Greetings, FTTH customers! It is time for another update on some of the special features you can access via your fiber connection to the EPB. The last post was about your special internet portal and the world of information available to you there. We talked about your access to the portal via this link and the statistical information about your energy consumption under the tab labeled “My Account.”
This post is going to be about the wonderful dashboard interface that we invented right here in Glasgow. Go ahead and sign in to the portal using your username and password and then click on the “My Account” tab and then click on the “Dashboard” tab. What you see next is a graphical representation that is designed to mimic the dashboard of your car. Of course, in your car you see information about the performance of the car. On the FTTH web portal dashboard you see information about the performance of your home!
Each time you visit the dashboard area of the portal, the electric meter on your home sends information about your consumption to the graphical “meters” on your dashboard. On the upper left is the main summary of your energy costs. The black hand represents the cost of electricity for the day, so far. The red hand indicates the amount of electricity, in dollars, you have consumed so far this month. On the upper right you see the black needle pointing to the present electric power consumption of your home and the red needle indicates the maximum your home has used during any fifteen minute period of the month so far. As time of use electric rates are developed and offered (sometime in early 2009), this information will be very useful as you try to exploit those new rates and lower your energy bill.
The dial on the left side of the middle of the dashboard is your CO2 meter. Since TVA burns coal to produce your electric power, this meter is just there to inform you of your homes contribution of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere due to your energy consumption. This can be a sobering reminder of our own contributions to the gases that are contributing to global climate change. Right in the middle of the dashboard is your Efficiency meter. Put simply, this meter measures the ratio of your peak energy usage for the month compared to your total energy usage. Future electric rates will award the lowest energy costs to those who can keep their efficiency the highest. Creating an energy usage profile that is low and relatively constant, will result in high Efficiency readings on this meter and lower costs for energy.
Finally, at the bottom of the dashboard is a graphic presentation of your hourly energy usage for the present day. This can be very interesting. You can normally see your air conditioning and heating systems cycling on and off. If you have an electric water heater you will see it come on and heat water right after you take a shower or wash clothes. This information, combined with the Efficiency meter, will help you do a better job of leveling out your consumption and avoiding the use of energy intensive appliances during peak hours of the day.
You should also notice that each meter on the dashboard has a little blue question mark near it. You can click on any of those little question mark links to get more information about each item represented on the dashboard. Further questions? Just give us a call!
This post is going to be about the wonderful dashboard interface that we invented right here in Glasgow. Go ahead and sign in to the portal using your username and password and then click on the “My Account” tab and then click on the “Dashboard” tab. What you see next is a graphical representation that is designed to mimic the dashboard of your car. Of course, in your car you see information about the performance of the car. On the FTTH web portal dashboard you see information about the performance of your home!
Each time you visit the dashboard area of the portal, the electric meter on your home sends information about your consumption to the graphical “meters” on your dashboard. On the upper left is the main summary of your energy costs. The black hand represents the cost of electricity for the day, so far. The red hand indicates the amount of electricity, in dollars, you have consumed so far this month. On the upper right you see the black needle pointing to the present electric power consumption of your home and the red needle indicates the maximum your home has used during any fifteen minute period of the month so far. As time of use electric rates are developed and offered (sometime in early 2009), this information will be very useful as you try to exploit those new rates and lower your energy bill.
The dial on the left side of the middle of the dashboard is your CO2 meter. Since TVA burns coal to produce your electric power, this meter is just there to inform you of your homes contribution of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere due to your energy consumption. This can be a sobering reminder of our own contributions to the gases that are contributing to global climate change. Right in the middle of the dashboard is your Efficiency meter. Put simply, this meter measures the ratio of your peak energy usage for the month compared to your total energy usage. Future electric rates will award the lowest energy costs to those who can keep their efficiency the highest. Creating an energy usage profile that is low and relatively constant, will result in high Efficiency readings on this meter and lower costs for energy.
Finally, at the bottom of the dashboard is a graphic presentation of your hourly energy usage for the present day. This can be very interesting. You can normally see your air conditioning and heating systems cycling on and off. If you have an electric water heater you will see it come on and heat water right after you take a shower or wash clothes. This information, combined with the Efficiency meter, will help you do a better job of leveling out your consumption and avoiding the use of energy intensive appliances during peak hours of the day.
You should also notice that each meter on the dashboard has a little blue question mark near it. You can click on any of those little question mark links to get more information about each item represented on the dashboard. Further questions? Just give us a call!
