Over the last month, Google and later Microsoft pulled out of the power meter business (thanks to John Kelly for the link).

I'm really tempted to say, Told you so!
Data-driven approach works only if you have the ability to change the situation. For example, you can easily calculate fuel efficiency of your car, but if you don't have the money to buy a new fuel-efficient car or if purchasing the car doesn't provide any savings, repeated calculations or metering won't help you at all.

The assertion that consumers will reduce their energy consumption by up to 15 percent has never really panned out in reality. It's been a favorite of PowerPoint presentations, but the actual savings are often far lower. OPower has some of the best results for reducing energy consumption via information and on average it gets consumers to reduce consumption by 3 percent or so. EcoFactor, which automates energy management, says it reduces power by around 17 percent more than demand response services: the key to EcoFactor's success is allowing machines, not humans, to handle many management tasks.