Inform yourself and master your energy use

Victorian households have had smart meters for over a decade, but most of us do not have access to the basic and most valuable resource these devices – real time information on your energy consumption, potentially coupled with real time information on your energy rate.

While a smart meter measures and relays your electricity consumption to your energy retailer, an In-home display (IHD) offers visualization of usage data and monitoring your daily, weekly, or hourly electricity consumption.

Smart meters have delivered savings for electricity companies by digitally measuring and communicating your electricity consumption, eliminating the need to manually check and log the consumption data.

While you can access historical data from your network when you ask, In Home Displays hook up your smart meter with a display, even available on your smart phone, to deliver that data access direct to you and right now!

Empowered with this window to your electricity consumption, you can understand the energy impact of your behaviours, take control of your energy use and master your energy costs.

Check electricity consumption of individual appliances — by switching appliances one by one while tracking the increase in kilo-watt-hour number on your IHD. You can reduce your electricity usage by checking which are the most watts-guzzling appliances. An IHD allows you to see the effect of an activity or action like:

• Setting the AC/heating thermostat at 22 °C or 20 °C instead of 23 °C.
• Replacing electric water heater with heat-pump hot water system.
• Having a bath instead of shower.
• Washing dishes on eco-setting of your dishwasher.
• Running washing machine on full load or half load.
• Washing clothes with cold water or rinsing with hot water.
• Air drying clothes or drying using a washing machine dryer.
• Using LED downlights instead of halogen/incandescent/fluro lights.

You can set a daily/monthly/weekly energy allowance and track your usage against those budgets, including receiving alerts when your energy usage crosses a set threshold (depending on the IHD device).

Households can achieve cost savings by developing energy conservation habits. Understanding how, where, and when you could make smart energy choices, you will save electricity and hence money.

These In Home Displays can be particularly helpful to renters, those in apartments and those on lower incomes who may fewer options to take action on home insultation, rooftop solar and batteries, or swapping gas for electric appliances.

Like other energy upgrades, installing an IHD is supported by the Victorian Energy Upgrade program, so you can install an IHD for free (subject ot eligibility conditions).

All Victorian households are eligible to get a free In-home display installed in their home under the VEU program (check conditions on website)

• You haven’t already installed an In-home display at a residential property.
• Your electricity meter is located within 50 meters of your residential building.
• The installer is VEU accredited
• The IHD is VEU accredited

IHD installation typically takes 15-30 minutes.

This is a sample of IHD installers from the VEU list, these are not recommendations, and ECAM suggests checking the current VEU program list of accredited installers. While at the VEU program website, check out the other VEU supports to households to help minimise your electricity bill.