Smart Energy Manager: An ESP32-Based Multi-Appliance Energy Monitoring and Cost Estimation System

This research paper presents the design of a Smart Energy Manager, an ESP32-based multi-appliance electricity monitoring and cost estimation system integrated with an Android mobile application. The proposed system aims to improve household electricity consumption awareness by providing appliance-wise monitoring of voltage, current, active power, energy consumption and estimated electricity costs. The architecture uses dedicated PZEM-004T energy measurement modules connected to an ESP32 microcontroller. The ESP32 collects measurement data and makes it available to an Android application developed using Java and XML over a local wireless network. The proposed mobile application provides a centralized dashboard, appliance-wise energy information, configurable electricity tariffs, estimated billing, usage history, consumption comparisons and budget-awareness features. Unlike non-intrusive load monitoring techniques that estimate individual appliance consumption from aggregate electrical measurements, this approach uses separate measurement channels for selected appliances. The paper discusses the proposed system architecture, measurement principles, billing calculations, communication workflow, software design, safety considerations, limitations and a methodology for experimental validation. This work is presented as a proposed prototype design. Hardware calibration, field testing and measured performance results must be completed before quantitative accuracy or energy-saving claims can be established.