Reducing Your Energy Use with Watt Meters
Using meters to measure how you use electricity can help you make better informed decisions about the energy you consume and pay for. You can identify opportunities to make simple changes in your life that can result in significant energy savings, and you can make better choices on larger measures, such as appliance purchases. Whether you choose a simple plug meter to measure one load at a time or a whole house meter to track all of your electricity usage, meters can quickly pay for themselves by helping you buy less energy.
For many people, the only thing they know about electricity is that they use it and get a monthly bill for that use. Volts, amps, watts, and kilowatt hours are a foreign language. In order to start reducing your electric bill and moving toward a Net Zero Energy Home, it is helpful to begin the process of learning how much energy your house is using. Meters increase our understanding how much electricity individual appliances are using as well as measuring a home's energy use as a whole.
Sustainable Future sells four meters to help you understand and begin to reduce electrical loads in your house. These meters show you how much energy you are using at any specific time, as well as cumulatively for the day and for the billing cycle.
Meters to measure individual appliance electricity use
The Kill-A-Watt, Watts UP? and Watts UP? Pro are all good plug meters with different levels of complexity. Plug in meters are designed to measure energy draw from individual appliances. Simply plug your appliance into the meter, and plug your meter into the wall.- The Kill A Watt is an inexpensive way to start measuring watts and kWh.
Here is an example calculation using a Kill A Watt meter to tell you how much power is used per month:
When you plug a 60 watt reading light into a watt meter, the meter should read something close to 60 watts. You can then figure if you use a reading light for 3 hours a day for a month, you will have used 60 watts * 3 hours per day * 30 days = 5,400 watt hours a month. You buy electricity from the utility company in units of 1000 watt hours or one kilowatt hour (kWh). Kilowatt hours are usually abbreviated kWh. If your utility charges you $.10/kWh, using the reading light for 3 hours a day for a month would cost 5.4 kWh * $.10 or $.54 per month.
Inefficient appliances can be quickly identified by meters, as well as phantom loads. A phantom load is energy drawn by a device when the device is off. The action of measuring everything you have plugged into the wall is many times an eye opener itself. One bedroom might have 2 lamps, a clock, a tv, a phone charger, and a fan all plugged in all the time. What most people do not realize is how much energy some devices use even when turned off. For example, a computer with uninterruptible power supply (UPS) backup battery with monitor, printer, computer, rechargeable phone, and computer speakers may use 50 watts an hour even when off. In this case, 24 hours a day * 50 watts * 30 days * .10 /1000 = $3.60/month to run a computer that is turned off.- The Watts Up? Meter does the monthly calculation for you, because it measures watts and will also project monthly kWh and cost. This advanced watt meter allows you to leave something plugged in to tell you both current watts and accumulated watt hours.
- The Watts Up? Pro adds data logging to the Watts Up? Meter. It records data every second, allowing the user to then download accumulated information into a computer and graph it.
Meters to measure the whole house 
- The TED meter, monitors an entire house second by second and gives daily feedback on energy use for the whole house. There is a display unit that can be plugged into any outlet in the house. Most people do not know how much energy they are using till the bill comes for it. It is then too late to make adjustments. A TED Meter is a great way to immediately see how changes in habits and devices affect the entire house usage. A whole house meter should be located in a convenient place in your home (the kitchen countertop for example).
| Feature | Kill A Watt | Watts Up? | Watts Up? Pro | TED Meter |
| Voltage (Volt) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Current (Amp) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watts (Watt) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kilowatt Hours (kWh) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Frequency (Hz) | Yes | |||
| Power Factor (PF) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Elapsed Time | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Minimum Watts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Maximum Watts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Duty Cycle | Yes | Yes | ||
| Average Monthly KWh | Yes | Yes | ||
| Cumulative Cost | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Average Monthly Cost | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier 2 Rate | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Minimum Volts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Maximum Volts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Minimum Amps | Yes | Yes | ||
| Maximum Amps | Yes | Yes | ||
| Monthly Maximum Watts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Projected Monthly Watts | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hourly Energy Cost | Yes | |||
| Daily Energy Cost | Yes | |||
| Days Left in Billing Cycle | Yes | |||
| Energy Cost for Billing Period | Yes | |||
| Timer | Yes | |||
| Historical Indicator | Yes | |||
| Monthly Historical Record | Yes |
