My concept has been designed to make it easier for users to keep track of their electricity usage and bills.
The main problems with existing electricity meters where its location and the units the reading is given in. My research has shown the reading on the meter does not directly give the information that the majority of the 18-25 year old age group is interested in, which is the price of the energy used. To find this value, the user must multiply the energy used by the hourly rates, usually peak and off peak. This is time consuming and fairly complicated. The location of the meter is also a typical problem, with the meters being fitted in awkward and inconvenient places.
A web and app based meter interface would be used, meaning that the user could check their electricity usage more easily.
The meter would display the price of the energy being used and the user’s total bill, as well as the units of power used.
Heat maps would show the user where the energy was being used and in what quantities.
The interface would allow the user to set their own targets for how much they aimed to spend on their electricity over a selected time frame. It would track their spending and help keep them stay within their budget. Text and email alerts would warn the user if they were at risk of overspending, which is a common occurrence with current normal meters.
Here are my final boards which were presented to NCR:
