As with the rest of the world, Vancouver faces an acute climate emergency, with drastic shifts in the region’s climate predicted within the coming decades. Still, while the situation may look bleak, many businesses are striving to help customers go green. In particular, TCA Electric and other Vancouver electricians offer numerous ways for residents to reduce their carbon footprints.
Among the many useful gadgets available, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of a home energy monitor like those offered by BC Hydro. These devices provide invaluable information about energy consumption in the home, helping residents alter their habits, cut down on their carbon footprint, and save money on their energy bill in the process. Today’s article is all about what these devices do and how you can get a BC Hydro home energy monitor for your household!
How do home energy monitors work?
Home energy monitors connect to your breaker panel to read the current being used by your home – with some devices reading the current as many as one million times per second! These gadgets detect minute changes in different aspects of the electricity current (the magnitude, phase, and frequency) to update you on your family’s consumption. If you provide the home energy monitor with information about how your energy bill is calculated, it can determine how much money you’re spending per hour, information you can then us to adjust your habits.
What benefits do home energy monitors provide?
As the old saying goes, knowledge is power– and with a BC Hydro home energy monitor, you gain a great deal of knowledge about your power. Home energy monitors show power usage in real time, and they also put this usage into terms everyone can understand, dollars and cents. That’s right, these devices tell you precisely how much money your energy usage is costing you per hour.
This awareness alone is worth a great deal, as you can identify when your family uses more electricity and how to cut back during those times. But home energy monitors also prompt you to think twice about using devices. For example, how many loads do you really need to run through the dryer? Home energy monitors can even alert you to devices that you didn’t realize were using electricity at all. Knowledge is a wonderful thing, and when it comes to reducing energy consumption, it’s the key to getting started.
How do I qualify for a BC Hydro home energy monitor?
You must meet certain requirements to be eligible for a BC Hydro home energy monitor. To begin with, you have to have a MyHydro account set up with a linked profile – if you don’t have one already, you can easily sign up here. You must also live in a detached or semi-detached home, which does include many townhomes, rowhomes, or mobile homes. Finally, you must have a smart meter connected to your home with an adequate network connection. So, while you have to check certain boxes to qualify, there’s a good chance you already meet the requirements for a BC Hydro home energy monitor!
What home energy monitors are available from BC Hydro?
BC Hydro currently offers two models of home energy models, both of which are sold by Rainforest Automation: the Rainforest EMU-2 and the Rainforest EAGLE-200. Both devices provide real-time data in terms of both energy use (kWh) and cost. The main difference between these two devices is that the EMU-2 features a more barebones interface, while the EAGLE-200 provides data via a cloud service, allowing you to track your usage from anywhere using a web-enabled device. The EAGLE-200 is priced slightly higher, however.
TCA Electric: Installing BC Hydro Home Energy Monitors
Our environmentally conscious electricians at TCA Electric are acutely aware of the impact energy consumption has on the environment around us. Because of this, we’re proud to offer a wide range of eco-friendly electrical upgrades. From home energy monitors to smart thermostats to electric vehicle charging stations, we have all your green technology needs covered. If you need assistance installing a BC Hydro home energy monitor or any other eco-friendly device, contact us today! Our team is standing by and ready to do our part in saving the planet.