Customers who sign up for the service will receive automatic data feeds on their energy use through the online software. All other users of the software can still enter their energy information manually.

Hohm’s major competitor, Google’s PowerMeter, has been partnered with a handful of utilities for a few months now, but recently, Google made their software available to users of the TED 3000 devices, allowing customers to skip their utility and get their energy use information directly.

As this is Microsoft’s first full-fledged partnership for the application, it will be interesting to see if they answer Google’s move and come out with their own gadget venture.

Hohm, from first impressions, appears to be a much slicker and comprehensive software than PowerMeter. I’m excited to see how it performs when linked with its first utility.