Hello Watt and Alexa introduce the Skill, a brand new feature available on Echo devices. Its purpose is to provide daily monitoring of your electricity consumption, all with a simple voice command.
If you pay particular attention to your electricity consumption, in a stressful context where the network could experience saturation phases, then the new feature developed by Hello Watt and the Alexa teams could be of interest to you. His nickname: “Hi Watt Skill.”
EC ability, as the two brands like to call it, integrates directly into Echo devices (speaker and connected display). Above all, it allows you to control your daily electricity consumption through a simple voice command. But before you get there, a little configuration is necessary.
Breakdown of your consumption by use
In fact, you need to ask your Echo device to start this feature as follows: “Alexa, open the Hello Watt Skill“. You will be given instructions to create an account. Obviously, you need to enter your Linky or Gazpar number (the equivalent of Linky, but for gasoline) in order to take advantage of it.
Once this maneuver is complete, various requests can be sent to Alexa: ask your monthly consumption or even know your distribution of energy consumption. A connected screen compatible with Echo Show allows you to consult all the information through an integrated widget on the home screen, to see it at a glance.
What’s especially important to understand here is that Amazon extends and extends Hello Watt’s features in two ways: both through voice responses from Alexa, and through visual content displayed on connected devices. . In short, the advantages and limitations of the Hello Watt application are still valid.
We remind you that this free service allows you to control your daily energy consumption (in kWh, in euros and in CO2 emissions) in a simple and intuitive way, through annual, monthly and daily results. Hourly monitoring is even possible if you activate a specific option, hourly data collection, in Enedis.
Hi Watt, advantages and limits
The site or application is capable of analyzing your consumption to tell you if your contract in peak/off-peak hours is profitable, and the annual profit in euros. Hello Watt even estimates your percentage of electricity that must be consumed off-peak for such a contract to be financially profitable.
Even better, a graph shows you the distribution of your consumption by use (hot water, heating, electrical appliances, kitchen, audiovisuals, lighting): it even specifies the amount spent in euros for each use.
All these elements are available from Alexa or an Echo Show. The pair specifies that the voice assistant transmits as accurate a level of information as the application. For you, it’s a way to better understand your electricity usage and potentially better control it.
Hello Watt still has some limitations, which can be found by extension in the “Skill” function: you do not have access to real-time consumption, nor to the current day’s consumption (data is available from D-1).
Also, the way Hello Watt collects data may be less accurate than other solutions. In fact, the company retrieves the data through Enedis, itself linked to your Linky account. For its part, nrLINK is even more precise: a sensor that connects to your Linky allows you to monitor your consumption in real time.
An interesting first solution
Thanks to this sensor, the data is transmitted directly from the meter and not through an intermediary. On top of that, a small screen connected to your Wi-Fi shows all the consumption information live. However, this type of solution has a cost: about 140 euros. On the Ecojoko side, the data is taken directly from the main circuit breaker.
Regardless, Alexa and Hello Watt are credited with providing a turnkey solution for monitoring daily power consumption. If you’re equipped with an Echo device and want to take your first step into the energy universe, this alternative looks relevant on paper.
To take you further and make you want to take the plunge, Amazon has even created a specific package called “The connected home kit: control your energy consumption”. It includes a Netatmo smart thermostat, an Echo Show 5 screen and two Meross connected plugs, for a total price of 165.99 euros.
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