Power Meter

I was on the fence about buying this item due to old reviews stating it was a pretty poor product. On arrival I simply read the manual and got to using the item straight away. Good: +Watts from our appliances seem to be very accurate with a +-deviation of one watt which is nothing to fuss about (When compared against two other power meters that arrived). +Fairly simple to set up in my opinion. Easy to reset measurements and for those with dual systems, you can input two prices. +Unlike what I read beforehand, resetting appliance usage does not clear your price per kWh. Probably an issue with older models perhaps? +Timer function is handy. The amount of time the appliance has been used only goes up when there is an active current. So if you have an appliance that stops and starts, the usage time with only show for time when it was actually using electricity. +Price. For a tenner, one really can't complain. Bad: -Display is pretty naff. Viewing the display from angles is quite difficult. You typically need to be viewing the display in a straight line. Overall I can't fault this item really. A tenner gets you a device which is very handy in seeing what's actually using up your current. Now I can tell my parents to stop worrying about my 30w fan ;)

Great little gadget! Does what it says in the description to a decent accuracy, its quite nice being able to see appliance power consumption in real time. Surprising to see just how much power some appliances consume in standby mode. Also the voltage readout alerted me to a high mains voltage reaching 258v on one occasion, this has since been resolved after I contacted our local DNO. I only gave it 4 stars as the display is a little dark to see unless the room is well lit, especially if most of your outlets are located close to the floor like mine. Maybe on the next model they could include a back light option. Note: The high voltage seen in the picture has now been resolved by the DNO, we average about 240v now. The meter was first checked against a calibrated fluke true RMS multimeter before contacting the DNO and was found to be accurate to within a volt.

I principally bought this unit as a convenient means of measuring & demonstrating mains voltage as part of my job selling voltage optimisation equipment. I wanted a large display and was pleasantly surprised to find this was larger than I'd imagined. The viewing angle is a bit narrow so I'll make up a short extension lead for used when the plug socket is not conveniently located. I was slightly concerned to read a review claiming the voltage measurement was inaccurate but I have had this unit plugged in next to a conventional voltmeter for several hours and they agree very closely so I'm very happy. I wonder if the other reviewer is aware that the legal range of voltage supply in the UK is 207V to 253V (230V +/- 10%) so the 250V they quoted was quite possible. Mine's been around 249V all morning. What most people don't realise is that the electricity companies deliberately keep the supply voltage high because it means consumers use more power than is necessary. All electrical equipment is now designed to operate at 220V. If the voltage is higher then all that happens is the excess generation of heat and the shortening of the life of the appliance. Anyone who has a supply voltage higher than 232V can save a minimum of 10% on their electricity usage by fitting an optimiser to regulate the voltage to 220V. The savings go up quite steeply for even higher voltages. The national average voltage is 242V. I shall treat the other functions of this device as a bonus. If I could I'd give a rating of 4.75 stars as the instructions aren't the clearest although I've certainly seen worse. Overall I'd highly recommend this product.

I purchased this recently because I wanted to look at the consumption of a 2kw heater in my new insulated workshop. This seemed to fit the bill. I set it up and priced a kWh to the nearest penny. The batteries were already installed and the LCD was clear and bright. I attached the heater with an extension lead, as advised by other reviewers-which is a good idea. I proposed to keep this monitoring the radiator indefinitely through the winter. I set the thermostat at around 10c, the idea to just have a background heating. (this is within it's operating temp range) This morning I went to the workshop, and found the unit had functioned very well, and was showing that my heater (modern oil-less radiator) was running very economically. I left it on and returned in approx' an hours time, and was dismayed to find the display had dimmed badly to almost invisible. I tried a reset which did not correct the display. I decided to remove and clean the batteries. The screws as mentioned in reviews, are indeed very tight and your average Phillips screwdriver will only burr and not remove them. I have a good selection and found the ideal tool. I cleaned the batteries and reinserted them but no joy. The batteries are only supposed to hold the readings when you remove the unit from the power source, and I presume the LCD powers up independently from them. I note on the Energenie web site they have a newer model at £2 more. I have not given up on this unit, there is no slur on AMAZON they are exemplary, I have already arranged for the unit to be collected tomorrow, without cost to myself and had an instant refund. I have ordered another unit and hope for better luck, most reviewers are pleased with the unit, maybe I was just unlucky, you have to expect the odd dud now and again. If I had ordered from the main supplier, I would have had the inconvenience of posting it back at my expense - so congratulations to Amazons' excellent logistics. If I get a good one I shall be very pleased indeed. I hope to leave another review for this product - hopefully 5 stars *

I was a little unsure when purchasing this as a few reviewers had mentioned that if you wanted to measure different appliances the only way to reset the accumulative power, cost and time was to actually press in the reset button which would also loose the electricity tariff values and then need to be entered again. I don't know if the unit has been improved since those reviews but on my unit as clearly mentioned in the instructions you can reset all of the values individually by pressing a combination of two buttons – this will then reset either the total time, total power or total cost and the tariff values will not be lost. I have checked the energenie on various appliances and also light bulbs of know wattage and it seems pretty much spot on it it's readings. The screen is clear and easy to read but if it is in a dark area you may struggle to read the values so a torch would be useful. Also worth mentioning is that the unit has a battery backup so if the unit is unplugged it won't lose the data, this has a battery saving feature in that when you unplug the unit the display will show for about 30 seconds and then go off but all you need to do is press any button to turn it off again. When it is unplugged from the mains you can read all of the collected data which is stored in the memory but can't of course read live data. The only slight criticism is that when setting the tariff it will only allow you to enter the value to the nearest pence – for example my tariff is 13.3455 pence per kw/h but the nearest that the unit will allow you to enter is £0.13 which isn't a major issue but could add up over a long time. Overall though an excellent unit that I would recommend.

I returned this energy meter because, unfortunately, I found it far too awkward to use. The display is difficult to read, particularly when the meter is plugged into a lower-level socket near the skirting boards. The screen doesn't tilt and there is no backlight, so you practically have to get down on the floor to see it properly. I also found the controls and readings confusing, and the meter seemed to move on from the screen I wanted to read before I had a proper chance to take it in. For someone simply wanting an easy way to see how much electricity an appliance is using, it wasn't intuitive enough. It also seems a missed opportunity that it uses batteries which will eventually need replacing, when the device itself is normally plugged into the mains. Rechargeable internal batteries, or some other way of powering the display from the mains while plugged in, would have made much more sense. In principle, it's a useful idea, and the price of £13.99 was great. But the lack of a backlight, fixed screen angle, awkward display and confusing operation made it unsuitable for me. I wanted something simple and easy to read — this wasn't it, so I returned it. The hunt for a suitable power meter continues.......

This is a great gadget. It's a little fiddly to input your various tariffs so it can calculate cost, but once that's done, not sure how long it retains the value if you unplug it from the power though I had no problem moving it from one socket to another taking around 10-15 seconds. It's been useful for showing just how LITTLE electricity some of my gadgets take! Eg microwave (typically 20 mins a day 5 days a week), laptops, tv/satellite, lamps (all low watt LED) etc take. I'd say the main change in my electrical usage it has caused is just to boil 1 mug of water (200-250ml) 3/4 times a day which costs an average of 4.2p per day total (avg over 3 weeks). This change in usage means I will probably recover the cost of the gadget in around 7-8 months (and will have paid for itself considerably when my fixed tariff finishes end of 2023).

I had to buy this as a replacement for a very old Energenie power meter that had gone out of calibration and couldn’t be repaired. The new one offers some improvements in available information and seems a bit more stable than the old one ever was. Some of the symbols are not very clear so it is necessary to consult the instructions to work out which readings are being shown.