The Ontario government has announced the winners of the Energy Apps for Ontario Challenge.
The innovative new apps to promote energy savings were created to help Ontario families and businesses understand and manage electricity use.
The challenge was launched in partnership with the MaRS Discovery District in October 2013. It offers a cash prizes for the best new apps developed to use electricity data collected by smart meters in order to empower consumers to improve their energy consumption.
Wattson, an app that shows how daily actions impact a user’s overall consumption, won both the Gold and People’s Choice awards. Its “Energy Butler” finds savings for users by monitoring daily energy use.
A group of industry experts judged and selected the apps for five awards — Gold, Silver, Bronze, Best Student App and Best App Created Outside of Ontario. Prizes for the apps ranged from $20,000 for the Gold Award to $5,000 for the Best Student App.
The other award winners were:
- Silver Award: Beckon helps users track electricity and spending, as well as set spending reminders and time-of-use alerts
- Bronze Award: Energy Tipper uses creative photos to remind users about time-of-use pricing
- Best Student App: Wattermelon lets consumers anonymously compare their electricity their neighbours
- Best App Created Outside of Ontario: UnPlug Stuff finds ways users can reduce energy by identifying phantom power in homes
The winning apps may be used in an upcoming pilot with London Hydro and Hydro One later this year.