AlertMe debuts national energy monitoring service

UK smart meter specialist AlertMe has launched a new online service designed to help its customers compare their energy use against that of other households.

The company, which provides smart meter and domestic energy management systems that allow users to access energy usage data online, said the new "Swingometer" online tool would be freely available and would allow households to easily track whether they are using more or less electricity than other households.

The system works by using data from AlertMe customers to show how much power the nation is using at any one time. It also features a "heat map" of the UK showing how different regions are performing, while AlertMe customers can embed the tool in their own AlertMe or iGoogle interface so that they can observe how they are performing compared to previous usage.

"Just making energy usage visible to consumers can reduce consumption in the home by as much as 20 per cent, which is a huge win, but it has to be done in a way that is meaningful and fun,” said Pilgrim Beart, co-founder and CEO of AlertMe. "To support the goal of Copenhagen, and help consumers make real changes in their lives, we are launching a fun display that everyone can use – whether or not you are an AlertMe customer."

Ben Coppin, vice president of Analytics at AlertMe, downplayed any privacy concerns over the use of the data, insisting that individual energy use and billing data would not be made available.

"The Swingometer does not show any information about any specific individual, just collective (average) information about all users within a given region," he said. "Nothing in what we publish can be used to identify any specific user. Personal information about users (name, address, postcode, telephone number) are all stored in our secure, encrypted database and are not in any way accessible through the Swingometer."