Media for Household electrical current to Excel ???

Household electrical current to Excel ???

Hi All,

I want to be able to monitor electrical usage in the home in real time and to be able to see the effects of for example turning off the TV or turning on the water heating in graphical or numeric form.

I looking for opinions on the best way(s) and product(s) for doing this.

Presumably one would simply measure the electrical current drawn from the consumer board and send this reading to the PC using some kind of data acquisition board and software?

I'm really not all that familiar with the products that are out there for doing this and would appreciate any help / opinions.

I trolled Deja News and so apologise if it has been aired before!

Declan.