Real-Time Power Monitoring Options?

Posted by Soulskill on Friday September 24, 2010 @08:55AM from the preferably-free-of-charge dept.

tedpearson writes "I've wanted for quite a while to be able to look at my electricity usage in graphed form, both real-time and historical data. There seem to be a number of options for power monitoring in existence: some that hook into Google PowerMeter, others to Microsoft Hohm, and some that are standalone units. I've also seen DIY projects using Arduinos for reading the data and sending it to a computer. But I haven't found anything that is quite what I'm looking for, and I am hoping the Slashdot community can give me some advice. What I'm looking for currently: Some sort of device(s) that a) accurately measures power usage, b) allows me to access the data for storage in a database for my own graphing/analysis purposes, c) will work with MacOS (doesn't require Windows), and d) doesn't cost more than $150 or so. DIY is fine, though I don't understand circuit design, which is keeping me from designing something myself."

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Re:The electric meter will sap and impurify you. by Planesdragon · 2010-09-24 13:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

Of course PG&E really wants the capablity to charge us double on the hottest days
Wait, you mean they want the capacity to raise price when demand spikes, so as to help the market forces discourage use when reduced use causes the most benefit to the market, and thus allow them to stretch out their infrastructure allotment and help save the planet?
Shocking, SHOCKING I say! :)