P.E.A.K.: Hardware for Prepaid Energy Awareness Kit

Presenter: Alexander David Shikhanovich

Faculty Sponsor: Maitreyee Marathe

School: UMass Amherst

Research Area: Electrical and Computer Engineering

Session: Poster Session 6, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM, Auditorium, A31

ABSTRACT

This project presents the design and development of a home energy management system. The system is based on low-cost embedded hardware and is targeted for use by prepaid electricity customers, particularly those identifying as low-and moderate-income households. Participants in these programs often experience disconnections from electricity service due to financial insecurity and may ration their energy use to budget for other critical needs. Existing solutions are largely unviable, either due to their high cost, lack of features, or usage difficulty. This issue necessitates a proactive, cost-effective home energy monitoring solution to mitigate outages and user compromises. The project addresses these concerns by utilizing a set of three unique algorithmic optimization approaches developed in prior work. These methods will be deployed on a two-part system: an external child device performing data logging from the customer’s energy meter, and an in-home parent device performing the computations and displaying relevant metrics to the user. The device will report real-time usage, various power and device budget estimates, and reminders to add balance to the user’s prepaid wallet. Future efforts include the development of deployment-ready prototypes, refinement of user-centered design through community engagement, collaboration with local power companies, and expanded support for higher-complexity optimization algorithms.

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