AlertMe revamps home energy kit, iPhone app on its way (screen shots)

AlertMe, the home energy monitoring service, is revamping its home energy kit and accompanying web service, and will launch a rather neat looking iPhone app this July.

The UK company sells a home energy kit that lets users measure and track their home’s energy use online by retrofitting hardware similar to so-called ’smart meters’. The service also ties into Google Powermeter, the search giant’s own home energy monitoring tool available via iGoogle.

The ‘Energy Starter Kit’ itself is being given a makeover and will now come with a colour display for the same price – no big deal – but more significant, the web-based UI and feature-set is also getting a revamp giving greater insight into the user’s home energy use.

As of July, the feature-set will include:

* Energy spend & cost prediction per hour/day/week/quarter
* Real time carbon footprint
* Smart Analytics to profile which appliances and devices are using electricity and where to save
* Appliance monitoring and remote control
* Personal targets and benchmarking to save energy
* Meter Pal, a single input for all of meter readings, electricity and Gas, Water
* Appliance Advisor – recommendations on energy efficient appliances with payback

That’s a lot of information.

And then, of course, there’s the forthcoming iPhone app, a prerequisite for almost any web service these days it would seem and one that appears to be a perfect fit for the type of demographic investing in a service like AlertMe. The app goes beyond just home energy monitoring and ties in with AlertMe’s device control and security applications too.

AlertMe is backed by leading clean technology investors including Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET VP, and Vantage Point, and in June 2009 announced an £8 million Series B round of funding bringing the total amount raised to £13 million. In March, the company hired ex-Tiscali UK boss Mary Turner as its new CEO.