Electricity in Your Face: Home Smart(er) Meters

In the comments to my recent diary on Your Southernmost Window, Mr SeeMore linked to the Power Cost Monitor which counts electric (and gas?) meter readings as money, in realtime.  You can see how much that light left on really costs.  Ontario utility Hydro One found during a test that customers reduced electricity use by an average of 6.5 percent when they installed a Power Cost Monitor.  Hydro One bought 30,000 units for $4 million.  That's about $134 each.

You can buy one retail at http://www.save-electricity.ca/... for not much more.

dwcal then added the Kill a Watt into which you can plug any appliance "and assess how efficient they are. A large LCD display counts consumption by the Kilowatt-hour just like utility companies. You can figure out your electrical expenses by the hour, day, week, month, even an entire year. Monitor the quality of your power by displaying Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor."  But probably not, directly, into $$$ and ¢¢¢¢.  You probably have to do that calculation yourself.

http://www.p3international.com/...

Checking the Kill a Watt prices online, you can pick one up for about $20 and monitor your major appliances one by one or pay $150 and monitor your whole household at once.