The BlueLine PowerCost Monitor is a simple device that you snap on to the glass dome of your home’s energy meter.
It wirelessly transmits information about your current electricity usage to a handheld display that you can carry around your home to see exactly how much money it’s costing you to run certain appliances.
It’s a cool novelty item, but spending $109 to find out this information seems excessive.
It’d probably just be cheaper to turn shit off.
Come to think of it, if you have the cash to pay for expensive gadgets like this you probably don’t care how much your electricity bill is.
I predict this product will not sell well.
Consumers are becoming more interested and engaged in their electricity consumption. It’s a big budget line item and for a long time we have just accepted and paid it each and every month. Consumers are getting much more interested in becoming more active in managing electricity consumption and taking steps to drive it down. $’s and cents are the primary motivator but there is also a great deal of satisfaction taken for doing the right thing and making a difference.
There are many academic, utility sponsored and manufacturer sponsored research studies and the general conclusion is just better information alone can reduce consumption by 5-15%. For a family spending $100 – $250 per month on electricity that’s a big deal. The aggregated potential impact from millions of homes reducing their consumption by 5-15% is huge for the economy and the environment.