Energy Use Cases · Smart Energy Hub
Upgrade Your Electrical Panel into a Smart Energy Hub
Most electrical panels are designed only for safe power distribution. With ecoMain and optional ecoSub expansion modules, the panel can also become the foundation of whole-home energy monitoring, branch-circuit visibility and app-based energy insights.
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The Problem: Electricity Enters the Home, Then Becomes Hard to Understand
After electricity enters a home, most owners can see only a total bill or a total power number. That makes it difficult to answer practical questions: which circuits consume the most energy, which appliances contribute most to electricity usage, and how efficiently solar energy is being used.
A traditional electrical panel distributes power safely, but it usually does not explain where the energy goes. For energy management, the missing layer is visibility from the main circuit down to the important branch circuits.
The enecess Solution: Main Circuit + Branch-Circuit Monitoring
With ecoMain and ecoSub, the electrical panel evolves from a passive distribution point into an intelligent energy monitoring hub. ecoMain provides whole-home energy monitoring by measuring the main electrical supply of the house, while ecoSub adds more circuit-level visibility when the home needs deeper monitoring.
ecoMain can show total household power consumption, grid energy usage, solar generation and household energy trends. For homes that need more detail, branch-circuit monitoring can identify where energy is actually being used.
Measures the main supply and gives a real-time view of household consumption, grid usage, solar generation and overall energy balance.
Add ecoSub when the installation requires additional branch-circuit visibility, such as heat pumps, refrigerators, kitchen appliances, living spaces or other dedicated circuits.
Example: From the Main Circuit to Every Important Branch
A homeowner can start with whole-home monitoring on the main circuit, then add branch-circuit monitoring for the loads that matter most. Typical monitored circuits include heat pumps, refrigerators, kitchen appliances, living spaces and other dedicated circuits.
| Monitoring layer | What it shows | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Main circuit | Total household power, grid energy usage, solar balance and overall energy trends. | Shows whether the home is importing, exporting or consuming power at the whole-home level. |
| Branch circuits | Energy contribution of selected circuits and major electricity-consuming loads. | Helps locate the actual loads behind the total energy number. |
| Named appliances | Assigned appliance or circuit names, current status, and energy information for different loads. | Turns anonymous electrical channels into meaningful household energy information. |
What Homeowners See in the enecess App
Once the panel data is connected to the app, energy visibility becomes easier to use. Instead of only asking how much electricity the home used, homeowners can ask which appliances consume the most energy and how to optimize them.
Today: See the Whole Home at a Glance
The Today page provides a real-time overview of household energy usage, including current household power, energy contribution from different circuits and major electricity-consuming loads.
Trends: Follow Energy Over Time
Through the Trends feature, users can review household energy consumption across day, week, month and year views. The weekly view can reveal daily electricity changes, usage patterns throughout the week and the relationship between energy generation and household consumption.
Behaviors: Understand Appliance Consumption
The Behavior feature analyzes and ranks household loads based on energy consumption. A heat pump, for example, can be reviewed by 7-day cumulative energy consumption, average power, operating duration, energy contribution and solar contribution.
Reports: Turn Monthly Bills into Energy Insights
Beyond real-time monitoring and daily tracking, Report pages provide monthly summaries of household energy performance. They help homeowners understand overall household energy balance, solar generation, self-consumption performance and the contribution of different circuits and appliances.
System: Connect Circuits to Real Appliances
Understanding energy usage starts with knowing what each circuit represents. Through the System interface, users can associate monitoring channels with specific household circuits or appliances.
The enecess App is the simplest way to set up and manage this project. For users who prefer local access and open smart home dashboards, ecoMain can also be used with Home Assistant.
Read the Home Assistant guideWhat You Need
Installed in the electrical panel to monitor the main supply and provide the foundation for whole-home energy visibility.
Optional modules for projects that need more branch-circuit monitoring points.
Shows real-time overview, trends, appliance behavior, reports and system configuration.
Fit and Limits
Homes or small commercial sites that want whole-home energy monitoring plus deeper visibility into selected circuits such as heat pumps, refrigerators, kitchens, living spaces or dedicated loads.
The system is for energy monitoring and analysis. Electrical installation and panel work should follow local regulations and be completed by qualified professionals.
A project can begin with ecoMain main-circuit monitoring and expand later when more branch-level detail is needed.
The value of branch monitoring increases when each channel is mapped to a real circuit or appliance name.
FAQ
What does it mean to upgrade an electrical panel into a smart energy hub?
It means adding measurement and software visibility to the panel. ecoMain monitors the main supply, optional ecoSub modules add branch-circuit data, and the enecess app turns the measurements into readable energy insights.
Do I always need ecoSub?
No. ecoSub is used when the home needs additional branch-circuit monitoring. If the project only needs whole-home monitoring or a smaller number of important circuits, ecoMain may be enough.
Which circuits are useful to monitor?
Typical examples include heat pumps, refrigerators, kitchen appliances, living spaces, solar-related circuits and other dedicated circuits that may affect the electricity bill.
Can the app show appliance behavior over time?
Yes. The Behavior feature can rank loads and show details such as 7-day cumulative energy consumption, average power, operating duration, energy contribution and solar contribution.
Can this help with solar energy usage?
Yes. By combining whole-home measurement, solar generation data and branch-circuit monitoring, the system helps homeowners understand the relationship between solar generation and household consumption.
Can I use ecoMain with Home Assistant or local access instead of only the enecess App?
Yes. The enecess App provides the ready-to-use experience for setup, overview, trends and reports. Users who prefer local dashboards can also connect ecoMain with Home Assistant. See the Home Assistant integration guide under Open Platforms.
Who should install the monitoring hardware?
Work inside the electrical panel should be completed by qualified electricians or professionals following local electrical requirements.
Make Every Watt Visible
With ecoMain and ecoSub, the electrical panel becomes more than a power distribution point. It becomes the foundation of intelligent home energy management, helping homeowners understand where energy comes from, where it goes and how it can be optimized.