With so many new innovations in technology showcased at this year’s C.E.S it was easy to miss some of the more all-purpose announcements at the event. One such announcement, which is greatly beneficial to home owners, was the introduction of People Power. The Palo Alto based start-up won a $20,000 competition hosted by ATT. The goal of the six month long competition was to find, “the best sustainability app to help improve the quality of our environment”. With the help of five million dollars in investments, People Power created an app which turns your mobile device into a remote control to help manage electricity usage in one’s home.

Future of Home Power Usage

Have you ever gone on vacation for a few weeks and come back to a huge heating bill? Energy bills affect not only your wallet but also the environment. With People Power 1.0, you have the ability to Monitor, Control, Compare, and even Compete via your mobile device to help save you money. In the app, which is free for iOS and Android devices, your energy use is put in your hands letting you monitor and control your energy usage from anywhere. Users have to option of monitoring their past and present energy while receiving projections of future usage in real-time. You can also monitor usage by day, month and year giving you substantial insight into what is taking up power in your home. The app also helps you control your bill by putting your home on an energy budget. Not only do you set the budget you desire, you are also given suggestions on energy saving devices from with-in the app itself with a marketplace listing different devices and your potential savings by using them. The app also compares your home to other homes showing the user how their home compares to others in their area, state, and even the world in terms of energy usage. Another interesting feature is the ability to showcase your energy consumption and savings via Facebook. It gives the user and their friends a detailed list of how they’re saving money and helping the environment at the same time giving the user more incentive to save energy.

Peope Power gives you so much control over your energy usage that there is little room left for overpaying on your electricity bill. With the company building and adding more features as the year continues, keep an eye out for People Power and their future innovations. One such innovation, already under way is People Power 2.0 giving users even more control over their household devices. For more information about People Power click here or follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook. TechCrunch also has a fifteen minute interview with the CEO of People Power available here.

Christian Diaz is a freelance writer and tech enthusaist. You can follow him on Twitter.