Origin Energy has launched a trial for its connected home offering in Victoria, which it claims is a first in the Australian energy retailer market.
The Home HQ smart home kit allows customers to remotely monitor and control appliances with a mobile app, as well as smart sensors and plugs connected within their home.
“Origin already powers the homes of millions of Australians, so we are excited to be offering customers new solutions that give them greater comfort, control and visibility over their energy use,” Origin executive general manager for retail John Briskin said.
The bundle starts at $199, and includes a gateway, temperature and humidity sensor, smart plug, smart light bulb, a motion sensor and two entry sensors.
The gateway connects the whole kit to a home wi-fi network, acting as a central hub for the smart devices and enabling them to be controlled from the accompanied mobile app.
“Home HQ uses open-source technology which means that it will be able to connect many different smart devices over time,” Briskin said.
“As people’s smart homes grow and evolve, Home HQ will help make it simple for customers to manage all their smart devices through one application.”
The kit was developed in partnership with California-based IoT startup People Power out of Origin’s O hub, a new office in Melbourne dedicated to product prototyping, trialling and commercialisation.
In May this year, Origin invested US$1.2 million in People Power to give itself exclusivity to market the IoT startup’s technology in Australia and New Zealand.
The investment was part of People Power’s US$4 million Series B-1 financing round, which included $2 million from German energy company Innogy.
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