thermostat

Canada’s Best Electricity Tracking Apps By Province

A fair majority of Canadian households use a large amount of energy on a daily basis. From appliances, to heating systems, to everyday Wi-Fi usage, the list grows with time, and little by little, have an impact on our yearly electricity costs. Have you ever wondered which of your household’s appliances are the most power-consuming? Without any monitoring of our energy consumption, it is hard to have a sense of control and agency over our monthly electricity bill, which can seem rather incomprehensible at times. If that is something you are interested in doing for the year to come, here are the best energy-tracking apps for each of the 6 Canadian provinces listed below.

Select your province to discover the Energy Tracking App available for you

Alberta

Founded in 1997, this electric and natural gas energy supplier has been focusing on energy efficiency and innovation since the very beginning. With a large market, going from single family homes, to apartments, to whole condominium buildings, and located in the United States, Canada and Germany, Just Energy has made a mobile app that provides users with intelligible information about their electricity consumption and bills.

What does the Just Energy app include?

The Just Energy Advisor is a tool that allows users to manage and track their energy consumption, in order to eventually be able to reduce their overall electricity costs. This being said, the provided features are the following:

  • Daily, monthly and yearly data and statistics about your energy usage.
  • Clear breakdown of your electricity bills, with detailed information on where the charges come from, as well as bill estimations.
  • Calendar alert feature that notifies you about important maintenance information regarding your household equipment.
  • Weather pattern reports letting you know about outages and forecasts that might affect your consumption. 
  • Free customer support (phone or email)
      •  

Pros

  • The app can predict your next billing cost so that you can adjust accordingly.
  • Statistics about your energy usage are provided in real time, and are kept in your energy history.
  • Weather forecast and outages are integrated 
  • Customer service is available to help you with your electricity bills, as well as with the app.

Cons

  • The app does not work with smart-home technology, and does not connect to tech devices.

* To use the application, you have to connect it to your regular electricity meter. 

  • Interface might be less user-friendly than others

British Columbia

HydroHome is a recent product of BC Hydro, a governmental company that provides clean energy throughout the province. Their new app is designed to give control to consumers over their energy consumption, but also over their home. Integrating some smart-home features, HydroHome is combining the practical qualities of monitoring with the useful qualities of having a more connected lifestyle. Overall, this product wants to help you save money -up to 150$/year! –  on your electricity bills by bringing awareness about your habits. 

What does the HydroHome app include?

Despite the possibility of connecting the app to all of your smart devices, many features are included, such as:

  • Detailed graphs, reports and history about your energy usage, on which you can track and identify your most power-consuming months.
  • Notification options that can let you know of unusual behaviors in your electricity consumption.
  • Possibility to create budget or consumption goals within the app
  • Compare your usage reports with other homes.
  • If you connect it to the hub, you get full control of your smart home remotely through the app, and get a complete overview of your home’s usage.

Pros

  • Appealing and interactive interface
  • Detailed graphs and reports making your electricity usage intelligible.
  • Weather updates, budget tips, target and deviation alerts are all extra features provided in the app.
  • Integration with smart home technology that allows you to get full control over your smart devices at all times.
  • Compatible with a vast range of smart devices of other brands, such as Alexa.

Cons

  • To get the smart home version of the product, you need to get the smart hub, which is priced at around 75$.

Manitoba

Manitoba Hydro has been distributing hydroelectricity and natural gas electricity throughout the province since 1961. Just recently, they have launched a new version of the “My account online” section of their website, where the consumers can view and pay their bills. Now, the mobile-friendly transition has brought a lot more features, and provides users with more agency over their account, which can be created with only the 14-digit Manitoba Hydro account number.

Even though the latest version of the user account has improved the service, the App has not yet been launched. The user account, however, is available through any smartphones, computers or tablets. Here are the main features that are currently available:

  • Detailed account statements and payment options.
  • Get information on your meter data (meter readings) to know more about your energy consumption and bills.
  • Access to 2 years of your energy usage history, and compare months to ultimately adjust your power consumption.
  • Calendar notifications and reminders regarding your account.

Pros

  • The service provides direct help on how to read your meter in order to gain awareness on your billings.
  • Possibility to manage your Manitoba Hydro account (payment method, account information, moving date, transfer of service, etc.)
  • 2-year historical data on your energy consumption allowing you to compare and adjust with time.

Cons

  • iOS and Android versions of the service have not yet been launched.
  • No plan of smart home technology integration so far.
  • Control over your electricity consumption is limited to your own interpretation of your account.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan government’s main electric utility, SaskPower, has been providing hydroelectric, coal-fired and natural gas electricity to the province since 1929. This being said, if you live in Saskatchewan and have SaskPower as your electricity provider, you get access to the corporation’s new “user account” mobile interface, that is designed to help users understand their energy consumption better, and have more control over it.

What does the SaskPower app include?

MySaskPower app is a better version of a regular user account, that you can download on your App store or Google play, and that includes features like:

  • Help on reading your meter (if you submit your meter readings through the app)
  • Outage map, updates and notifications.
  • Keep a history of your energy consumption for each month, which you can analyze in order to manage your future months’ electricity needs.
  • Pay, manage and read your bills through the app.

Pros

  • Easy-to-download app on both iOS and Android, with a brand new user-friendly interface.
  • Meter readings to help you analyze your own power consumption.
  • Extensive outage features, including real-time information on restoration times.

Cons

  • Minimal energy usage reports and data. 

* In order to monitor your energy consumption, you need to compare and analyze your energy usage history yourself.

  • No smart home technology integration or intentions

Ontario

Leading the way in terms of mobile transition, the electricity provider Hydro Ottawa launched its user app in 2017, for the purpose of providing tools to users who want to monitor their energy usage. They have since been working on perfecting the app, to help people save money with their personalized saving tips, data statistics on energy usage and more. Customers of Hydro Ottawa can download the app on Google Play Store or App Store.

What does the Hydro Ottawa app include?

The user-friendly app by Hydro Ottawa is intended to make its customers save money on electricity bills. This being said, the features are entirely focused on achieving this purpose:

  • Timely breakdowns of your energy consumption, with peak times and power-consuming appliances details.
  • Historical data on your own electricity usage that allows you to track your habits depending on the time of the year. 
  • Real-time power outage updates.
  • Billing information made intelligible, on which you can see trends and deviations, and that you can compare with other months. 
  • Payment projections based on current usage, which is updated daily so that you can monitor your consumption throughout the month. 
  • Customized tips on electricity saving based on your recorded data on the app.

Pros

  • User-friendly interface that makes your energy usage reports easy to understand.
  • Possibility to easily track and monitor your consumption throughout the months.
  • Tips and tricks provided by the app that are based on your profile and behaviours to help you optimize your consumption.
  • Daily updates and estimates on your current usage to help you adjust according to your budget.

Cons

  • Smart home technology and devices are not part of the service, and are not compatible so far.

Quebec

Quebec’s public electricity provider Hydro-Québec, Canada’s main electricity producer, has recently launched its latest product; Hilo. Integrating all of the energy-saving features of smart home technologies, Hilo is an app for Hydro-Québec’s users, designed to help manage and reduce energy consumption levels collectively. With features such as challenges and personalized scenes, Hilo offers a fun way to save on money and electricity.

What does the Hilo app include?

Hilo works with a system of smart home devices, which are then all connected to the mobile app in order to give full control over your smart home. Once your home is equipped with these products, you get access to many features:

  • Real-time overview of all of your rooms, which displays the temperature, the lighting and the active devices. 
  • Full access to controlling, programming and managing your home’s temperature, lighting system and appliances remotely through the app.
  • Detailed charts, statistics and graphs of your energy consumption to allow you to compare and adjust your habits. 
  • Tips and tricks about energy usage based on your profile and historical data.
  • Energy-saving challenge notifications to invite you to participate in exchange for monetary compensation. 

Pros

  • User-friendly interface that invites you to participate in the reduction of energy consumption, while also having control over your smart home.
  • The combination of energy-tracking and smart devices show real results on your electricity bill, and fast. 
  • Challenges are a fun way to save money on your next monthly billing, and to contribute to fighting against climate change. 
  • Personalized help and display for your personal preferences and needs.

Cons

  • The service is only available for smart home owners

To use the program, you will need to purchase a bundle of smart tools to start with and connect to your app.

Conclusion

The good news is, with all the great technology advancements, a growing number of tools have appeared in the last few years, designed to help consumers have control over their energy usage. Available on your smartphones, these apps allow you to track, measure and monitor your home’s energy usage, and ultimately provide you with a sustainable, eco-friendly and cost-efficient solution for your everyday life.

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