14 December 2022
An IHD is a device that connects to your home’s smart meter. With it you can use to monitor, in real time, when and how much electricity you use at your premises.
Using an IHD, people have reported saving up to 15% on their energy bill either by changing habits, using appliances at off-peak times or even replacing inefficient appliances.
Here are a few things you can do with an IHD to lower your electricity bills:
- If you have solar, you can track when you’re importing power from the grid and adjust your usage so your grid usage is reduced or goes to zero.
- You’ll be able to identify the energy guzzlers in your home (hint, it’s usually a pool pump or that fridge or plasma TV you bought in the nineties).
- If you’re like us and want to geek out, you’ll even be able to compare how much energy things like your toaster, kettle, vacuum cleaner, or dishwasher use or track your minimum power load (usually coming from your fridge or always-on appliances).
Some cool features about IHDs:
- Some models connect to your phone via a handy app, and some models will even save this data for you, if you change or lose your phone.
- About storing data. If you happen to go away, like on a holiday, some IHD models can store data for up to 60 days and then ‘offload’ this to your device when you return. Neat!
- You will usually see 'live' updates to your energy use fairly quickly. Fairly quickly depends on the change to the electricity used. For example, if you turn on your air-conditioner or an electric heater this will show up in the app in a matter of seconds. But if you switch on an LED light, this can take up to 10 seconds to become visible.
Page last updated: 14/11/24