AlertMe to Pilot Web, Mobile Thermostat Control With British Gas

AlertMe, a British home energy management system maker, is getting a chance to test its mobile phone thermostat control technology with one of the United Kingdom's biggest natural gas utilities.

British Gas New Energy, the low carbon and energy efficient products and services branch of British Gas parent company Centrica, will test out the Cambridge-based startup's technology for turning home temperatures up and down from any Web-enabled device, the two announced over the weekend.

It's AlertMe's first utility trial. The company jumped into home energy management by way of its existing wireless home security business, and started selling its SmartPlug devices - wireless wall socket adapters that can be shut on and off remotely – in March.

In June AlertMe raised £8 million ($12.8 million) in Series B funding from Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. That's on top of a £5 million ($10.35 million at the time) round in November 2007 (see AlertMe Raises £8M for Home Energy Management).

That makes it a fairly recent entry to the crowded home energy management field, which includes dozens of startups – Tendril Networks, EnergyHub, Energate, Control4, Greenbox Technology, Onzo, OpenPeak, Current Cost, Sequentric, 4Home, Agilewaves are some of them – as well as big players like Google, Microsoft and Cisco (see The Smart Home, Part I and stories here, here and here).

Almost all of these contenders are looking toward utilities to help them get their hardware, software and wireless networks into customers' homes, with many pilot projects underway.

Others, like AlertMe, have a direct-to-consumer business plan as well, and others are looking to telecommunications companies as a gateway into the home (see The Telco Home Energy Invasion).

The hoped-for end result is a home that can power down when the utilities are facing excess demand for power, as well as cut down on wasted energy in general.

One neat way to do that would be through a cell phone or other Web-enabled mobile device. Imagine shutting your house heating or cooling system down as you leave for work in the morning, then restarting it on your way home so it's toasty warm - or nice and cool - for your arrival.

That appeal makes mobile control a near-universal future offering from all the companies making gear and systems for home energy control (see Green Light post). AlertMe didn't reveal details on the size of its British Gas pilot, though it did say it could be available to the utility's customers by late 2009.

As for which of the home energy management startups will survive, much may depend on how well they can be integrated, not only with utilities plans, but with the smart appliances and other systems promised in the years to come from "white goods" manufacturers like General Electric and Whirlpool (see GE's Smart Appliances: Smarter With GE Home Energy Manager).