Today, Cisco announced its new Home Energy Management Solution, which gives residential consumers the ability to see and understand their energy use – and its costs – in real time.

Consumers’ direct connection to this new opportunity is the Home Energy Controller, a countertop display with an LCD touch screen that can communicate with other home devices – such as a smart meter, smart plugs and programmable thermostats – to help optimize in-home energy management.

The Home Energy Controller has the potential to do for residential consumers what hybrid drivers can do each time they sit behind the wheel.

“It has been designed to empower consumers, to let them know how much energy they’re using at any given time, how much that costs – so they can act on that information,” explains Paul Fulton, director and general manager, Smart Grid for Cisco.

“Consumers can use the Home Energy Controller to budget their energy costs – by learning to use electricity during times when energy is less expensive, for example, or understanding how much savings a one- or two-degree change on the thermostat can mean,” he adds.
Empowering Consumers

Imagine shopping for a month without being given receipts and without knowing the cost of anything you bought. Then, a month or so later, you’re presented with a bill for that entire month’s expenditures. This isn’t a very smart way to shop, but it’s the way most residential customers have been required to pay for their household energy use.

“It’s all about putting customers in control of what they do and when they do it – at their own convenience. We just need to be the broker, providing information to them.”

— Mark Wyatt, Vice President of Smart Energy Systems, Duke Energy

“Our challenge today is to provide our customers with better, more reliable information about how they’re consuming our product, whether it be electricity or gas,” says Mark Wyatt, vice president of Smart Energy Systems for Duke Energy, which is working with Cisco to deliver smart grid products and services for residential and business customers. “Putting the digital capability out there will help us provide more information to them.

“It’s all about putting customers in control of what they do and when they do it – at their own convenience,” he adds. “We just need to be the broker, providing information to them.”

In addition to giving consumers the ability to make more informed choices about energy use, the Home Energy Controller enables them to set policies and schedules for energy use based on real-time, historic and individual appliance consumption. It can provide data on predicted energy costs as well as energy-saving tips.

This can result in substantial cost and carbon savings.

“According to a study by Zogby International, 74 percent of Americans are likely to change their energy use to save money on their utility bills if they are given the technology solutions to do so,” Fulton explains.