A new, subscription-free, Australian-made energy monitor offers electricians the ability to show their customers how to save money.

We all know that the cost of electricity has increased quite dramatically in recent years, and it continues to do so. As a result, power consumption is under greater scrutiny in homes and business right around the country.

Seemingly, electricians who have the ability to show their customers how to save power, and in turn money, are in the ideal position to capitalise on the changing market conditions, and the associated societal attitude.

Queensland-based Envirovision has developed a new system that allows sparkies to do just that. The company’s Enviroview energy monitor is an energy management solution for residential and commercial applications. It monitors electricity, gas and water usage in real time and empowers the user to identify wasteful practices, while helping them to reduce their carbon footprint and ultimately save money.

“Enviroview is a monitoring device that has its own inbuilt web server, so you don’t need any additional application software for it to work. It stores and logs all of its own data,” Envirovision director Brian Barlin says.

“You can connect to it wirelessly or via Ethernet, but you don’t necessarily need internet access to read all the data. For a large company that wants to be in control of its IT, it doesn’t need to be connected to the cloud so there are no ongoing costs.”

The Enviroview energy monitor features three current transformer (CT) inputs, which can handle between 0 and 400A, and four pulse inputs for water, gas and electricity, and an additional input if there is a second water, gas or electricity meter.

“The pulse meter inputs allow the system, thanks to the ‘photo couplers’, to read the actual flashes off the front of a smart meter and that’s how we determine kilowatt hours,” Brian says.

“The unit has the ability, through the CTs and voltage calibration, to calculate power and then plot that into our microprocessor, which is accessible via any PC or iOS device.”

The unit is expandable to handle up to 40 three-phase circuits or 64 single-phase circuits and is DIN rail mountable. It requires basic setting up and you can assign up to three different tariffs.

Developed in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, and built in Southport (also on the Gold Coast), the Enviroview Energy Monitor is the result of four years of research development – a process that Brian says continues to this day.

“The current version of monitor is very different from where it started, and it will continue to develop. The first unit cost about $15,000 to build and only acquired about one tenth of the information that the system is capable of getting now.

“Enviroview offers electricians the power to show their clients how they’re using their power. It’s a huge opportunity for them; they can help their client to save money and sell them something in the process.”

Brian says the estimated savings generated by Enviroview is 23.7%. And, he says, it is different from most other systems on the market in that there are no ongoing subscription fees.

“The price of electricity is driving people to investigate how they’re consuming power. By educating electricians about potential solutions, they see an opportunity in the market that they haven’t seen before.

“And electricians are always looking for a point of difference.

“Our strategy is to give electricians the tools they need to build their business. I’m very passionate about showing sparkies that it’s no longer about the price of a GPO; rather, it’s about what you can deliver to your client.”

Enviroview is available through all CNW, Sherriff, Robert Ferguson, Lighthouse and BGW Technologies outlets.