Parks Associates’ research indicates over 40% of consumers unfamiliar with term “Smart Grid”

Consumer knowledge of smart grid technologies is low, even as utilities have deployed 13 million smart meters to U.S. households, according to international research firm Parks Associates. The firm, as part of its annual service “Residential Energy Management: Opportunities for Digital Systems and Services,” reports only 11% of U.S. consumers are familiar with the term “Smart Grid.” This low awareness poses a risk to future deployment plans and opens the door for communications service providers to grab market share from utilities by offering their own energy monitoring solutions.

“Utilities have plans to deploy more than 50 million smart meters by 2014, but they need to improve their educational outreach if they want consumers to embrace this technology,” said Parks Associates. “Growing skepticism of the efficacy of smart meters could also hinder growth.”

Consumers in Texas and California have filed lawsuits in which they blame smart meters for unexpected hikes in their electricity bills. The backlash from these stories threatens customer compliance with future smart grid deployments and could disrupt utility plans to create a more robust, interconnected grid that offers advanced services such as monitoring and time-of-use billing.

“Communications service providers, which also have existing customer relationships, could step in with meter-independent services,” Parks Associates said. “Utilities need to increase their educational efforts to bolster their market presence and diffuse consumer concerns. Smart grid deployments are forcing them to become evangelists for new technologies, which is an unfamiliar role to most utilities.”

For information on “Residential Energy Management: Opportunities for Digital Systems and Services,” visit http://www.parksassociates.com/homesystems or contact 972-490-1113, [email protected].

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com
 

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