite 409
Las Vegas, NV 89117
http://www.energy-inc.com

Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
http://www.cisco.com

HP
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304
http://www.hp.com

IBM
One New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504
http://www.ibm.com

Energy Saving Trust
21 Dartmouth Street,
London SW1H 9BP
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk