Efergy electricity monitor

What is it?	Electricity monitor
Price	£44.95
The good	Easy to install, memory feature for looking back at previous days, updates every 5 seconds
The bad	Can't download data to laptop, battery rather than mains powered

Being the gadget lover that I know you are, chances are you use a lot of power. If it's not the LCD television it's the PS3, if it's not that then it's your computer and a host of other bits and bobs.

So what is a gadget boy or girl to do? Employ another gadget to help you monitor all this of course.

The Efergy is like the Wattson and the Owl. It allows you to monitor your electricity use around the house via a simple display and therefore track what energy you are using, how much you are spending and what your carbon footprint is.

Out of the box and it's a transmitter and a small LCD display both of which are battery powered.

The transmitter attaches to your main electricity supply (don't worry there is no wiring to be done) and then transmits the amount of current flowing through the cable to the display, which in turn interprets the information to something a little more useful.

Once connected, the information starts following through nicely - every 6 seconds to be precise - and you can see the real-time power load in kW; or as pence per kWh; or as emissions measured in terms of kg of carbon dioxide, (kgCO2E).

Additionally and unlike the Wattson you can view previous days stats on the device rather than having to download them to a computer to see how today compares with yesterday, last week, last month or last year.

In practice and its amazing to see the difference turning on the kettle really does make.