Energy giant EON will launch its Smart Plus Monitor service in the UK next week, putting central heating controls at your fingertips.
Using apps on your iPhone, iPad or Android device or logging in from your PC, you’ll be able to change thermostat settings and monitor energy usage for the entire house and room by room – similar in many ways to myStrom’s ECO LAN.
You’ll need to have EON’s Smart Meter installed in lieu of your normal gas or electricity meter and a Smart Plug for each room where you want to be able to remotely control devices.
There’s a small catch in that you’ll need to pay £5 a month for two Smart Plugs or £6 a month for 4, over a 2 year contract with EON. But the upshot of this is that using the apps, you’ll be able to monitor usage and save money by remotely turning off things in the home when they’re not needed.
Say if someone’s left the heating, a desk lamp or the TV on, you could save a few pounds by remotely shutting these off.
You might want to keep things like your router shut off during the day and have them turn on as you’re coming home.
Of course, if you’re running IP-based things like SlingBox, or need to keep your router on (if you’re a Virgin Media TiVo customer for example).
As well as shutting off individual appliances you can also specify templates like ‘at home,’ ‘at work’ or ‘on holiday’ for example.
The Smart Meter will also ‘get to know’ your energy using habits and will allow you to set budgeting targets, helping you to lower the cost of your bills.
EON engineers will handle installation and get everything set up for you.
Speaking at Digital Home World Summit yesterday, EON’s Alexander Pippert, Head of Innovation Centre for the Smart Home, said “in Milton Keynes we have 75 users testing this out now, providing us with helpful feedback,” and that the service should “launch in the UK next week.”
No exact launch date was given; we’re waiting to hear back from EON’s spokespeople on this now.
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