The price of an energy sleuth

I was psyched when a reader said this little box can show in dollars and kilowatt-hours just how much every last lightbulb, TV, and forgotten camera charger in your house costs you. The Energy Detective, or TED, will flash an alarm when your hourly or monthly power consumption reaches painfully expensive levels, and when spells of high or low voltage might damage connected gear.

At $150, TED costs the same as the Kill-a-Watt and its ilk, which can measure only one gadget's power hunger at a time. You could recoup that cost in a tax refund and then some, when you consider the future utilities bills TED might help you shrink. Its maker, Energy, Inc., says TED only takes 15 minutes to set up--15 minutes with an electrician, that is.

So, I asked an electrician for a sight-unseen estimate. "Nothing takes 15 minutes," said Bill Ferrerra of Ferrerra Electric in San Francisco. "To give you a price at this time would be a wild guess." His company's rate is $158.00 to show up and then $99 per hour after that.

Poor TED is looking less thrifty after all. However, its price might be a drop in the bucket if you're renovating, or if the energy bills for your McMansion are forcing you to consider another interest-only mortgage.

(Photo: Energy, Inc.)

[eagle33199]

Installation is a snap...

Exploring their website, it appears that installation is as easy as tapping into the wires prior to the main circuit breaker. While people unfamiliar with high voltage, AC current, and the like shouldn't perform this themselves, i do believe their claim of 15 minutes to install - just remove the cover, locate the wires, and apply the wiretaps.

[elsa.wenzel]

thanks for checking out

Sounds good if you know what you're doing.
Here's what the same electrician explained:

"First we need to know if your panel has the room and ability to clamp the current coils to your supply. Some meter/main components do not have the room. Because of this, San Francisco electrical inspectors want the current coils located in a junction box outside of panel. Then the secondary leads from the current coils to "TED" will need to be in conduit or somehow protected."

[Kirk2526]

RE: Installation is a snap

Hey,
If you want a device that gets the job done in a snap, take a look at the PowerCost Monitor at www.save-electricity.ca. The real time energy feedback device, showing dollars and cent, kilowatts, etc is sold for $135US on their website. Users can actually say it takes 15 minutes to install because it does not require an electrician at all!
Anybody. You, me, your neighbour can simply attach the sensor onto your meter, hit the reset button on the monitor, and there you go... an up to the second device that wirelessly transfers your energy consumption data right to the monitor that you can run around the house with all you want and track the changes that occur when you leave a light on or a cell phone charger plugged in. You want to save money? . . . its now completely in your hands, from start to finish, without the need for an electrician.