At a Broadband Breakfast roundtable last week, AT&T Executive Jeffery Dygert let slip that plans are afoot within the company to enter the home energy monitoring business. This move seems to follow on from AT&Ts partnership with E3 Greentech earlier this year, along with its acquisition of home automation specialist Xanboo in 2010, and would complement the Smart Grid home automation the company already offers. Along with detailing energy usage, the service will apparently also include a home security system. However, information is thin on the ground: there's no word yet on when it will roll out, how much it will cost, or who'll be able to use it.

Verizon launched something very similar earlier this year as a pilot scheme in New Jersey, which brought smart energy monitoring to Verizon internet customers using a connected thermostat and smart switches. Google also took steps into the market with its PowerMeter service, however that was retired in September this year. With details so sparse, it's difficult to predict how AT&T will try shake up the market, and it remains to be seen how it will compete with "learning" devices like the Nest.