Within a week of each other, Google and Microsoft separately announced that they were closing the doors on their home energy management services just two years after their debuts. Google said it was ending its PowerMeter online software project and Microsoft said it was putting an end to its rival Hohm service. Both said the reason was that not enough people and utilities were signing up for the free service. When the services were introduced two years ago, home energy monitoring and management was considered a necessary part of making utility smart-grid offerings viable. Observers suggest that the services were simply launched too soon and will return in some form once the nation’s grids get smarter.