With winter around the corner, many people in the UK are likely to start worrying about how much they’re going to spend on their energy bills in the coming months. Now there’s a new smartwatch app to help people get a clearer insight. In a bid to help consumers manage how much they spend on energy, developers at Bristol-based Ovo Energy have built an Apple Watch app that allows home owners and renters to monitor their energy usage from their wrist. The MyOVO Apple Watch app, which syncs to the MyOVO mobile app and a free smart meter, comes with built in voice recognition technology so the Apple Watch can call out meter readings and inform customers how much they’ve spent on energy since their last bill. Mariano Albera, Chief Technology Officer at OVO believes UK energy customers have been starved by innovation until now by the big six energy companies. Ovo Energy’s pay as you go energy platform (PAYG+), allows customers to manage elements of their energy supply, from topping up, to monitoring usage on one platform (app or desktop). It’s thought that there are approximately 4.2 million people in the UK that use pay as you go energy tariffs. Ovo Energy claims that its app will kill the traditional meter key and eliminate the need for people to make top up trips to the local corner shop. Ovo Energy customers that pay their bills on a monthly or quarterly basis can also use the Apple Watch app but they'll get slightly different features. Apple Watch sales have been disappointing since the product went on sale and Apple Watch critics say third party apps are difficult to use and offer little functionality compared to the native apps.
Developers at Bristol-based Ovo Energy have built an Apple Watch app that allows energy bill payers to monitor the energy usage of their home from their wrist. Ovo offers a pay-as-you-go energy tariff, to cater for the approximately 4.2 million people in the UK that top-up their energy bills.