Usage information – how can we make it better?

[MattyY78]

Thanks so much for all the useful feedback you’ve given us so far. We’re listening to what you’re telling us and working through how we can refine the app to give you the best experience possible.

A common theme in your feedback has been energy usage. @Pinchies and @Shr have given us some great feedback which suggests that deeper data could help manage energy usage, especially identifying appliances which cause unexpected anomalies. @Sonja wants better forecasting for Gas. @Fred12 and a few others want to see kWh displayed. @Kayfen would like to be able to quickly download usage data. @Samtyc requested the ability to sort and filter usage information.  

We’d love to know a little more about why you’d like these or any other improvements to be made. Please copy and answer these questions in the comments below:

• Is monthly usage information detailed enough? Would you like it drilled down further? Why?
• What do you use your usage data for? Is it going into a spread sheet or being compared against your meter read?
• Is the usage information we share with you clear enough? Do you require more detail such as kWh? What are you using this for?

Go nuts, we really want to hear how we can improve.

[Pinchies]

Basically, the goal of the app for me is to understand my usage, so that I can make better choices, and help my family to do the same.

• Is monthly usage information detailed enough? Would you like it drilled down further? Why?

Daily total usage is helpful, to keep track of how my usage is trending. However, for me more granular data (e.g. a way to see hourly usage) would be helpful. This would allow me to see information like:

- Minimum power consumption recorded during the day - basically, what was the estimated standby appliance load (+ fridges etc) over that day. This is helpful for me to make sure we're not wasting power with appliances left on unnecessarily. 

- The duration and total energy consumed by high power loads (e.g. ovens, washing machines etc), helps me to see if it was a big impact or a small impact.

- The portion and quantity of energy consumed by the rest (e.g. lights, and other appliances)

I'm sure there would be cool ways to visualise usage across a week on an hourly basis.

Also, while the simple graphical display is really helpful for understanding patterns and seeing lots of data rapidly, it could still be improved - maybe a trendline (7 day rolling average?) could be nice?

In most cases, for an app, graphs are more useful than numbers. However, numbers might be helpful for some kind of basic "gamification" using statistics - e.g. comparing this week's usage to the "lowest total weekly power usage recorded over the last 6 weeks" and "average total weekly power usage recorded over the last 12 weeks"

• What do you use your usage data for? Is it going into a spread sheet or being compared against your meter read?

I'm all for data export etc, but that stuff is probably best left to a website. The mobile app is great that it is simple, fast and clear, so that my family can all understand the data easily, with as little friction as possible. Even on the desktop I personally don't do anything extra with my usage data, except when I wanted to export my data to put into a power company comparison site.

• Is the usage information we share with you clear enough? Do you require more detail such as kWh? What are you using this for?

Displaying units would probably be helpful for some people, personally I don't care as it is all relative - $ numbers are more practically useful for me. But perhaps a toggle (or more buried setting) could be added for displaying $ or kwh?

[Kayfen]

Is monthly usage information detailed enough? No I would like to see more information on what appliances are using the most. 

Would you like it drilled down further? Why? Drilling down further would allow you to reassess the appliances that are using the most electricity. From that you can then look at the times of use and maybe be able to change your habits. 

What do you use your usage data for? I keep track of how much I am using so that I can budget better. Knowing what appliances use the most helps me.

Is it going into a spread sheet or being compared against your meter read? I just manage it against the meter read.

Is the usage information we share with you clear enough? Yes it is.

Do you require more detail such as kWh? What are you using this for? Don’t use kWh

[Glendamaree]

I would like to see more data connected with the gas usage.  Maybe it isn't as easily available as the electricity data is but currently there is only the past usage.  Having current use would be helpful.

I like the billing section and easy access to past invoices as well.

[MadeleineA]

I would like to see the daily usage broken down further for each appliance in a house.  I have seen this information after the 3 monthly bill has been produced but that is a little too late. Is there a meter attachment that can produce this information? 

[MattyY78]

@MadeleineA, @Glendamaree, @Kayfen, @Pinchies.  This is amazing feedback thank you.  I'm going to thoroughly review your feedback now and start asking some questions plus involve the wider community to comment on these great ideas.

[brendanjwhelan]

Hey guys,

As a NSW customer without a digital meter and interval meter reads, I don’t find the way that the usage information is presented very useful. It does not really help me answer the question of how efficient is my home or provide me with any insight that I could action. I can’t easily compare my usage to the same month/quarter last year to understand whether my home is generally becoming more or less energy efficient. It would be useful to have a comparison to the same time last year. It would be useful to have some sort of benchmark of my usage compared to the average household based on number of occupants as we do on the bill. It would be good to know whether the usage I am looking at is estimated or actual. It’s a nice simple clean interface but the information presented is not insightful or actionable. I know the data itself is limited but I think there is much more we can do with it to help customers understand and reduce their usage. Hope this is useful feedback. Cheers Brendan

[MattyY78]

Thanks so much @brendanjwhelan, its really interesting that you're looking for insights on how to better manage your energy spend.  Its actually a common theme we're seeing.  It seems our users want indications which can be associated with behaviours and potentially then changed.

@MadeleineA, @Glendamaree, @Kayfen, @Pinchies would you say ideally you're wanting to be able to better understand what is contributing to increases or decreases in energy usage and then monitor whether how you adapt assists with controlling your budget?

[Kayfen]

Differently love that idea that I would be able to monitor which appliances are using the most electricity. I receive the monthly insights but  to be able to see it daily or even weekly would be a better help. 

Cheers

[Glendamaree]

That would be a great thing - not sure how I would change much what we are using right now but I'd love to see how the gas usage is over the month rather than just a one total as it is now.