Home energy management

British Gas is to trial AlertMe.com's home energy management system to help its customers cut their energy consumption.

The agreement follows an announcement in June that AlertMe had secured £8m in funding from investors Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

The energy-saving technology from AlertMe.com, which is based on its Smart Home platform, is inexpensive and can help consumers make savings on their residential energy costs.

To do so, an AlertMe.com energy kit is connected to the internet via a home broadband connection, providing an online service that can be used from home, office or even while on holiday.

It constantly measures and controls individual appliances within the home as well as measuring and managing the home's overall energy usage. The homeowner can then view this information and change any settings he or she requires.

The service could be made available to British Gas customers by the end of 2009.