Introduction
We, Team FourSight, decided to propose a solution for the current Energy Management System (EMS) to solve the problems it faced. Based on an article published on the 25th of September, 2025, by gridX, an EMS is a set of tools combining software and hardware that optimally distributes energy flows between connected distributed energy resources (DERs). It collects, analyzes, and visualizes data in real time and dynamically controls energy flows.
We chose to improve the existing EMS because EMS benefits the planet a lot. We try to awaken people to the harsh conditions that are being faced by our current Earth. The creation of a new EMS may be the first step to improve the people’s awareness on energy conservation. EMS is a crucial system in our mission to save the planet, as it can help to lower our carbon footprint. Not only that, EMS also supports climate change mitigation, conserves natural resources, promotes renewable energy integration, and contributes heavily in global sustainability goals.
In this proposal, we will be listing out the problems currently faced by the available EMS and our proposed solution that will benefit the users. We will try to guarantee an excellent user experience with our newly proposed EMS by designing the EMS with several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals identified by the United Nations in mind.
Problem
Before we present our proposed solution, we need to first identify the problem space of our targeted system, that is the electricity management system (EMS). After conducting some investigation on several available EMS, we have identified some issues faced by the current EMS:
Problem 1: Complex and Overwhelming Interfaces
Existing energy management systems often display excessive information such as real-time consumption graphs, historical data, and cost projections within a single dashboard. Whereas, users may find it difficult to identify which data is most relevant to their immediate needs, such as tracking specific appliances or monitoring peak-hour electricity usage. This poor visual design leads to cognitive overload, especially for users with limited technical experience. For instance, cluttered charts, small text, and inconsistent layouts make it difficult for users to identify which appliances consume the most energy or to compare usage trends efficiently. As a result, users may struggle to make quick decisions, such as reducing unnecessary energy consumption or understanding sudden usage spikes.
Figure 1.0: Each view doesn’t have a specific purpose or decision. Different views segmented together with every piece of information in a single view.
In addition, most systems lack customization features that allow users to simplify or personalize their dashboard view based on their energy priorities, such as cost savings or usage reduction. The inability to hide irrelevant data or rearrange dashboard elements limits user control and makes the interface less intuitive. Without the ability to modify or prioritize important factors such as daily usage or cost trends, users may feel overwhelmed and dissatisfied. Notably, users with low experience tend to experience higher cognitive load and lower perceived performance when dashboards lack customization options (Alsayahani, 2025). This shows that an unorganized interface can negatively affect both usability and overall satisfaction. Ultimately, the absence of a clear and flexible design reduces users’ motivation to engage with the system for long-term energy management.
Usability Goal Problems: Efficiency, Learnability
User Experience Goal Problems: Not Satisfying, Not Enjoyable
Problem 2: Difficult Setup and Device Pairing
Many current energy management systems lack an effective onboarding process to guide users during the initial setup. When first launching the application, users are often required to manually connect smart meters, appliances, and solar devices without clear step-by-step instructions. This absence of a built-in walkthrough or interactive guide leads to confusion and disorientation during the pairing process. As a result, users struggle to get the system to operate as intended, which directly reduces the learnability and overall reliability of the system.
Above all, users often rely on external resources such as YouTube tutorials or third-party websites to complete the setup process as a result of lack of internal guidance. Alas, this dependency on external help not only disrupts the user experience but also raises questions about the system’s credibility and customer care. The cognitive walkthrough method highlights that interactive systems should provide adequate support for new or infrequent users (Nandhi, 2022). Therefore, the shortage of in-app support represents a significant gap in usability and user experience for mainstream energy management systems.
Figure 1.1: Certain issues need to be resolved via external resources (YouTube tutorials)
Moreover, relying on external platforms can lead to inconsistent or outdated information since tutorial videos or user guides are not always updated with the latest software versions. This often results in users following incorrect steps or missing important configurations during setup. Consequently, the lack of official in-app assistance reduces trust in the system and diminishes the overall onboarding experience.
Usability Goal Problems: Learnability, Effectiveness
User Experience Goal Problems: Not Enjoyable, Not Trustworthy Solution Ideas
Problem 3: Lack of User Engagement and Motivation in Energy Saving
Although the modern EMS are always equipped with advanced data collection and monitoring capabilities, most of them still fail to effectively engage users or motivate them to the action of conserving energy. Users view EMS merely as only a reporting tool rather than a supportive system that encourages energy-saving or energy-efficient behaviour because it mainly displays raw technical information like voltage, current, or total energy consumption. The current system doesn’t translate those raw technical information into clear and actionable insights.
The interfaces of EMS commonly lack visual cues, personalized feedback dashboards, or any motivation elements that can keep reminding the users to use energy wisely all the time and help them to understand how important their actions are on energy usage. For instance, users may be able to see that their power consumption is “too high,” but the system does not tell the users why or how to do it.
Furthermore, the absence of behavioral design features like progress tracking, comparisons, goal setting, or even gamified rewards to engage the users to save energy leads to minimal behavioral change. For the current EMS system, users rarely receive timely feedback or recognition for improvement. This decreases their interest and desire in interacting with the system.
In short, the current EMS design focuses heavily on technical monitoring but neglects user experience and behavioral motivation. Users will lose their awareness of their power consumption ways and are not encouraged to take proactive steps toward a crucial environmentally friendly behavior—energy conservation without the intuitive visualizations and interactive guidance.
Figure 2.0: Example showing only reports are given to the users
Cr.: Jacky Chin and Shu-Chiang Lin, Sustainability 2016, 8(7), 641; https://doi.org/10.3390/su8070641
Usability Goal Problems: Effectiveness, Learnability, Feedback
User Experience Goal Problems: Not Motivating, Not Engaging, Not Enjoyable
Problem 4: User Experience and Data Interaction Challenges
We can’t deny that the existing EMS does perform well in data collection and control, but still many of them fail to provide a user-friendly and efficient interface for energy operators. Poor user experience, low adoption rates, and inefficient decision-making are the outcomes of the complexity of energy data and system operations.
The current EMS that are designed mainly around system functionality rather than user interaction are difficult to navigate, overloaded with technical data, and lacking clear visualization or feedback mechanisms. Such a system makes users struggle in identifying key energy insights or abnormal patterns immediately, especially when they are handling large-scale or real-time data.
From the perspective of data management, the challenge of the existing EMS lies in the way of users' interaction with, interpretation of, and control of energy data. A reduction in usability and an increase in cognitive load are the circumstances of complex data tables, inconsistent layouts, and unclear labeling. As a result, even trained operators may misinterpret system readings or take longer to respond to anomalies.
Additionally, cybersecurity controls and system configuration settings in traditional EMS interfaces are often non-intuitive. Due to this issue, users may find that it is hard to apply secure settings in the right way. This increases the risk of human error that could compromise system safety.
Figure 3.0: Example of access control and authentication architecture in a traditional EMS.
Cr.: Zhang, H. (2021). EMS System Architectures, Cybersecurity, and ICCP Implementation.
In: Advanced Power Applications for System Reliability Monitoring. Power Systems. Springer, Cham.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44544-7_8
As a result, these contribute to user frustration, low satisfaction, and resistance to new EMS adoption.
Usability Goal Problems: Learnability, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Feedback, Consistency
User Experience Goal Problems: Not Satisfying, Not Enjoyable, Not Engaging
Proposed Solution
For the proposed solution, we had taken inspiration from a Malaysian local electricity management application called myTNB, where it provides a way for home users to track their monthly electricity usage. Though, our proposed solution will take the application to another level by having real-time electricity usage tracking.
Our proposed solution will be an interactive energy tracking and management application that is powered by AI called Brightly. The application will be able to track the current power usage and daily or hourly electricity usage to allow home users to manage their electricity footprints better and save energy. Through this application, we are aiming to achieve some of the Sustainable Development Goals, that is Affordable and Clean Energy, Responsible Consumption and Production and Climate Action.
As stated in the problem statement, it is found that most electricity management applications or web services have complex overwhelming and unattractive interfaces. To overcome this problem, we decided to equip our electricity management application with an interactive interface where the home users may easily understand and grasp the information shown by the application. For example, to show the power usage, we may use a container or box with fluid-like movement to indicate the current power usage is either low or high based on how full the container or box gets. We wanted our application to be able to give feedback to users so that the interface will gain the attention of the users. To make the application attractive for users, the placements, font and size of text for important information will also be considered so that users will be able to easily notice the given information.
Next, we will also provide guided interfaces that are easy for users to navigate through the application. As many had trouble in setting up an application, especially those that are less tech-savvy, we will provide guidance through having obvious icons or indicators for users to notice and surf through the app. We will also reference the available application’s interface to make our application more recognisable and familiar to the users.
Other than that, to make our application encourage users to save energy, we decided to gamify the application by setting goals for users to reduce or limit electricity consumption. We may also allow users to set their own goals and by using AI suggestions to provide advice for users on how to save energy consumption.
Lastly, to make the application more user friendly, we will be applying AI to create a summary report of energy consumption and energy usage pattern where the summary will be provided to users in the most easily understandable way. For example, we may use interactable line graph to show the past history of users' energy consumption rate where users can tap on one point of the month where the AI will give a summary whether users use more energy at different times of the day or what devices or appliances use most energy.
Target User
For our proposed solution that is the energy tracking and management application, Brightly, we are aiming for our target users to be the followings:
Residential Users (Home Energy Consumers)
Individuals and families that live in homes or communities who are in charge of managing their own energy consumption are one of our target users. They may monitor their power consumption in real time and see patterns of daily or hourly usage using Brightly. For example, this application helps users by recognizing appliances that consume energy and adopting better lifestyles to reduce wasteful electricity use by providing AI-based and personalized recommendations. As a result, homeowners can reduce their monthly electricity bills. Not only that they can improve energy efficiency but this will encourage more sustainable living.
Business Owner with small to medium sized stores
This category includes small and medium-sized business owners like restaurant owners, convenience store owners, and fast food restaurants who depend highly on electrical equipment for their day-to-day operations. Business spending can be greatly impacted by electricity rates, therefore our Brightly enables these users the ability to monitor energy consumption in real time, identify periods of high usage, and get AI-driven recommendations on how to optimize power use. In order to help business owners develop effective energy plans, cut expenses, and run their companies more sustainably, the system also produces summary reports. By implementing Brightly, they can show their passion for environmental responsibility while also improving cost management.
Facilities management
Building maintenance teams and facility managers who are in charge of monitoring the energy usage at larger organizations, such businesses, libraries, government buildings, or school facilities, fall under this category. They are able to monitor and manage overall energy performance thanks to Brightly’s easy access to real-time electricity consumption data across many locations or units. In order to prevent energy waste, facilities managers may identify inefficient systems, detect unusual energy peaks, and schedule preventative maintenance with the support of AI-powered analytics. Facilities management teams may guarantee more effective building operations, save energy expenses, and help their organizations reach sustainability goals by utilizing Brightly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this proposal focuses on improving the current Energy Management System (EMS) by identifying and solving key usability and user experience problems that affect how users manage their energy consumption. As with, existing EMS platforms often have complex dashboards, confusing setup processes, low engagement features, and limited data interaction, making them difficult and less enjoyable to use. These challenges reduce the system’s efficiency and prevent users from managing their energy effectively.
Our proposed solution, Brightly, aims to create a smarter and more user-friendly energy management experience. By combining real-time tracking, guided onboarding, AI-driven insights, and interactive features, Brightly helps users understand and control their energy usage easily. Consequently, the inclusion of gamified goals and personalized recommendations also encourages long-term engagement and energy-saving habits. With its alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals which includes Climate Action, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Affordable and Clean Energy. Alas, Brightly represents a step toward a more sustainable and energy-conscious society.
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