Talking Home Hubs Help Customers Reduce Energy Consumption


There has been a notable rise in the use of voice activated technology over the past decade. Amazon’s Alex and the Google Assistant have made running your house easier than ever. Just issue a command to your device and watch as it does exactly as it is told. We can request songs, order shopping, ask questions, demands news and podcasts be played - the possibilities are virtually endless.

Just when we thought voice activation couldn't get anymore useful, utilities are throwing in their 2 cents and making our devices even better. There is now a fantastic opportunity for utilities to engage with their customers and you better believe they are going to take advantage of this. The recent partnership between Tendril, Indiana Michigan Power and Google was created to have a look at these possibilities.

The aim of the partnership is to explore what these home hub devices can offer their users by way of energy saving advice. Rather than a standard response to check a website or make a phone call to customer services, the team wants the device to be able to give personalised responses, replete with information.

The device will collect data from the user’s energy consumption and analyse this data to give informative responses. For example, if you were to ask the device why your electricity bill is so high, it will be able to give you a proper response. The device should be able to pinpoint areas of your electricity bill that are higher than usual or areas of your house with particularly high energy consumption. Using this data it will then be able to give you advice on how to reduce your energy consumption. This may include targeting devices to use less frequently among other suggestions.

The new system is ready to go live with both Alexa and Google Assistant so it will be interesting to watch whether this makes a real difference for consumers of not. It is estimated that around one in six US households owns at least one voice assisted device and this number looks only set to rise over the coming years.

Until now, the capabilities of voice assisted devices have been both limited and static. You can get information on how to pay your bills and a list of general energy saving tips, but the advice has not extended much past that. This is where Tendril wants to make a change. Instead of standardised responses, the company wants to provide consumers with personalised information.

If a consumer asks their device how much their energy bill is for that payment period, the device should be able to give the exact amount along with insight as to whether that expenditure is normal or not for the household. These insights will not only save families up to hundreds of pounds every year on bills, but they will have a wider impact on the environment. If we can all start reducing our energy consumption, we will slowly bring the planet back from the precipice of destruction on which it stands.

As more and more people transition to smart homes, the power of a home hub with the capacity to inform you of your energy consumption is going to be invaluable.


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