We at Wattvision continue to work hard and our goal remains the same -- being the best end-to-end, hardware and software solution for consumers and businesses seeking to save money on energy. So the big question is, what do Wattvision users "lose" when Google PowerMeter shuts down? Fortunately, nothing. To simplify this post, we've broken it down by audience:
For Current Wattvision Users:
In a few clicks, you can stop sending your wattvision data to PowerMeter anytime before the official shutdown date, from your user account page. We will start doing this automatically as the date approaches.
For Users Interested in Energy Monitoring:
Since we've been shipping hardware and software since 2009 -- we already have a site where users can view, analyze, and compare data with other users. That's our site, wattvision.com, viewable on the web or on your mobile device.
Wattvision also has a few extra features like email alerts, charts updated every 10 seconds, and a live API, for example. Many users have commented that they like our site better than PowerMeter's. Great! But the PowerMeter interface had a few neat features like comparisons with previous data. They're on our to-do list, and we'll continue to add features based on your feedback.
For Developers of Hardware and Software in the Energy Monitoring Space:
Like PowerMeter, we don't want to lock up your data. You can download your data to your computer for analysis, or use our beta developer API for upload from your sensors or download to your apps. We also hope other hardware and software developers will recognize wattvision as a reliable platform -- a platform that enables them to build products that help users manage energy consumption and save money on energy.
We first heard of Google PowerMeter about one month into our YCombinator funding round in January 2009. You can still read their original announcement post. Needless to say, we were scared. A few of our closest advisors and friends said, "Google's in your space, you might as well give up now. But hey, at least it validates your idea." Thanks to our YCombinator connections we did get to meet with the PowerMeter team and work on compatibility betwen our products. It was a pleasure to work with them and it's a shame to see the product go.
The attention that the Google brand brought to our space was quite a boon for us, as well. Without Google, we'll continue to work hard, make our customers happy, and generate our own excitement. On that note, just for this weekend we've announced a coupon (ends Monday 12:01a) $50 off, coupon code "byepowermeter".