SmartHub vs Xcel Energy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmartHub
Manage your utility and telecommunications accounts with ease. View usage, billing, and payment history. Report service issues, receive important company news, and manage your WiFi network all from your mobile device.
- View and manage bills and payments
- Monitor energy usage trends
- Contact customer service easily
- Receive service news and outage alerts
- Report service interruptions
- Manage WiFi network and devices
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SmartHub provides utility and telecommunications customers account management at their fingertips. Customers can view their usage and billing, manage payments, notify customer service of account and service issues and receive special messaging from their local utility or telecommunications company. NISC serves over 500 telecoms and utilities across the nation, install the application to determine if your local organization is supported. Additional Features: Bill & Pay - Quickly view your current account balance and due date, manage recurring payments and modify payment methods. You can also view bill history including PDF versions of paper bills directly on your mobile device. Make a payment now or schedule it for a future date. My Usage - View energy usage graphs to identify high usage trends. Navigate graphs quickly using an intuitive gesture based interface. Contact Us - Easily contact your service provider by email or phone. You can also submit one of the many predefined messages, with the ability to include pictures and GPS coordinates. News - Provides a convenient way to monitor news that may affect your service such as rate changes, outage information and upcoming events. Service Status - Displays service interruption and outage information. You can also report an outage directly to your service provider. Maps - Displays facility and payment dropbox locations on a map interface. Manage Wifi - Easily manage your WiFi network and connected devices. Maintain passwords, troubleshoot issues, create and control guest networks, limit access to connected devices, create rules with parental controls and check internet speed.
Xcel Energy
Manage your Xcel Energy account with ease. View billing information, make payments, report outages, and track your energy usage over time. Secure login options and multi-language support are available.
- Secure login with Touch ID/Face ID
- View billing and statements
- Make payments
- Report and check outage status
- Track historical energy usage
- Compare bills and usage data
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Secure - Opt-in to use Touch ID or Face ID as a quicker way to sign in and as an added layer of protection to keep your data and account information secure. - Accessible to both English and Spanish customers - Dark Mode now available Pay - Easily log in to view your billing information and statements, check your balance and make payments. Report - Report an outage or check on your outage status. View - See a complete view of your current and historical usage data. Track - Compare your bills and track your electric and/or gas usage for the past 24 months with usage graphs and tables. - Compare your bill to last month or last year, and view how different bill factors such as usage, billing period, and average temperature might affect your bill Already an Xcel Energy customer but don’t have an online account yet? You’ll need to complete a quick, one-time registration to link your preferred email address with your account. To get started, have the following ready: • Your account number • Your last name or company name from your bill • The ZIP code from your bill Then, open the app and tap “Sign In or Register”, followed by “Register”. Enter your email address — this will become your new login ID.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Xcel Energy at 4.6 against SmartHub's 2.7. Xcel Energy also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). SmartHub's advantage is chart position (#146 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Xcel Energy holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.9K and 4.1K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 16% of SmartHub's written reviews are positive against 18% of Xcel Energy's.
SmartHub ships an update every 2 months, Xcel Energy every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.
| Parameter | SmartHub | Xcel Energy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (1.9K ratings) | 4.6 (4.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 15.8% of reviews | 17.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K | 4.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #146 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 113 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | National Information Solutions Cooperative | Xcel Energy Inc. |
Customer experience
SmartHub
Xcel Energy
User reviews
SmartHub
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🔒 Secure login
- 📊 Helpful usage data
- 💳 Convenient bill payment
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- ⚠️ Unreliable server connection
- 🕰️ Slow loading times
- 🔍 Difficult to navigate
Xcel Energy
From 4.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Streamlined UI
- 👍 Convenient payment options
- 👍 Helpful usage graphs
Room to improve
- 🐛 Login and account issues
- 🐛 Inaccurate usage data
- 🐛 Broken or missing features
- 🔍 Lack of transparency
Bugs and requests
SmartHub
Reported bugs
4 issues- Login issues after recent update
- Incorrect or missing usage data
- Inability to disable auto-pay
- Compatibility problems with newer OS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for multiple utility accounts
- Improve push notification system
- Provide more detailed usage insights
- Allow customizable alert thresholds
Xcel Energy
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to login or reset password
- Inability to link accounts or view statements
- Inconsistent or non-functioning features
Requested features
3 requests- Restore previous app functionality
- Improve usage tracking and reporting
- Provide better error messages and troubleshooting
In-app purchases
SmartHub
No in-app purchases
Xcel Energy
No in-app purchases








