Parks Associates' Home Systems Research Director Bill Ablondi will present information about engaging consumers in the smart grid and energy management as a customer service at the 2011 ConnectivityWeek Conference this week.

Ablondi says the full potential of Advanced Metering Infrastructures (AMI) and the smart meters being deployed across the U.S. cannot be achieved without consumer involvement. "If utilities can enroll consumers in programs that allow them to satisfy demand with existing generation facilities, both utilities and consumers win," Ablondi said in an interview. "Convincing consumers to see the value is the challenge. No one organization has demonstrated that it has all of the answers."

In terms of energy management, there are utilities that offer energy management as a service, not just a device on the wall controlled by utilities a few times during the year to shave peak loads, according to Ablondi.

"Consumers desire to be connected...to their family friends and 'stuff.' Parks' research shows that 25 to 30 percent of broadband households would subscribe to remote monitoring and control services for a variety of applications from safety and security to energy management," Ablondi said. Parks Associates predicts this nascent opportunity will generate more than $1 billion by 2015.

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