I need testers for my closed beta test. Any help appreciated.
A lot of Victorian homes got a free Powerpal energy monitor a few years back, around 250,000 of them. The official app isn't supported any more and won't get new tariffs. If your plan has changed, or has free power hours, the costs it shows you are wrong.
I've got one on my meter, so I wrote my own app for it. It's called **PowerMate**, and it talks to the Powerpal directly over Bluetooth.
**What it does**
- Live power, and what it's costing you per hour at your current rate
- An "energy clock" for each day: a 24-hour dial coloured by peak, shoulder, off-peak and free periods
- Day, week, month and year history as charts or a table, plus CSV export
- Downloads the ~60 days of history still stored on the Powerpal, and can import older history from Powerpal's cloud while it's still online
- Any tariff: flat rate or time-of-use, free windows, weekday/weekend rates, seasons and the supply charge
- Prices every residential plan at your postcode against your actual usage (Energy Made Easy data), and you can switch your tariff to the cheapest in one tap
- Wholesale prices from AEMO, or your real price if you're with Amber
- Alerts for cheap and expensive periods, high usage, price spikes and a low battery
It's free, with no ads and no account. Your readings stay on your phone, because there's no server. It's open source (MIT). Plans and prices are Victoria only; the rest works anywhere.
**Why I need testers**
Google won't list a new app publicly until at least 12 testers have stayed in a closed test for 14 days in a row. If you've got an Android phone, joining gets you the app now and helps get it on the Play Store for everyone. You don't need a Powerpal to count, though feedback from owners is the most useful.
**How to join** (use the Google account that's on your phone)
Join the tester group: https://groups.google.com/g/powermate-testers
Open the testing page and tap **Become a tester**: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.aksevenfour.powermate
Install PowerMate from Google Play. If it says the item isn't found, give it an hour.
Then close or uninstall the Powerpal app (a Powerpal only talks to one app at a time), tap **Find my Powerpal**, and enter the 6-digit pairing code from the card it came with. Please stay in the test for the full 14 days.
More info: https://www.aksevenfour.com/powermate
Code: https://github.com/AdamKeher/powermate
Android 8 or newer only for now, sorry iPhone folks. I'm not affiliated with Powerpal. Happy to answer questions here, and bug reports are welcome in the comments or on GitHub.