Welcome to the new look Pocket-lint.co.uk

Efergy electricity monitor Will this gadget cut your electricity bills?

Reviewer
Stuart Miles
Review Date
5 October 2007
Manufacturer
Efergy
Price as reviewed
£44.95
Latest price
compare

Our score

9/10 9/10 See more with this score

Reader score

2/10 2
  • rss
  • pdf
  • share
  • save
  • email
  • print

Full review

5 October 2007 - 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?

Sign up and write a review » Want it » Own it »



Comments

  • I've found this product so good but amazingly shocking! I got mine through this site;
    http://www.primrose-london.co.uk/efergy-whole-house-energy-monitor-p-1986.html
    I honestly didn't realise quite how much I was using and I'm hoping it will make a big difference to my household bills as I have rather extravagant children.
    It gave me quite precise readings and although I'm unsure exactly as to how it all works it seemed really accurate, guess I'll see if it has made a difference because the size of my bill normally destroys a small sized forest!
    I'm also quite pleased I got mine for £39.95 but there was a £4.95 delivery charge.     Posted by Olivia G, England
  • You don't know how it works but it seemed "really accurate". What a stupid comment.

    The accuracy of these are not that brilliant. They definately will not beable to tell you the 3-6w difference that your TV is on stand by or not, it might change, it might not, it might change randomly even if you didn't switch the TV off.

    The accuracy of these is not perfect. If you want better accuracy you will need the plug in ones which actually connect to the power lines, usually via a pass through socket. Admittingly these only allow 1 socket at a time.

    As for the unit, the reveiw fails to mention its down sides. It doesn't know how to calculate the price if your energy company has a lower price both after the first 1000kWH (or other value) and if you use Economy 7 etc where its cheaper at certain times.
    The kg/co2 is also a falacy, because you have no easy way of knowing which sources your electric is actually being pulled from. You could use the country average for all its energy usage, but if you use double and most of yours comes from a wind farm etc, you are going to be showing double co2 when actually you could be using nothing at all (if you are "lucky")


    Want to save power? Don't turn items off standby, have less showers a week and/or have them much quicker. Recenly I saw a shower rated at 10.8kWH, this at half power 5kWH run for 10 minutes will let you run a 5WH standby for 160hours (a week). Having your shower slightly colder can save you more also.     Posted by Simon, England
  • Only 5KWH for a standby? Have you ever measured it? My living room TV and freeview box was 70KWH!! My tiny lcd in my bedroom was 18KWH.
     Posted by Richard, UK

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass ReCaptcha)

Compare prices

Panasonic TC-32LX20 32 in. HDTV-Ready LCD TV
(LCD TV, 32 inch, HDTV-Ready Television, Resolution: 1280 x 768 pixels, Brightness: 450 cd/mĀ², Contrast Ratio: 500:1, Aspect Ratio...)

Compare prices for all 0 sellers (£0 - £0)

Broadband?

Compare 50+ deals available to you

Powered by Top 10 Broadband

Pocket-lint.co.uk poll

Q. Is the new Nintendo DSi a waste of time?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Will your next phone have a touchscreen? 58% said yes and 42% said no