johnholzerjr

The Emporia Vue is a HAN (Home Area Network) energy monitor that connects to a “smart” electrical meter via the Zigbee protocol. My electrical provider is Southern California Edison (SCE), and as far as I know, they’ve been installing smart meters in homes and replacing older meters with smart meters since 2012 (maybe earlier).

I bought this device for $40 on Amazon. It’s easy to setup. The monitor needs to be within 75 feet of the electrical meter (I have an outlet inside my garage that’s 6 feet away), connected to Wi-Fi, and then activated by the utility provider. Emporia’s setup has direct links to forms and information on activation for each service provider, which is convenient. I submitted my application to SCE after the initial installation and it was activated within 48 hours. SCE will even give me a $25 rebate toward the cost of the device. Sweet.

After a couple of days of monitoring, I have a very clear view of my power consumption and solar power generation. My energy usage on SCE’s website for January 25th was -4.39 kWh (I generated more energy than I consumed), and my energy usage according the Emporia app was -4.40 kWh, which is basically exactly the same. Awesome.

If you’re looking for a more accurate view of your home’s energy usage, this device seems to work well. My solar installer and monitor is SunPower, and their app isn’t reflecting accurate usage numbers. I suspect it’s a hardware issue that they need to address, but even if their equipment was working properly, getting information directly from the electrical meter is more precise than anything a solar operator can provide.

I posted this on Facebook and thought I’d post here as well.

Update: It has been a busy month. Yvonne and I bought a new house in November and have been getting my house in Moreno Valley ready to sell. Lots of little things getting done, as well as some new flooring. The week between Christmas and New Years was a solid week of housework for us. Clearing things out from the house and moving to the new house has been a lot of work, but I’m grateful to have the time, resources, and friends that have helped along the way. We’re winding down the work this weekend with some last minute painting and clearing out the final small items from the garage.

I have not done anything podcast related in months due to the seemingly non-stop life events. I hope to ramp up the podcast again by mid to late January. Jason, Nagel, and Tim have been the best over the last 6 months since my mom died in July. I can’t wait to get back to shenanigans with them (and y’all) again.

Unrelated, I haven’t been on Twitter since 12/15 and it really does feel like I’m disconnected from people. That said, those I care to interact with most have also left Twitter for the most part, so I’d be shouting into the aether anyway. Point is, I miss my friends and normal life. Life has not been normal since July, and I’m ready to get back to “new normal” life.

Hope you’re all well, and have a happy 2023.