Guildford, England-based Eseye has won the Home Energy Monitoring Award at the 2013 Smart Metering UK and Europe Summit in London. The company shares the honor with a fellow M2M innovator, London-based Telit Wireless (News - Alert) Solutions, for the product, Shoebill—which combines Eseye’s entry-level dual-current-clamp energy utility monitor equipped with Telit’s GL865 family of GSM/GPRS modules.

Eseye’s award-winning Shoebill device measures electricity consumption in a home or office and reports back through a secure server to a user’s smartphone or computer. The company positions Shoebill as a cost-effective alternative to smart meters that easily enables users to view their energy consumption profile, as well as parameters for future usage.

The Shoebill already is in use at the U.K.’s largest independent student accommodation provider, Unite, which houses over 40,000 tenants nationwide.

 “It was such a pleasure to receive the award. I won’t say a surprise because the whole team has put a huge amount of work into making Shoebill the fantastic product it is – one that’s already transforming businesses and helping them save money and go greener. I’m extremely proud to be part of such a hard-working team that’s consistently churning out bigger and better ideas and products,” commented Eseye CEO Julian Hardy.

Emmanuel Maçon-Dauxerre, vice president, Global Energy Segment, Telit Wireless Solutions, said, “Eseye’s Shoebill is an exciting innovation for the energy utility space. The ability for consumers or commercial and industrial managers to quickly install consumption monitors like this changes the game in a substantial way.”

The Shoebill uses GSM/GPRS cellular networks to connect a utility to the consumer premises. The product takes readings every 30 minutes and can report these over the cellular network in programmable intervals. Its electrical current clamps can handle up to 32 amps (A) per phase, with a 125A variant available for heavy-duty commercial and industrial applications.

The Shoebill is available in a wall-mount on standard 2-module DIN-standard enclosure. Both versions include Li-ion (lithium-ion) battery backup and can be installed without service outage. The GL865 family of GSM/GPRS modules applied in Eseye’s products comprises dual- and quad-band variants.

This allows Eseye to price its products for regional markets at a lower level since dual-band modules carry a lower cost.

For global distribution, Eseye integrated the GL865-QUAD which includes all bands required for operation in any global market.

Telit’s collaboration with Eseye touches on other products, including the Pelican—a GSM gateway for gas, water and electricity meters also equipped with modules from the GL865 family. The two companies continue exploring expansion possibilities in their collaboration, as utilities focus on upgrading their legacy infrastructure.  

Sponsored by O2 (News - Alert), a leading provider of mobile services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom, the European Smart Metering Awards are held annually to recognize excellence in the industry. 

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