PowerTOP version 1.97 - Eh?

[spoovy]

I'm used to using the old version of powertop to measure power usage and to suggest power saving tweaks. It seems that LMDE is using a new rewritten version of powertop though, which seems to be a huge regression. I admit it's probably something i'm missing, but I can't get it to do either of the things I used to used it for - it doesn't report power usage, and the 'tunables' section doesn't provide any suggestions for how to make savings permanent.

I read a slightly confusing blog from the maintainer on the rewrite which didn't really help explain much.

Anyone familiar with this new version who wants to tell me what i'm missing? Or alternatively does anyone know how I can guage power usage without using powertop?

Thanks