A Low-Cost Energy Monitoring System with Universal Compatibility and Real-Time Visualization for Enhanced Accessibility and Power Savings

Energy management is important for both consumers and utility providers. Utility providers are concerned with identifying and reducing energy wastage and thefts. Consumers are interested in reducing their energy consumption and bills. In Pakistan, residential and industrial estates account for nearly 31,000 MW of the maximum total demand, while the transmission and distribution capacity has stalled at about 22,000 MW. This 9000 MW gap in demand and supply, as reported in 2022, has led to frequent load shedding. Although the country now has an excess generation capacity of about 45,000 MW, the aging transmission and distribution network cannot deliver the requisite power at all times. Hence, electricity-related problems are likely to continue for the next few years in the country and the same is true for other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Several energy monitoring systems (EnMS) have been proposed, but they face limitations in terms of cost, ease of application, lack of universal installation capability, customization, and data security. The research below focused on the development of an economical, secure, and customizable real-time EnMS. The proposed EnMS comprises low-cost hardware for gathering energy data with universal compatibility, a secured communication module for real-time data transmission, and a dashboard application for visualization of real-time energy consumption in a user-preferred manner, making the information easily accessible and actionable. The experimental results and analysis revealed that approximately 40% cost savings in EnMS development could be achieved compared to other commercially available EnMSs. The performance of the EnMS hardware was evaluated and validated through rigorous on-site experiments. The front-end of the EnMS was assessed through surveys and was found to be interactive and user-friendly for the target clients. The developed EnMS architecture was found to be an economical end-product and an appropriate approach for small and medium clients such as residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial consumers, all on one platform.