I'm one of the alpha users, and I've found it surprisingly interesting. When you install Wattvision, you can suddenly see all sorts of things you never knew about. For example, how much power electric kettles use. When I switch on our electric kettle, it doubles the power consumption of our house. Who knew? So now when I use it I only put in as much water as I need.
Yes, but that's not suprising, and not something you need Wattvision to tell you. An iron, a toaster, an electric kettle all consume a lot of power, but you only use these items for a short period of time. A smarter device would be more localized and attach itself and optimize the usage of individual systems like your boiler, house heating unit and HVAC.
It was surprising to me. It's one thing to know in theory that heating water uses a lot of power, and another to actually watch the power consumption of your house double when you flip on the kettle.
Okay, I can see Wattvision being a useful tool for educating the consumer. I like that they also allow you to look at other households power consumption data. Someday it could lead to a conversation like:
John: Hey neighbor!
Jill: Hey John. What's up with the super-hot weather these days? Good thing I installed that AC unit a few months ago.
John: Oh, you have AC? I do too, but I looked you up on Wattvision and your power consumption is way lower than mine.
Jill: Oh, that's because my unit has a variable speed motor. And it has power factor correction built into it so it draws much less current from the grid.
Something like ladyada's Tweet-a-Watt? (http://www.ladyada.net/make/tweetawatt/). Device level monitoring makes so much more sense! Especially when a utility provides variable pricing for the electricity. For example, an monitoring unit built into the dishwasher would be able to turn on the appliance when the electricity demand is low and hence the kWh cost is low. But yes, it's a good starting point for Wattvision. Their future releases will probably be smarter and richer in features.
