Efergy electricity monitor review

Will this gadget cut your electricity bills?

5 October 2007 11:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Being the gadget lover that I know you are, chances are you use a lot of power. If it's not the LCD television, it's the PS3, if it's not that then it's your computer and a host of other bits and bobs.

So what is a gadget boy or girl to do? Employ another gadget to help you monitor all this of course.

The Efergy is like the Wattson and the Owl. It allows you to monitor your electricity use around the house via a simple display and therefore track what energy you are using, how much you are spending and what your carbon footprint is.

Out of the box and it's a transmitter and a small LCD display both of which are battery powered.

The transmitter attaches to your main electricity supply (don't worry there is no wiring to be done) and then transmits the amount of current flowing through the cable to the display, which in turn interprets the information to something a little more useful.

Once connected, the information starts following through nicely - every 6 seconds to be precise - and you can see the real-time power load in kW; or as pence per kWh; or as emissions measured in terms of kg of carbon dioxide, (kgCO2E).

Additionally and unlike the Wattson you can view previous days stats on the device rather than having to download them to a computer to see how today compares with yesterday, last week, last month or last year.

In practice and it's amazing to see the difference turning on the kettle really does make.

Verdict

According to the company installing one of these could save you pounds on your electricity bill every year.

It's a bit of a lie, but what the Efergy is trying to achieve is to make you realise how much energy you are using and then shunt you into acknowledging that you should turn your lights off when possible or hit the off button the TV rather than just leaving it on standby.

Does it work? We've been living in a gadget-laden house with this on for around 2 weeks and we have to say that it hasn't really had much affect on our power consumption habits, but then it's a bit like telling Jeremy Clarkson to drive around in an electric car and say that he likes it.

However for those concerned and wanting a reminder of their concern this will bring the message home, well apart from the first day when you run around the house trying to see how much power you really can drain. Now who wants a cup of tea?

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Review Recap

Made by: Efergy
Price as reviewed: £44.95
The good: Easy to install, memory feature for looking back at previous days, updates every 5 seconds
The bad: Can't download data to laptop, battery rather than mains powered
Quick verdict: For those concerned and wanting a reminder of their concern this will bring the message home
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Winner