How it started – Founder’s story

Are you interested in energy efficiency and renewable energy? Let me share my journey through both fields since 2008, and how it led to a long search for affordable energy loggers.

2008: loadshedding arrives, and so does LED lighting

In 2008, South Africa hit its first grid power failures. Generation could not keep up with consumption, and the word loadshedding entered everyday use. At the same time a new technology became both available and affordable: LED, or light emitting diode, lighting. It could cut the energy consumption of a light bulb by more than 80%.

2010: from software development to energy efficiency

By 2010 I was ready for a new challenge after ten years in software development. Selling LED lights online felt like a way to help with loadshedding. Later we took on full energy efficiency projects, replacing every light in a restaurant, hotel or guest house with an energy efficient LED equivalent. We did this at many Mugg and Bean and Wimpy restaurants in South Africa.

Savings we could calculate but not measure

We built an impressive Excel spreadsheet to work out the savings. The trouble was that it stayed theoretical. Ideally we would have measured power and energy consumption for a week before each project and a week after it, to verify the saving. But affordable energy loggers did not exist at that stage: prices on the market started at R50 000 and climbed from there.

So we turned to devices like the Efergy and Owl energy loggers. They were fine for showing current power draw and energy use over time, but they had three real drawbacks. First, they took no voltage measurement: voltage was assumed at a fixed value, so the data was never accurate. Second, the CTs (current transformers) were bulky and awkward to fit inside a tight DB (distribution board). Third, there was no way to export the data to Excel to build graphs and reports.

2015: solar power, and the same guessing game

In 2015 solar power started to become affordable, so I shifted focus to designing, selling and installing solar systems. Sizing a system still meant working by hand from the appliances that needed backup power. It was a hit and miss method. The better approach was to split the backup loads in the DB and measure what they actually drew. We did that with the equipment we had, but affordable energy loggers still did not exist.

2021: finding affordable energy loggers at last

The problem stayed the same: there were no affordable energy loggers that were easy to install and could produce reports. In 2021 I went looking again, and this time I found exactly that. We imported the loggers and brought them to the South African market. Demand was slow at first. As word spread it grew faster than we could stock, and we were regularly sold out. We sold more than 300 devices over the next two years, to hundreds of satisfied customers and with very low failure rates.

Making energy logger data easy to read

I also worked out how to download, import and visualise logger data in Excel. Most manufacturers hand over the raw data and leave the analysis to you. Electricians and energy professionals are rarely Excel experts, and this is where many get stuck. So I built a reporting template with step by step instructions. Instead of losing a day or two to Excel, you can import the data and see the graphs in about ten minutes. If you get stuck anywhere, we will walk you through it on a video call with screen sharing.

Three affordable energy loggers: entry, mid and advanced

We now stock three portable models: entry level, mid level and advanced. All three are affordable energy loggers that are straightforward to install. The entry level meter is enough for most jobs and circumstances. The mid level meter adds an easier interface and a few more features. The advanced meter carries everything an electrical engineer is likely to need. The comparison table below sets all three side by side.

Meter comparison table.

I hope we can help with your energy and power metering and logging requirements.

Shop now – view the portable range