Saving Electricity with a Current Cost Meter

The Current Cost meter is a simple device that measures how much electricity you are using at any given time. The current cost meter gets its data from a special clamp that transmits data from your electricity meter to the current cost meter. The special clamp is really easy to install, as it just fits around your incoming power cable. No electrician is needed.

Regardless of the size of your home, an energy consumption meter is really useful. With the Current Cost meter, you'll notice any sudden increases in power consumption (and cost!) when a device is switched on. You'll soon realize that kettles, heaters, washing machines, electric cookers and microwave ovens consume a great deal of energy!

When you've had the meter running for a couple of weeks, you'll soon work out roughly how much energy you use in the daytime or evenings. Just by checking the meter, you can quickly identify if you've left something on by accident. I have one of these meters myself, and I discovered that just having a USB dongle plugged into my PC used an extra 15W of energy!

If you're very computer literate (and geeky like me), then you can buy a USB adaptor lead that allows you to get data from the meter on your PC. A large number of IBM employees are running these at home due to a craze started by a chap called Andy Standford-Clark (just google his name to see why!). Roo Reynolds is one such chap, and Andy Piper has been dabbling with an application for the iPhone to view energy consumption.

There are a few energy consumption meters hitting the market now, and it depends on what features you want. However, I strongly recommend getting one. Particularly if you have kids, it's a great way to help them keep the electricity bills down!

This article was written by Dan Harrison who is a big fan of low power PCs and green gadgets. And in his spare time, he plays with his current cost meter!