How Does Your Energy Usage Compare?

The latest version of the Sense app takes home comparisons even deeper.

We’re happy to announce the latest update to the Sense app: Compare + Home Details (v27 on mobile and v8 on web). With this update, Sense takes the comparisons developed with the Monthly Email Report even further. Not only will you be able to see state-level (or province, for our Canadian users) comparisons right in the app, but we’ve developed a “Similar Homes” comparison that goes beyond just your state, taking advantage of the unique insights that Sense can provide. 

While we continue to gather data (more on that momentarily), your Similar Homes comparison will be based on other Sense users in your immediate locale with similar square footage. This is just the start though. As we pull in more user input, we’ll continue to refine and deepen these comparisons, offering a level of specificity that your typical utility company just can’t provide. 

You might be asking where we get this sort of qualitative data about your home. Sense is not (yet) omniscient and cannot tell us this sort of information about your home. But you can. We’re calling the second part of this release “Home Details.” We’ve added a new screen to the app where you can input these details about your home. Home Details will be used to continually refine your home comparisons. Note that it may take some time for your Similar Homes comparison to populate. We’re relying on our users to fill out these details, so make sure you do it (and tell your Sense friends to as well!). 

But your Home Details don’t stop there. You’ll also now see a Device Inventory section. Our users frequently ask us how they can help Sense learn. While directly training Sense is not yet possible due both to the quantity and complexity of the data that Sense needs to see, there are other ways you can help Sense learn, like making use of our various integrations. With this release, we’re now allowing you to tell us exactly what devices you have in your home, down to the make and model. In time, this will help Sense better focus the detection process on the specifics of your home, while also providing more data to feed your home comparisons. We’re not quite there yet on either of these points, but the more users fill our their Home Details, the quicker we’ll be able to bring these learnings into both the detection process and home comparisons. So, please do your part and fill it out!    

You can find the full release notes at the Sense Community. Let us know what you think in the comments, and don’t forget to fill out your Home Details!