Sense

Corporate brand

A Cambridge, Massachusetts climate-technology company that uses machine learning to turn electrical signals into real-time insight for households and electric utilities.

Last updated October 30, 2026

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Overview

Sense is a U.S. climate-technology company whose software analyzes electrical signals to help people and utilities understand how electricity is being used. Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013 by Mike Phillips, Ryan Houlette, and Christopher Micali, the company drew on its founders’ experience in machine learning and speech recognition. They applied signal-processing techniques to a different challenge: identifying the activity of appliances and other equipment from the electrical patterns in a home. Sense first became known for a consumer home-energy monitor, introduced to the market in 2016. Installed in a home’s electrical panel, the device measures electricity use and communicates with a mobile app. Machine-learning models analyze the measured signals to estimate overall consumption and identify the operation of individual devices. The app presents current and historical energy use, device activity, and related information intended to help households spot unusual usage, understand energy costs, and make changes. Optional current sensors enable solar monitoring and other configurations. Sense has described its consumer monitor as reaching more than 100,000 U.S. homes. The product concept was distinct from systems that simply display a whole-home meter reading or require a separate sensor on every appliance. Sense sought to infer device activity from the aggregate electrical signal, including for appliances that were not themselves connected to the internet. This approach made device detection dependent on the available signal patterns and the company’s evolving software models; detection coverage could vary across homes and equipment. The Sense Home app has remained part of the offering, with software updates and continuing support for existing monitor customers. Over time, the business broadened from selling a household device toward supplying software and analytics through utility and meter-industry partnerships. Sense’s technology has been incorporated into next-generation smart-meter platforms, allowing participating utilities to offer energy insights without a separately installed Sense monitor. This approach connects household-level information with utility needs such as customer engagement, demand flexibility, load visibility, and grid planning. Partnerships announced with companies including Landis+Gyr, Itron, EDMI, Trilliant, Xylem’s Sensus business, and CHK have supported this shift and extended the company’s reach beyond its original direct-to-consumer hardware channel. The partnerships and deployments span the United States and announced international markets including Japan, Australia, and New Zealand; they should not be taken to mean that every product is available to consumers in each country. Sense has also extended its analytical work to newer electrical loads and grid operations. Its announcements have covered EV charging analytics, solar visibility, high-resolution smart-meter data, and on-meter fault detection. These applications reflect a strategic emphasis on using detailed electrical waveforms and machine learning to identify activity at the edge of the grid, where homes connect to distribution networks. The company presents this as useful both to households managing electricity and to utilities managing an increasingly electrified system. In 2025, Sense announced that it would permanently stop selling its standalone electrical-panel monitors by December 31, 2025, or sooner if remaining inventory ran out. It said it would retire consumer-hardware manufacturing and focus on software delivered through utility smart meters, while continuing to support existing monitors and the app. The change was a shift in delivery model, rather than an announcement that the consumer energy-insight service itself was ending. Sense remains privately held and active. Its headquarters and home country are in the United States; the Netherlands attribution supplied with the input does not match the company’s documented headquarters.

History

Sense was established in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2013 by Mike Phillips, Ryan Houlette, and Christopher Micali. The founders had backgrounds in machine learning and speech-recognition technology. They turned that experience toward a problem in residential energy: whether software could infer the operation of electrical devices from the patterns in a home’s total electrical signal. The concept was to make a home’s energy use more understandable without requiring every appliance to be internet-connected or fitted with its own monitoring accessory. The company’s first major market identity was its consumer home-energy monitor. Sense began selling the monitor in 2016. Installed at a home’s electrical panel, it records electricity use and sends information to the Sense app. The company’s software analyzes changes in the signal to identify device activity and present energy-use information. Users can review whole-home consumption, see recognized devices, and examine historical patterns. Additional current sensors support solar monitoring and configurations such as a second electrical panel. Device identification is algorithmic and can differ depending on the equipment and electrical patterns in a particular home. The hardware-and-app combination formed the basis of Sense’s early direct-to-consumer business. It also provided a platform for energy-efficiency programs and partnerships with utilities and solar providers. Sense reports that its home monitor reached more than 100,000 U.S. homes. Its applications include tracking device use, surfacing energy-consumption patterns, and helping households identify opportunities to use less electricity. The company has described consumer monitoring as part of a broader goal of making homes more efficient and contributing to lower carbon emissions. A parallel business-to-business direction developed through smart-meter partnerships. In 2019, Sense announced work with Landis+Gyr, a provider of metering and utility systems. The strategy was to move its analytical software into energy infrastructure rather than rely solely on households buying and installing a standalone product. Sense subsequently announced support for Landis+Gyr’s Revelo platform and partnerships involving other meter and utility-technology companies. This approach can make an app available to households whose utilities deploy compatible meters, while also giving utilities a more detailed view of electricity use. In 2023, Sense announced an agreement with Itron to make its application available through Itron’s distributed-intelligence smart meters. It also announced deployments and collaborations involving EDMI, and later Trilliant and Xylem’s Sensus business. The shift toward utility infrastructure broadened the company’s product ambitions. Sense announced work on high-resolution meter data, including a 1 MHz meter collaboration with Xylem’s Sensus and processing work with Landis+Gyr. It introduced EV Analytics in 2025 to help identify vehicle charging activity. The company also announced partnerships aimed at extending its technology into Japan and markets in Australia and New Zealand. These programs and market announcements reflect partnerships or intended deployments; they do not establish that all Sense products are universally available across those countries. Sense also pursued consumer engagement and demand-management collaborations. Its partnership with OhmConnect connected home-energy insights with demand-response activity. A multi-year program with Alliant Energy and Cadmus studied the effects of providing Wisconsin households with real-time energy information; Sense later reported persistent energy savings and peak-demand reductions from the program. These efforts illustrate the company’s effort to connect household-level device information with utility programs and grid operations. The defining business-model change came in 2025, when Sense announced the permanent end of sales for its standalone home monitor. It set December 31, 2025, or earlier depletion of inventory, as the cutoff and said it would retire consumer-hardware manufacturing. The company stated that it would continue supporting existing monitor owners and the Sense Home app, while prioritizing software distributed through compatible smart meters and utility relationships. This marked a transition from a business led by its own consumer hardware toward a software and grid-edge intelligence model. Sense remains active and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2026
Strategic investment from Analog Devices
[14]Strategic investment from Analog Devicesprnewswire.com
Sense announced a strategic investment from Analog Devices to support its grid-edge intelligence development.
2026
Edge-powered fault detection announced
[10]Sense Announces Edge-Powered Fault Detectionprnewswire.com
Sense announced a smart-meter-embedded fault-detection solution for identifying distribution-grid problems such as arcing and equipment degradation.
2025
Sense announces EV Analytics
[9]Sense Announces EV Analyticsprnewswire.com
The company introduced analytics for identifying electric vehicles and charging activity using its energy-intelligence technology.
2025
Standalone monitor sales scheduled to end
[2]Support for Sense Home Energy Monitorshelp.sense.com
Sense announced it would stop selling its consumer electrical-panel monitors by December 31, 2025, or earlier if remaining inventory ran out, and shift emphasis to software through utilities and smart meters.
2024
High-resolution meter collaboration with Xylem’s Sensus
[13]High-resolution meter collaboration with Xylem’s Sensusprnewswire.com
Sense and Xylem’s Sensus announced work on a next-generation 1 MHz smart meter to support higher-resolution electrical data and analytics.
2023
Sense application announced for Itron smart meters
[5]Sense real-time home intelligence to be available on Itron smart metersprnewswire.com
Sense announced a collaboration to run its energy-intelligence application on Itron distributed-intelligence meters, enabling utility customers to access insights without installing separate Sense hardware.
2022
Series C financing
[8]Sense Closes $105 Million Series Cprnewswire.com
Sense announced a Series C financing led by Blue Earth Capital and later disclosed additional investment from Volery Capital.
2021
Demand-response and solar-provider partnerships
[6]Sense newsroom and press announcementssense.com
Sense announced collaborations with OhmConnect and BayWa r.e., broadening the use of its energy insights in demand-response and solar settings.
2019
Landis+Gyr partnership opens a utility-platform route
[12]Landis+Gyr partnership opens a utility-platform routeprnewswire.com
Sense and Landis+Gyr announced an energy-management partnership that helped establish smart-meter and utility platforms as a distribution channel for Sense technology.
2018
Series B funding led by Schneider Electric
[4]Sense Announces Its Series B Investmentsense.com
Sense announced an $18 million Series B led by Schneider Electric, alongside participation from existing investors.
2016
Sense home monitor enters the consumer market
[2]Support for Sense Home Energy Monitorshelp.sense.com
Sense began selling its electrical-panel home energy monitor, pairing the hardware with a mobile app for real-time energy information.
2014
Early investment from Prelude Ventures
[11]Early investment from Prelude Venturespreludeventures.com
Prelude Ventures lists 2014 as its investment date in Sense, supporting the company’s early development.
2013
Sense is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts
[1]About Sensesense.com
Mike Phillips, Ryan Houlette, and Christopher Micali establish Sense to apply machine learning and signal analysis to home energy use.

Products and positioning

Climate-tech and energy-management software that makes household electricity use more visible to consumers and utilities; initially sold as premium consumer hardware and increasingly delivered through utility smart meters.

Electrical-panel home energy monitor · 2016
Sense Home Energy Monitor
A consumer device installed in a home's electrical panel to measure electricity use and provide near-real-time information through the Sense app. Sense applies machine learning to the measured electrical signals to estimate which devices are operating, helping users examine whole-home consumption and device-level patterns. Optional current sensors support solar monitoring and additional configurations. Sense announced that it would permanently end sales of its standalone monitors by December 31, 2025, or earlier if inventory ran out, while continuing support for existing owners.
Energy-management software
Sense Home app
The companion app presents energy-use information from a Sense monitor or, where supported, a utility smart meter. Its features include current and historical consumption views, device activity, and tools intended to help households identify usage patterns and manage energy. The app is central to Sense’s continuing consumer offering, including after the company’s planned exit from manufacturing standalone consumer monitors.
Utility and smart-meter software · 2023
Sense smart-meter application
Sense’s software can be embedded in compatible next-generation smart meters or meter platforms, allowing participating utilities to provide household energy insights without a separately installed Sense monitor. The approach also supports utility applications such as customer engagement, demand management, load visibility, and grid planning. Availability depends on the utility, meter technology, and local deployment.
Electric-vehicle load analytics · 2025
Sense EV Analytics
An analytics capability announced in 2025 for identifying electric vehicles and their charging activity from electrical data. Sense positioned the feature as useful to utilities seeking visibility into EV adoption and charging loads, and as part of a broader effort to apply its signal-analysis software to newly electrified household equipment.
Utility grid analytics · 2026
Sense grid-edge analytics and fault detection
Software intended to analyze high-resolution electrical information at or near smart meters, providing utilities with visibility into loads and potential distribution-grid faults. In 2026 Sense announced an edge-powered fault-detection solution intended to identify conditions such as arcing, downed lines, and equipment degradation. These capabilities extend the company’s waveform-analysis technology from household energy insight toward grid reliability and operational use cases.

Marketing campaigns

2021OhmConnect demand-response partnership
United States
Sense and OhmConnect announced a collaboration linking household energy intelligence with demand-response participation. The initiative was presented as a way to help participants respond to grid needs and increase potential savings.
Outcome. The announcement described the intended partnership and its savings objective; a separately verified final campaign outcome is not stated here.
Source
2019Alliant Energy real-time home energy monitoring program
United States
Sense, Alliant Energy, and Cadmus conducted a multi-year Wisconsin program using real-time home energy insights to study household consumption, participant engagement, and demand response.
Outcome. Sense reported that analysis of the program found persistent reductions in household electricity use and measurable reductions in peak demand. The reported results are the company’s account of the program and should be read in that context.
Source

Brand decisions

2025
Retire consumer hardware manufacturing and end standalone monitor salesStrategy
Background
Sense said utility smart-meter deployments offered a way to make its energy-insight software available without requiring each household to purchase and install a separate monitor.
Action taken
The company announced that sales of its electrical-panel home monitors would stop permanently by December 31, 2025, or earlier if inventory ran out. It said it would focus on software delivered through utilities while continuing support for existing monitor customers and the app.
Aftermath
The decision shifted Sense’s delivery model away from new standalone hardware sales and toward smart-meter software and utility partnerships. The company stated that the Sense app and support for existing monitors would continue.
Source
2023
Expand from standalone monitors to software embedded in smart metersStrategy
Background
Sense had established a consumer product based on a dedicated electrical-panel monitor, but its founders described integration into home and utility infrastructure as a path to wider adoption.
Action taken
The company announced an agreement with Itron to make its application available through Itron distributed-intelligence smart meters, alongside partnerships with other meter and utility-technology providers.
Aftermath
The strategy broadened Sense’s business toward utility software and grid-edge analytics. Later announcements included EV analytics, high-resolution meter collaborations, and utility-focused fault detection.
Source

Recent events

2026
Sense announces strategic investment from Analog Devices[14]Strategic investment from Analog Devicesprnewswire.com
Other
Sense announced strategic investment from Analog Devices to advance its grid-edge intelligence work.
2026
Sense announces an edge-powered fault-detection solution[10]Sense Announces Edge-Powered Fault Detectionprnewswire.com
Product launch
Sense announced software embedded in next-generation smart meters to identify electrical faults and equipment degradation on distribution grids, with stated applications including reliability, outage response, and wildfire-risk reduction.
2025
Sense and Landis+Gyr announce collaboration on high-resolution processing[6]Sense newsroom and press announcementssense.com
Product generation · Other
The companies announced collaboration on 1 MHz processing for Landis+Gyr’s Revelo grid-sensing platform, extending their work on high-resolution meter data.
2025
Sense launches EV Analytics for vehicle detection and charging insights[9]Sense Announces EV Analyticsprnewswire.com
Product launch
Sense announced EV Analytics, a smart-meter-based capability intended to identify electric-vehicle charging activity and give utilities and consumers more insight into EV-related loads.
2025
Sense partners with CHK to bring grid-edge intelligence to Japanese utilities[16]Sense partners with CHK to bring grid-edge intelligence to Japanese utilitiesprnewswire.com
Other
The partnership marked an announced extension of Sense’s utility-focused grid-edge technology into Japan.
2025
Sense and Enode announce a partnership for EV energy insights and controls[17]Sense and Enode announce a partnership for EV energy insights and controlsprnewswire.com
Other · Product launch
The companies announced a partnership to connect Sense’s energy intelligence with Enode’s device connectivity capabilities, with a focus on EV insights and controls.
2025
Sense announces the end of sales for its standalone home monitors[2]Support for Sense Home Energy Monitorshelp.sense.com
Other · Product generation
Sense said it would permanently stop selling its electrical-panel home monitors on December 31, 2025, or earlier if inventory ran out. The company said it would retire consumer-hardware manufacturing and prioritize software delivered through utility smart meters, while continuing app and support services for existing customers.
2024
Sense collaborates with Xylem’s Sensus on a next-generation 1 MHz meter[13]High-resolution meter collaboration with Xylem’s Sensusprnewswire.com
Product generation · Other
The companies announced work on a smart meter designed to capture higher-resolution electrical data, an approach intended to support more detailed grid-edge analytics.
2024
Sense expands its leadership team with new product and marketing executives[18]Sense expands its leadership team with new product and marketing executivesprnewswire.com
Leadership change
Sense announced additions to its leadership team, including senior vice presidents for marketing and product.
2024
Sense and Trilliant announce an energy-management partnership[19]Sense and Trilliant announce an energy-management partnershipbusinesswire.com
Other
The companies announced a collaboration to combine Sense’s energy-intelligence software with Trilliant’s utility communications and smart-meter capabilities.

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