IoT (Internet of Things) is a specialty of our at Switchbox. We’ve recently launched two projects where the goal was to have a small simple device send data back to our web application. The first was in the medical industry and the second was agricultural. It’s been a lot of fun to work on those two development projects but now someone has forced (in a good way) their technology on me. I’m still looking forward to the rollout but the flyer AEP left on my door says that I can control my power usage remotely. That sounds a little fun and scary at the same time. Anyway, I called fellow web developer at AEP who is familiar with the project and they shared a few thoughts with me about how this IoT electric meter will change the industry and my life.
Benefits of an IoT Electric Meter
- No human needs to walk through my yard to get the meter reading. This saves AEP some huge expenses that they can pass along to me.
- More accurate meter reading. Sometimes AEP doesn’t get the meter reading every month. When this happens they have to “guess” and if they guess wrong they need to adjust my meter later. IoT meters ensure my invoice is correct every month.
- Visibility in Data. I can log into my AEP account through their secure web portal and see how much electricity I’m using on a daily basis. The idea is that instead of seeing a monthly summary if I can see a daily summary I might be able to make more informed choices about my electric consumption.
Overall it’s a fun new device and a big online digital corporate innovation for a company as large as AEP.