A power meter is now installed in the upstairs lunch room in Halifax at the company that I currently work for. It measures the power consumption of both vending machines at the same time (using a power bar).
The meter shows both the current consumption in Watts (W) and the accumulated energy use in kilo Watt hours (kWh). I installed it yesterday at 2:45pm and will let it run for 1 week (to get good data).
After that we will do some cost/benefit analysis regarding the potential installation of vending misers.
If you are in our Halifax office you can go and see for yourself how the consumption kind of alternates between roughly 150W (between refrigeration) and roughly 800W (during active refrigeration).
If you want to do something similar with other electric appliances, e.g. at your homes, you can buy those power meters devices at Canadian Tire or similar stores. This is the one that I am currently using.
Oleander Donovan's IT blog 
You can also borrow this kind of device from many of the Halifax Public Libraries.