Google will soon help you track your energy use

If you are like me, then you are staring at your electrical bill and scratching your head as you try to understand why it keeps going up and up and up despite how many lights you turn off. There is good news stirring around the corner. A new plan by Google could help you track down your energy use and discover what is causing your electrical bill to skyrocket.

Using "smart meters" (we call them turtles here in Alaska), the secure Google gadget would take the data the meters automatically sends to the utility company and shares it with the consumer. While at the moment there is a limit on exactly what kind of data the gadget can provide, in the future it might be able to tell users exactly what appliances are using energy and how much each one is using.

The benefits now will primarily rely on the user's ability to track when appliances are being used compared to when there is a change in the data the gadget is receiving from the utility meter.