Emporia Vue 3 Home Energy Monitor (Gen 3)

The Emporia Vue 3 is a whole-home electricity monitor that installs inside a residential electrical panel. Two split-core CT (current transformer) clamps go around the main service-entrance conductors; the monitor unit mounts on or near the panel, powered from a spare 240 V breaker, and reports real-time and historical electricity usage to a phone app and a free cloud account.

The base unit covers whole-home aggregate consumption. Up to 16 additional CT sensors can be added on a per-circuit basis (one CT per breaker), giving line-of-sight into which specific circuits in the house are drawing what — useful for finding phantom loads, tracking solar production, monitoring EV charging cost, and breaking down where the monthly hydro bill is actually going.

It is cULus Listed under UL 61010-2-030 (electrical safety for measurement, control, and laboratory equipment) with the CT sensors separately certified under ANSI/CAN/UL 2808 — the harmonized US + Canada standard for CT sensors. Both marks are explicitly stated on Emporia’s certification documentation as valid across the United States and Canada.

• Hydro bill anxiety / time-of-use optimization. Most Canadian provinces use time-of-use or tiered hydro pricing. The Vue’s real-time and historical breakdown shows exactly which loads are running during peak-rate windows — useful for shifting big draws (dryer, dishwasher, EV charging) to off-peak hours.
• Solar / battery owners. When wired to monitor a solar inverter or battery output as well as house draw, the Vue surfaces net consumption, self-consumption, and grid export volumes — the numbers that determine real ROI on a residential solar install.
• EV ownership. A dedicated CT on the EV charger circuit isolates exactly how much electricity (and at what cost) each charging session uses. Helpful for tax / mileage tracking and for understanding when the EV is actually paying off the gas car it replaced.
• Renovations / electrification. When migrating from gas to electric (heat pump, induction range, electric water heater), the Vue lets a homeowner see the new load profile and verify the panel + service entrance can actually handle it before taking the next step.
• Renters / inherited homes. Setting it up briefly on a panel you’re moving into surfaces which specific circuits are drawing power even when nothing is “on” — finds the always-on devices the previous owner installed and forgot.

• Apartments / suites without panel access. Installation requires physical access to the main electrical panel. Tenants without that access need a different class of product (per-outlet smart plugs with energy monitoring, for instance).
• No control function. This is a measurement-only device. It cannot turn circuits on or off, schedule loads, or trigger automation directly. Pair with smart breakers or smart switches if control is the goal.
• DIY-installable, but understand the risk. The unit can be installed by a confident homeowner with a multimeter and the willingness to work in a live panel — but the safer path is hiring an electrician for a one-hour install, especially on older panels or services where the main breaker is hard to access. The Vue itself is cULus listed; the install practice still needs to follow provincial electrical code.
• High-amperage services beyond 250 A. Base unit’s two 200 A CTs cover services up to 250 A real-world draw — sufficient for most 100 A / 200 A residential panels. Larger services (400 A, 600 A) or 3-phase panels need the Vue 3 3-Phase variant (separate SKU) or alternative CT sizing.

• One-hour electrician install. For most residential panels this is a two-CT clamp on the service-entrance conductors plus a wire run to a spare 240 V breaker. Quote an electrician for a one-hour visit; bundle with any other panel work if convenient.
• Choose your circuits before you order add-on sensors. Each add-on CT covers one breaker. A 16-sensor bundle is plenty for a typical home — pick the 16 circuits whose usage you actually want broken out (EV charger, hot tub, dryer, AC, oven, water heater, fridge, freezer, kitchen general, etc.). General lighting circuits add less insight per dollar.
• WiFi reliability matters. The Vue depends on a 2.4 GHz WiFi signal at the panel location. Panels in basements or utility rooms often have weak coverage — confirm signal strength at the install location before purchase, or plan to install a WiFi extender.
• Data lives in Emporia’s cloud. Free-tier account; the data is also accessible via Emporia’s local API for integration with Home Assistant or similar. Buyers who want fully-local-only data access should evaluate whether the cloud-dependent default setup is acceptable.

Price at time of writing: $149.99 CAD at The Home Depot Canada for the base Vue 3 Gen 3 unit (2 main CTs, no expansion sensors included). 8-sensor and 16-sensor bundles are sold at higher tiers through the same channel (typically $229.99 and $299.99 CAD respectively). Emporia does not operate a Canadian direct storefront; primary Canadian retail is through Home Depot Canada, Best Buy Canada, and Walmart Canada.