ClimateSmart Home Service

It monitors a home's electricity supply and provides real-time information about the household's electricity usage. The simple-to-read LCD monitor reveals how much electricity is being used, how much the home's current usage is costing per hour and how much greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions the home is producing. This is a powerful tool that helps householders to make more informed decisions about using electricity around the home.

If your home is a three-phase home the power monitor is only connected to read one tariff. So, if you're connected to more than one tariff in your home the power monitor will not include information on the non-peak tariff, such as those connected to hot water systems and pool pumps.

No. The data provided by the monitor is for use by the residents of the household only. The information cannot be read remotely.

The information provided by the monitor will allow you to see how much energy your appliances are using and how much they cost to run. This will help you to make changes to save energy and money. You can find more tips on how to make the best use of the information from your monitor in your personalised Power Savings Plan and the ‘How Low Can You Go?’ energy challenge website.

Your wireless power monitor is designed to assist you in taking control of your power bills by providing you with an understanding of how much it costs to run individual appliances. Having this knowledge enables you to make informed decisions about your power usage.

The power monitor provides you with indicative electricity costs, however, it is not programmed to provide an exact calculation of your power consumption or to correlate with your quarterly bills. At the time of your service the power monitor is programmed with the tariff noted on your most recent power bill. If these details are not available the monitor will be programmed with the Queensland average tariff, which may be slightly higher or lower than the electricity tariff/s charged to your home. To reprogram the tariff settings of your power monitor, refer to your ClimateSmart Home Service Power Savings Guide (click on the image of your power monitor below to download your Power Savings Guide).

Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

Please note that the power monitor should be used as an information tool only to assist you in taking back control of the way you use your power. For a more accurate reading of your power usage and costs, please refer to your current power bill.

If you want to move your power monitor it is important to remember that it is an Australian Government regulation to use a licensed electrician to remove the power monitor from your existing home and reconnect it at your new home.

There are three different types of wireless power monitors used as part of the ClimateSmart Home Service. Whilst they look slightly different they function the same – they all monitor your home's electricity consumption in kilowatt hours, kilograms of carbon and money over time (days, weeks, months and quarters). The reason for the different power monitors is to ensure a good supply of effective, high-quality power monitors are available for the service over the lifespan of the program. For more click on the image of your power monitor below and download your Power Savings Guide.

Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

If your wireless energy monitor isn’t working it could be due to one of the following reasons:

• Are the walls of your home double brick cavity?

  The radio frequency used by the transmitter connected to your meter box can have difficulty transmitting through double brick walls. Try moving your power monitor closer to where your electricity box is located to see if the shorter distance assists in the transmitter signal reaching your monitor.

• Lost connection
  

  If the power monitor is more than 40 metres away from the transmitter, or the signal has been interrupted, the power monitor display may lose its connection to the transmitter. If this has occurred the power monitor display will show ‘----’ or ‘0’.

  If the power monitor is showing flashing dots on the screen, this means that it's trying to reconnect. Try placing the power monitor display closer to the transmitter for 15 minutes. If this doesn't work, follow the reset instructions in the ClimateSmart Home Service Power Savings Guide and check the batteries in the transmitter as if these are flat the monitor won't be able to connect to it.

  Click on the image below of your power monitor to download your Power Savings Guide.

  Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

  Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

  Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

  If you continue to have trouble, please call 133 600 and our staff will help you through the process.

If you're using electricity, but your energy monitor is showing zero, it may mean that a cable has slipped in the transmitter.

To fix this, go to your electricity meter box and look at the transmitter. Please be very careful when doing this and if you don't feel comfortable doing so, please contact a licensed electrician to help. Safety comes first. There should be three holes in the bottom of the transmitter with at least one (1) white cable attached. If there is no white cable at the bottom of the transmitter, it has slipped out. Plug in the cable (it doesn't matter which hole you use) and your power monitor should start working again.

If you need to reset your monitor please click on the image of your wireless power monitor below to download the Power Savings Guide for your power monitor and follow the instructions.

Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

Your home will be tested to see if it can have a power monitor installed prior to the ClimateSmart Home Service . There are some instances where the power monitor may not be able to be installed. These include:

• some homes with double brick cavity walls
• homes where the meter box is situated more than 40 metres away from the home
• the transmitter cannot be connected inside your electricity meter box.

If a ClimateSmart electrician finds that a wireless power monitor cannot be installed at your home, you will be eligible to receive a Plug-in Monitor. This monitor will allow you to see how much electricity your different appliances use and an approximate amount each appliance is costing you.

You will also receive the other great items including:

• a set of four stand-by eliminators with remote control
• an adjustment to your electric hot water system temperature (where suitable)
• up to five energy efficient light globes (CFLs)
• installation of a water and power saving showerhead
• a household power assessment to provide you with ways to become a more ClimateSmart household
• a customised Power Savings Plan, and
• access to the ‘How Low Can You Go?’ energy challenge website, an online resource providing lots of useful information to help you make even more energy savings.

The wireless power monitor has a minimum of 90% accuracy when reading a product's electricity usage. Most stand-by appliances will be picked up within this accuracy level, however, if your stand-by appliance usage is not clearly indicated on your power monitor, the electricity usage from other large electricity users such as your hot water system, fridge or pool filter may be interfering with your reading. The best thing to do, so that you don't miss out on any savings, is to simply turn off your stand-by appliances.

If you believe that your energy monitor is faulty please contact the ClimateSmart Home Service on 133 600.

This usually means your batteries are flat. Your wireless power monitor and transmitter require 2 x AAA batteries or 3 x AA batteries in each (depending on the type of power monitor). To change batteries, please remove the battery cover and insert batteries as labelled on the inside of the compartment for each device.

DO NOT remove the sensor on the transmitter for your electricity meter. Simply remove the transmitter from the outside wall of your electricity meter box and replace the batteries as instructed on the back of the transmitter. Please be very careful when doing this and if you don't feel comfortable, contact a licensed electrician to help. Safety comes first.

No. The warranty on your wireless power monitor and transmitter cover product faults, not the batteries.

It is easy to update the tariff in your wireless power monitor. Your ClimateSmart Home Service Power Savings Guide has clear instructions on updating your electricity tariff rate. Please click on the image of your wireless power monitor below to download the correct information booklet to update your monitor's tariff rate.

Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

If you received your service after 4 July 2011 then the electrician would have programmed your power monitor with an alarm, set to notify you when your energy consumption is exceeding the daily energy challenge for your household. When you hear the alarm sound and see a red light glow from the button of the display unit we recommend you turn off appliances no longer being used and consider ways to lower your power use to prevent the alarm going off the next day.

Don't forget, if you're finding your daily energy challenge too easy you can reduce the level on your alarm at anytime. Refer to the instructions in your ClimateSmart Home Service Power Savings Guide provided to you with your power monitor. You'll find an electronic version of this guide below.

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

If you received your service prior to July 2011 then your power monitor has a default alarm set to $2.00/hr or 12 kW, which is the recommended level of alarm for an average household to alert you when you have reached a high level of electricity use. If you feel that the alert is set either too low or too high for your household, you can easily adjust it with the 'Setting the Alarm' instructions in your ClimateSmart Home Service Power Savings Guide provided with your power monitor. You can find an electronic version of this guide by clicking on the image of your power monitor below:

Download Owl Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy Energy Monitor Product Guide

Download Efergy2 Energy Monitor Product Guide

Most of the electricity used by Queensland households is used either in the morning, before work and school, or in the evening, around dinner time. If all ClimateSmart Home Service homes turn off everything unnecessarily left on when the wireless power monitor alarm goes off, together we can help reduce the strain of this peak usage on electricity supply infrastructure.