"You used 88% more than your neighbors" - SmartThings.. Help me figure out why!?

I compare the utility company to my reading every month and they are super close. We have smart meter and some do sale you their module for monitoring. You can get the Aeon energy clamp meter and install it at the breaker panel.
When my house is idle. I expect to see less than 1000 watts on my clamp. If it’s not then I would investigate. Possible your oven/stove or fridge.
You can also request your utility company to have your meter check as well. They usually do it for free if you think it’s faulty.

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And I always thought I had a problem in that my home idles between 850 and 1,000W. I had seen some folks say they see 300W or so so I’ve been scratching my head why mine was so high but it seems perhaps it’s not.

Just today I did try flipping some breakers to try and find where it’s all going. After doing about half of them it did seem that perhaps I don’t have something drawing that shouldn’t be.

I started to monitor few months ago and was little bit surprised:
every cable box even turned off around 20W/h. Every LED TV between 50" to 65" 15-20W/h on stand by. IP phone 30W/h etc…
I run a rule to turn all those off when we leaving and turn on when coming back and the consumption is around 200-250 W less on idle. Money wise it’s less than $20 per month, but obsession is obsession…don’t know why, but it bothers me a lot :slight_smile:

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WOW, that’s a lot, how big is your house?
I usually average between 320 and 395 month to month, with the highest months in the winter (running the furnace fan) and July - August with AC. I also pay the kwh about $0.24 (all in) in the Boston area so I pay attention.
The dehumidifier does use a lot of electricity, I have one as well.
The computer on 24/7 is a problem. Mine typically uses 160 watts (with a 760 watts power supply on it) but I turn it off when not in use so you are looking at about 115 kwh unless yours is a laptop or small model - why do you keep it on?
For your case it’s probably worth installing a monitor like Sense or the Aeon electricity meter.

Hi kmccb, Can ask you how can you get the KWH(in cents) 5.36

$169.63 / 1699 = $0.10

AEON = $100
Sense = $300

Sense worth the $200 extra?

Aeon Home Energy Monitor (HEM) gen1 is $34 I think I got mine for $15 or so. These are not nearly as intelligent as the Sense appears to be. I’m not sure how Sense can tell the difference between individual devices in your home by only monitoring mains??? How can it tell the basement 100W bulb is turned on compared to the garage 100W bulb??? Aeon HEM will just give you total at given amount of time and the accumulated usage. You can buy several HEMs and clamp them to multiple circuits in your electrical panel however.

Pretty sure the clamp multimeter noted above would require separating/splitting the 120VAC conductors in your device’s power cords :open_mouth: Would be perfect for furnace or something that is hard wired into 120VAC though where you could clamp one wire. For plug in electronics, you can get a ~$20 “Kill-A-Watt” device to measure devices one at a time. I think they have these at Lowes too. Plug it into wall, then plug in TV to see how much juice it’s using. It is not smart/zwave either.

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This solves that problem …

https://www.amazon.com/Tacklife-Classic-Splitter-Voltage-Accessories/dp/B07533GZTK/ref=pd_sim_469_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07533GZTK&pd_rd_r=KMP1S89EGXD2JHDX23CW&pd_rd_w=RAzgL&pd_rd_wg=OuZUj&psc=1&refRID=KMP1S89EGXD2JHDX23CW

It does not.
Get a clamp meter, remove cover from your breaker panel and you have all wires available, including mains.

Yep, tried that. Not enough space between the wiring for me to clamp around the wires.

However, the device I linked to obviously helps you test what’s plugged in to a specific outlet rather than a whole circuit. I was posting it as solution to the point being made above that to test a device you might otherwise have to separate the cabling for the device.

Don’t know about your panel. Mine is 42 breakers with plenty of space.

Great. I bought a clamp meter to do just what you said but no dice for me - too tight in the panel.

But again, what I posted was for testing what’s plugged in to an outlet anyway, not a whole circuit. And for that it works.

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Don’t know you would have to read reviews

indeed, it’s also missing delivery charges probably. Like me, the cost raw is around 10 cents I think, with delivery charges it’s 23 to 24 cents.

I was going by this on my bill:

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House built in 1990… Two story, 2100SF…

It’s my HTPC, Usenet Downloader, and DVR for my 7 IP Cameras.

What are you using to mointor?

HEM for whole house and different plugs per device: aeon, zooz, aeon power strip etc…

Do you use gas or electric heat? Hot water? Do you have double-paned windows? Comparing a gas heated house to an electric one is pointless from a consumption perspective, but the “your neighbors” thing wouldn’t know the difference.

From my OP.