It appears the government is supplying free power monitors to plug into smart meters - apparently worth over $100. We have been contacted almost daily for months by contractors desperate to supply these to us (at least 50 calls and visits so far I’d say) so it must be very lucrative for them. I am sceptical about the ability of these monitors to improve on my own monitoring through the smart meter and solar app, and wonder how much this is costing the government. I presume they are doing it as a way of ‘buying’ improvements they can claim lessens energy consumption and thus global warming, thus saving them from having to make more effective but controversial changes. I expect most people accept them but don’t use them. Does anyone have experiences of either satisfactory, or disappointing performance when they agreed to accept one of these? Does anyone know the cost of this measure, and is anyone looking at it critically, evaluating the program, and holding the government to account?
Seniors Online in Victoria have an article about the monitors. The product they are talking about is PowerPal.
The concept seems simple. Have the app running and either turn an appliance on or off and see what difference it makes.
Welcome to the Community @rspenceb
Without reference to the many companies all eager to get some dollars from the system, the Powerpal is actually pretty informative, especially if you don’t have solar. It doesn’t plug into the meter, it sticks onto the meter and samples the flickering light and counts pulses. Pretty basic.
The company that initially provided it were professional and did a good job setting it up and explaining how it worked. The biggest deficiency I found was an unreliable bluetooth connection to my phone traced to the phone, not to the Powerpal and its solar smarts is limited. The best information it provides is when the sun doesn’t shine 
The companies get the ‘customers’ STCs.
As for evaluating the program, or whether everyone uses their Powerpal, I cannot comment.
