Before speaking at Parks Associates' annual Smart Energy Summit, Wayne Morrison, Principal, Emerging Technologies, Reliant shared his thoughts on the biggest and latest opportunities for utlities in the energy business:

How has the smart home created new service opportunities for energy providers?

Smart home technology has created a wide range of opportunities for energy providers to integrate devices that help make customers lives easier and homes more comfortable and energy efficient. Reliant was one of the first electricity companies in the nation to partner with Nest to offer its learning thermostat to customers. Today, Reliant offers the Speak & Save 24 plan that offers customers a Google Home and Nest Thermostat E with their electricity plan at no additional cost. These smart home devices allow customers to save time and energy by using their voice to control their home.

What are the biggest opportunities for the smart home industry to work with the utility industry?

For customers that wish to participate, the ability to monitor and control various devices in response to real time prices in the electric grid is a great opportunity for the smart home and utility industries to work together. The usage at a home could be intelligently prioritized with energy monitoring and used with power generated at the home or from the electric grid. This information can be aggregated with other homes and businesses and have opportunities for smart equipment to respond quickly to needs from the electric grid.

Wayne will speak on the panel session "Energy Providers: Opportunities Beyond Energy Management" on Tuesday, February 20 at 3:30 PM. For more information on the speakers or session details for the 2018 event, visit www.ses2018.com.