It is surprising the technology of the incoming call registration for telephone lines, but most of us are clueless about our electrical use. I assume it would cost an extra chunk to install the unit, but as more users ask for the monitor the cost could drop to where it actually pays for itself in a short time.

Due to higher peak loads and the risk of blackouts in the past few decades, there might be some way to have the initial cost of the monitoring units subsidized by the local government or utility provider.

This sounds great. People would be so much more efficient with energy usage if they actually knew how much it was costing them, in real time.

I love this idea. I actually wish I could get a gauge in my house that just translates the usage in real time to dollars so that I can actually watch my gas or electric bill go up in real time. Then I'd be sure to turn the light off in the other room!

Assuming you have a remote readable meter that is always networked, you can do that, in theory anyway. Your power provider will have to want to make that data available that way though.

You can get aftermarket devices you can install on the outside of your meter, which relay to a receiver device in your home. Both that and any data from the power company would be for the household.

To measure power draw for a specific device, you can get a plug-in electric meter called a kill-a-watt (there are other brands also).

Ok more than a year later... just ran into this site, I'm slow. There are many options for what this is talking about, but they are a bit pricey. First, some power companies are installing smart meters which allow them, and you, to monitor your power over the web in real time. This doesn't really do you much good, it's mostly just so the power company can get government money for studying power usage.

There are a few companies out there that make systems you can install yourself to monitor and control certain things in your house. One was made up by GE which has "z-wave" wireless junk built in. You can buy thermostats, garage door openers, normal plug in units, and some others I forget. I think Google is currently running one program you have to pay for that uses these devices, it gives you web access where you can control the few things you have hooked up in your house. You can remotely change the temp on your thermostat, turn lights/tv's/whatever on or off remotely, close your garage door, etc.

Short of wiring all kinds of monitors inside your electrical box on top of plugging in a router of some sort that is hooked up to your internet, this is about all you get for now.

The bonus is some power companies will give you a pretty good discount if you have one of these systems, and you give them access to your thermostat. During peak times where the company normally has to fire up an auxiliary power plant, they can just adjust peoples thermostats a few degrees to get over the peak. You can always override it if you want, but you lose your discount. Blah and there is a lot more to it, I'm tired of typing. Enjoy.