Powerley: Smart Home Solutions to Impact the Energy Industry
The utility channel is an optimal means to proliferate the smart home. Energy providers can expand their relationship with homeowners, delivering new intelligent home experiences that drive innovation and adoption from the inside out,”— powerful words from Manoj Kumar, CEO, Powerley, a firm whose rapidly-growing IoT technologies are revolutionizing the home energy management space. Kumar, a true thought leader in the technology world, is focused on working with utilities to further the availability of real-time, energy monitoring applications through his company—Powerley. Built in collaboration with DTE Energy, Powerley’s platform bridges the gap between the smart grid and the smart home. The CEO believes that the energy utilities will be the main catalyst to drive adoption of smart home solutions in the connected home segment and expects to deliver new experiences, levels of efficiency, and revenue streams—the crux of Powerley.
The Michigan based firm provides utilities a turnkey, end-to-end hardware and software platform that provides real-time energy usage, coaching, device control, and appliance monitoring to create a truly intelligent home that users can interact with through the convenience of a mobile app. “Additionally, our product portfolio continues to grow as Powerley extends the platform to create a true ‘Intelligent Home’ experience. We consider ourselves as an advisor to energy providers, helping them redefine their role in a segment that is witnessing dramatic disruption,” says Kumar.
Powerley’s utility-built solution unifies all smart home needs under one all-inclusive umbrella, ensuring there is no need to switch from app to app to manage energy consumption and control appliances. The platform integrates with the utility’s smart meter—enabling homeowners to get instant visibility into the energy consumption of the whole household as well as its individual appliances. One clear differentiator for the Powerley brand is design. The company professes to sell “experiences” over technology. Based on the user interface and attention to hardware design detail, such as the Powerley Thermostat, it is clear their team has taken the time to make sure that the experience is both intuitive and appealing.
No other solution exists in the market today that seamlessly meshes both consumer and utility environments
“Adoption will be driven through a blend of design and insight that feels simple and seamless,” states Powerley CTO Kevin Foreman, “We strive to create an experience that makes the technology feel invisible to the customer.” The company also offers its utility customers the opportunity to white-label their products as well, so that their branding is reflected in the overall design.
Powerley’s solution is designed to seamlessly integrate with the utility environments, providing real-time insights, customer engagement, and efficiency goals. The platform is both highly scalable and secure, featuring Cloud components that can integrate easily with back-end systems while ensuring Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data is protected locally within the utility’s internal network. The key link between the smart grid and smart home is the Energy Bridge, the connected-home gateway and the hub of the home energy management platform. Incorporating Powerley’s Auto Bind technology, the Energy Bridge is easily paired to the AMI Meter with a one-click connection.
The company holds a unique position in the market by providing a strong value proposition to both consumers and energy companies. “No other solution exists in the market today that seamlessly meshes both consumer and utility environments. For consumers, Powerley offers an experience that extends from their current home environment and relationship with their energy provider. We plan on building the next generation of home energy management that will provide both the utility and the homeowner a new level of connectivity and intelligence,” concludes Kumar.
Originally published on CIO Review.