New Chelco service could help owners

[wrobert]

Chelco should have changed all the meters in Walton County over to the new electronic units. For the last several months I have been signed on to a service that emails me every day how much electricity I used the day before. I was thinking that this could really assist 2nd homeowners in the area. If you rent the home, you can see when electric usage goes crazy and could actually use the information to bill additional dollars if warranted. But if you did not rent, monitoring electrical usage could tell you if someone has decided to start using your home while you are away.

If interested in signing up go to www.myusage.com. You would need your power bill handy to get the account information.

A study by Google has shown that people that are aware of their electrical use, tend to use 15-20% less. I know I have found that to be the case at my house as we compete to see how low we can get it from day to day.

 

[NightAngel]

Chelco should have changed all the meters in Walton County over to the new electronic units. For the last several months I have been signed on to a service that emails me every day how much electricity I used the day before. I was thinking that this could really assist 2nd homeowners in the area. If you rent the home, you can see when electric usage goes crazy and could actually use the information to bill additional dollars if warranted. But if you did not rent, monitoring electrical usage could tell you if someone has decided to start using your home while you are away.

If interested in signing up go to www.myusage.com. You would need your power bill handy to get the account information.

A study by Google has shown that people that are aware of their electrical use, tend to use 15-20% less. I know I have found that to be the case at my house as we compete to see how low we can get it from day to day.

Nice, thankyou for this info

 

[scooterbug44]

Did I read correctly that most people in Sowal don't have the units that allow them to do this?

 

[wrobert]

Did I read correctly that most people in Sowal don't have the units that allow them to do this?

I will be seeing the IT guy I know at Chelco later this month and verify but he told me that all the meters had been swapped out several weeks back. If you are Chelco go see if you can sign up. They even have an app for it.

 

[NotDeadYet]

They only just changed mine two days ago. So unless I was the last to get it, they are still working down here in SoWal.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I tried signing up; but, no luck. So, they must not have changed out the meters in my neighborhood.

 

[Gidget]

A study by Google has shown that people that are aware of their electrical use, tend to use 15-20% less. I know I have found that to be the case at my house as we compete to see how low we can get it from day to day.

Thanks for sharing this info. We already had the new meter but they were changing out those of our neighbors about a week ago around here.

Ha ha - we play the same game! Absolutely the case that folks would use less if monitoring! We have monitored since day one of moving in. I can tell you how many kWh's we use on a daily basis and we also use a Kill-A-Watt device to measure the usage of say an appliance - amazing how much juice certain things use up! Cutting back on hot water will save so much as it is one of the biggest energy users in the home - clothesdryer too - so the combination of washing in cold and hanging clothes out $aves a lot!



Gidget

 

[Matt J]

It's pretty easy to tell. Look at your power meter outside. If it's a digital read out then you've been swapped, if it's a spinning dial you haven't.

 

[Kurt]

Good stuff.

The fact that there is a DIY kit is brilliant :
Tweet-a-Watt starter pack ID: 143 - $90.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

 

[wrobert]

Good stuff.

The fact that there is a DIY kit is brilliant :
Tweet-a-Watt starter pack ID: 143 - $90.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Now this would be something to do this summer. I am still looking for a low price indoor power monitor. Google has experimented with some but still the cost is a little high for a toy, imho.