“They are very forward-looking in terms of strategy and mind-set,” said Roberta Bigliani, a vice president at IDC, a market research firm. If Eneco’s experiments flop, though, “they definitely will not be in operation in the future,” she said.

So far, the experiment with its wall-mounted energy monitor, known as Toon, has been among its more successful.

When Eneco first considered the test, the utility was locked in a profit-zapping battle with competitors, cutting prices for electric power and natural gas while giving customers gifts for signing up. Seeing the danger signs, Eneco’s management decided that a radical change was necessary.

The Toon offered Eneco an opportunity to shift course and, despite early teething problems, Eneco expanded the rollout. The meters allow customers to control their domestic heating settings through a smartphone app, and they have displays that show electricity and natural gas consumption in detail, along with other information like weather forecasts.

Much as telephone companies offer discounted devices with longer-term contracts, the Toon typically comes as part of a utility contract; Eneco customers pay €3.50 a month for the meter. In return, customers say it helps them save energy, offering the dual benefits of saving money and cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

Quby says it has placed more than 300,000 Toons in Dutch homes and has deals to supply the devices to other utilities, like Engie in Belgium and Viesgo in Spain.

In his home north of Amsterdam, Marco Westenbrink has a Toon on his living room wall. “It is always there like it’s my big brother, and it is always staring at me,” the graphic designer said in an interview in his garden, overlooking a canal. “You can call it annoying, but it makes you completely aware.”