I work on the JSON API (I dare not call it REST) layer at Exelon. This is neat. Did you know we have some OpenAPI docs now? I saw you mentioned ComEd in another comment :)
I did not; thanks for the heads up!
Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
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Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#12This looks pretty great. My first potential use case is as for a HomeAssistant addon to tie into HA's existing energy monitoring infrastructure. Is there any chance of a free plan for consumers so we don't need to sign up and pay $3.00 a month to retrieve energy usage for home use? I imagine that the mindshare among developer types would be worth the minimal calls, but obviously this is your decision :)
Thanks again for building this!
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#13This looks pretty great. My first potential use case is as for a HomeAssistant addon to tie into HA's existing energy monitoring infrastructure. Is there any chance of a free plan for consumers so we don't need to sign up and pay $3.00 a month to retrieve energy usage for home use? I imagine that the mindshare among developer types would be worth the minimal calls, but obviously this is your decision :) Thanks again…
Pelm is free up to 100 API calls and 10 active end users per month! I believe this should be enough to cover the home use case.
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#14This looks pretty great. My first potential use case is as for a HomeAssistant addon to tie into HA's existing energy monitoring infrastructure. Is there any chance of a free plan for consumers so we don't need to sign up and pay $3.00 a month to retrieve energy usage for home use? I imagine that the mindshare among developer types would be worth the minimal calls, but obviously this is your decision :) Thanks again…
Pelm is free up to 100 API calls and 10 active end users per month! I believe this should be enough to cover the home use case.
Oh awesome! Thanks!
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#15Some feedback: As a potential user of your product, I can't find a list of any utility companies you integrate with? Also it looks like you're are using Jekyll for your website ("Get to know Midnight Theme")? May want to finish customizing it, some of the menu links don't go anywhere.
Thanks for the feedback—we'll have a list of utilities we support up shortly. Which links in particular are broken/where did you see that tagline? I thought we combed through pretty thoroughly but maybe not.
note that without js turned on, your "burger" menu doesn't even show up, so links to other pages aren't accessible. you seem to be targeting developers, so there's a good chance a number of them browse with privacy extensions. i'd also suspect that the most interesting traffic for you will come from desktop, so why have a burger menu at all? that's an affordance primarily to accommodate mobile users. just list your primary links at the top and let them wrap on mobile. no js needed!
edit: forgot to note that "Get to know Midnight Theme" shows up in the burger menu, under 'Product'. you don't need either that 'Homepage' link, or even the 'Home' link 1 level up. linking home from the logo is sufficient.
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#16This looks pretty great. My first potential use case is as for a HomeAssistant addon to tie into HA's existing energy monitoring infrastructure. Is there any chance of a free plan for consumers so we don't need to sign up and pay $3.00 a month to retrieve energy usage for home use? I imagine that the mindshare among developer types would be worth the minimal calls, but obviously this is your decision :) Thanks again…
Pelm is free up to 100 API calls and 10 active end users per month! I believe this should be enough to cover the home use case.
I've added that info to the text above.
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#17Really cool use-cases! I wonder why you decided to move them under a separate page instead of showcasing them front and center? Right now the focus seems to be how easy it is for developers to get going, but it doesn’t really talk to me why I should be doing it. Once I read the use-cases I get the idea and I’m impressed, but the drop off from people not bothering to click on a 2nd page can be surprisingly big.
That's a great point. I've changed the linked URL above to https://www.pelm.com/use-cases. Thanks!
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the feedback—we'll have a list of utilities we support up shortly. Which links in particular are broken/where did you see that tagline? I thought we combed through pretty thoroughly but maybe not.
note that without js turned on, your "burger" menu doesn't even show up, so links to other pages aren't accessible. you seem to be targeting developers, so there's a good chance a number of them browse with privacy extensions. i'd also suspect that the most interesting traffic for you will come from desktop, so why have a burger menu at all? that's an affordance primarily to accommodate mobile users. just list your p…
Ah, it's the burger menu with broken links! It shouldn't show up unless the browser window is a certain width, but we'll look into scrapping it completely.
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
note that without js turned on, your "burger" menu doesn't even show up, so links to other pages aren't accessible. you seem to be targeting developers, so there's a good chance a number of them browse with privacy extensions. i'd also suspect that the most interesting traffic for you will come from desktop, so why have a burger menu at all? that's an affordance primarily to accommodate mobile users. just list your p…
Ah, it's the burger menu with broken links! It shouldn't show up unless the browser window is a certain width, but we'll look into scrapping it completely.
cool, i'd suggest the only links you need at the top are 'How it Works', 'Pricing', 'Blog' (for marketing), and 'Contact' (for sales). (edit:) oh yes, and also your call to action, 'Get API Keys'. everything else is footer material, and you already have a fat footer with most of those links anyway.
(i should note that i usually browse in narrow windows, so i often get the mobile version; most designers don't think about how people actually use browsers)
Re: Launch HN: Pelm (YC W22) – Plaid for Utilities
#20I work on the JSON API (I dare not call it REST) layer at Exelon. This is neat. Did you know we have some OpenAPI docs now? I saw you mentioned ComEd in another comment :)
I did not; thanks for the heads up!
Yeah so besides ComEd, I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to integrate with the other five opcos that Exelon owns because they all use the same api layer. This would double your number of energy customers from ~4 million to ~10 million ;) Of course, I have no idea what sort of arrangement you initiated with ComEd!