Home Area Network Pilot
Not a HAN Pilot participant? Unfortunately, pilot enrollment has closed. Find out how you can gain access to Home Area Networking in your residence or business, starting as early as Jan 15, 2013.
Overview of the HAN Pilot
Pacific Gas & Electric Company's Home Area Network (HAN) Pilot Program is enabled by your SmartMeter™ technology and provides customers like you with a FREE In-home Display (IHD) that allows you to see your power consumption almost immediately. The information on this site describes the HAN Program, explains why you should be an early adopter, and answers frequently asked questions.
What is the Home Area Network (HAN) Program?
While SmartMeter™ technology offers customers the ability to ‘See Your Power’ by recording and updating your electric usage in 15 minute increments (up to the previous day), the Home Area Network In-home Display (IHD) provides near real-time usage. With only a 15 second delay in transmission of your electricity usage information, this IHD – which is about the size of a GPS device - will help you learn about your electricity use and respond to pricing and energy alert information to allow you to minimize energy use and potentially lower your bill.
In addition to showing you how much electricity your house is using at any given time, the HAN In-home Display will also show you:
- The current cost of the electricity your home is using – and shows you when you enter a higher priced electric tier
- The demand or the rate at which your home is using electricity.
- The current consumption, or Kilowatt hours your home is consuming
- History of your real-time energy usage so you can evaluate what caused spikes in your home’s energy use
Imagine if you could identify the biggest electricity draws on your home, take this information, and immediately react to it. It could help you to lower the energy and money you spend on your bill each month.
Participants: Pioneers in Energy Management
As part of initial the Home Area Network (HAN) Program, PG&E and other utilities in California have been tasked by the California Public Utilities Commission with enabling this technology for early adopters, like you, to engage with the In-home Display and offer feedback on the usefulness of the information you are receiving.
Customers who join the initial program will receive a device that will:
- Provide near-real-time and cumulative electricity consumption in kilowatts (kW) and kilowatt-hours (kWh)
- Show your home’s electricity cost in dollars and cents
- Indicate when you have moved into a higher electric rate/tier which impacts the cost of your electricity
- Make it easier to understand and adjust your electricity usage patterns
- Potentially lower your monthly energy costs
- Be professionally installed by a qualified technician and supported by PG&E’s technical personnel
Many have asked ‘Why was I selected’ and that is a great question. Below are some of the key criteria we used in determining which customers to invite to participate in the pilot:
- Single family residences.
- Customers must be on an E-1 rate plan.
- Customers must be in a SmartMeter™ optimized area – this means we get really great and consistent readings for your energy usage. Without this, the benefits of the HAN In-home Display wouldn’t be as readily available to you.
These items above are why your mom in Novato or your cousin Tim in Shasta may not have been invited to participate at this time.
As part of your participation, a technician will professionally install your In-home Display. At that time, you will be provided with materials that explain the benefits of your display, how to use it, and answer customers most frequently asked questions which the technical will walk you through and leave with you once the installation is complete.
Then, in a few weeks and months, we will ask you take a survey that will help to shape the future of this program for customers like you.
In the coming years the In-home Display will be one that customers like you – or mom or cousin Tom – can purchase through the manufacturer or your local retailer. When that time comes, PG&E and our sister utilities want to ensure that all of our customers can use the information provided to help save energy and money.
While HAN has many exciting features now, in the future it may evolve to a more interactive tool to help you manager your energy consumption. For example, you may be able to program your energy management system to automatically turn off appliances or set the temperature on your air conditioner higher or lower based on the latest energy information from PG&E.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why do I need a SmartMeter™ to use my Home Area Network In-home Display?
Your SmartMeter™ plays a critical role by gathering your electricity use and pricing information, and then sending it via radio signal to your In-home Display. Your installed device depends on that information to show you how much electricity you’re using and at what cost.
Am I seeing up-to-the-minute electricity consumption on my display?
The information you see is “near-real-time.” There’s a 15- to 20-second delay in communicating your actual electricity use to your In-home Display. The difference is very small and won’t affect how you control your electricity use.
Is my bill guaranteed to go down because of my participation with the HAN Program?
Participation in the HAN program offers a tool to help you understand and monitor your electricity usage but does not guarantee that you will experience lower bills. Lowering your energy bill depends on the behavior changes you and your household take to save on energy.
My In-home Display screen isn’t showing me usage or pricing information at the moment. What’s happening?
Occasionally, a device will lose connectivity to the meter. The device will attempt to reconnect for 15 minutes but until it reconnects, the price will be displayed as $0 and current consumption as 0 kWh. If the connection is reestablished, you will see your electricity consumption information as you normally do. If, after 15 minutes, the device is unable to reconnect, you will see an Unable to Connect message. Click OK to acknowledge the message. Please try the following activities before calling for technical assistance:
- If the device screen is blank, ensure that the device is plugged in or check that the device’s screen saver is not enabled by going to Main Menu -> Select Settings -> Select Display to adjust the screen saver settings.
- If the device is on but the home screen has no data, and the device has been moved from where it was originally installed, move the device back to its original location. If that does not help, try moving the device to a location closer to the meter. The device will attempt to reconnect to the meter automatically.
If your problem persists, call PG&E for technical assistance at
What should I do if my In-home Display screen freezes?
If your in-home Display screen freezes, please try replacing the batteries. This can be done following this sequence:
- Unplug EC-100 from outlet
- Take the two screws out of the Bottom of EC-100
- Remove batteries
- Replace batteries
- Plug EC-100 into outlet
If your problem persists, call PG&E for technical assistance at
Does any loss of connectivity affect the pricing information I’ll be receiving?
When the connection is reestablished, you’ll see the most accurate price of the kWh displayed. However, if you’re looking at the running total for the month the assumption made by the device about the price of electricity may be inaccurate for the time the device was disconnected.
Why isn’t my pricing aligned with what I see in My Energy on pge.com or on my bill?
The price displayed only captures the actual cost of electricity at that moment. Keep in mind that the price displayed is only for electricity usage. It does not take into account your gas charges, pricing tiers, taxes, fees or other surcharges that are factored into your monthly bill.
Can PG&E see my individual appliance- or device-level information when I set up or use my display device?
No, we do not obtain information about your individual appliance usage. PG&E’s SmartMeter™ only provides information about your entire home-electricity demand and consumption. The information provided on the “Use by Device” screen is based on a typical home like yours using an algorithm provided by the device manufacturer. It is only an approximation based on the information you provided at the time of installation and should not be considered an exact reading for the appliances in your home.
What’s the difference between a kilowatt (kW) and a kilowatt-hour (kWh)?
A kW is a unit of power—in other words, the rate at which energy is used or generated. A kWh is a unit of energy equivalent to 1,000 watt hours, and it’s a common unit of measure utilities use for billing electric energy.
As an analogy, if you were to fill a bucket with water from a hose, the rate at which the water flows from the hose into the bucket would represent a kW (power), while the total amount of water in the bucket when finished would represent the kWh (energy).
To estimate how much energy an appliance uses each day—and what that appliance may cost to operate each month—follow these simple steps:
- Find the appliance’s rated wattage (as listed on its nameplate) and then divide that number by 1,000 to calculate the kW.
- Multiply the kW by the estimated number of hours per day the appliance operates to get kWh per day.
- To estimate monthly usage, multiply the daily kWh by the number of days in the month.
- To estimate the monthly cost of operating an appliance, multiply the “monthly” kWh usage by the average rate you pay (see last month’s bill to determine this).
Can I add additional Control4 devices to my In-home Display?
Not at this time, but the device manufacturer may enable this functionality in future In-home Displays.
I’ve been told that my device may not work after April 30, 2013. Why is that?
April 30, 2013, marks the official end of this first phase of the HAN Program. After that, PG&E will upgrade its systems to support newer generations of In-home Display technologies which may affect the functionality of your In-home Display. The device is yours to keep or you may choose to return it to PG&E however PG&E will not troubleshoot or replace device specific issues after April 30th. We’ll let you know before these upgrades take place.
What will happen to my personal information on the device if I recycle it at the end of the program?
To erase your personal data information from the device you should follow this sequence:
- Go to Menu
- Select the Settings option
- Push the Reset button called Clear Data
This will erase the Wi-Fi and all personal data but it won’t clear all persistent data for electricity usage—your five-year history.
Someone I know would like to participate in the HAN Program. How can they sign up and get their In-home Display?
Participation in the HAN Program is currently limited to certain areas in PG&E’s territory. That’s why you were invited to join. After this first stage of the program is complete, PG&E will introduce it to our entire service territory.
Is the In-home Display device certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)?
Yes. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B and Class C digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. For more information about device certification, please see the Regulatory Compliance section of the EC-100 Energy Controller Setup Guide.
Whom can I contact with questions about my device?
- For specific HAN-related questions, call 1-877-743-4357 Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–7:30 p.m. and Saturday,
7:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Or email: HelpingHAN@pge.com - For general PG&E questions, call 1-800-743-5000.
Enrollment Closed
Thank you for your interest in participating in the HAN Program, but enrollment is currently closed.
HAN Welcome Kit
HAN Device Troubleshooting
Between the Hours
Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday 7 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Or
Email HelpingHAN@pge.com
Contact Us
For billing or other general
PG&E questions, call: 1-800-743-5000
