Smart Meters – powering change for energy consumers
A smart meter showing appliances in the home and their energy usage - consumers will need clear communications to help them use this information (image: www.moreassociates.com)
With recent headlines about the need for secure and reliable sources of energy, and with projected CO2 savings the equivalent of taking 600,000 cars off the road, it isn’t hard to see why the government is so keen to see smart meters successfully installed in every home in the UK - but will the general public be as keen?
The UK government has recently announced the mandate for smart meters in every home by 2020 and the energy industry is currently working towards this goal - but most consumers seeing this news will be hearing about smart meters for the first time. Clearly, if they are to deliver the environmental benefits they promise, the consumers will have to be persuaded that these smart meters are a genuine benefit - not just an expensive way of saving on meter readers.
Delivering the right information
The move towards smart meters will generate a huge amount of information, and the winners from this process are going to be those who are able to control and capitalise on the data flows.
This process is technically driven by the data that will actually be collected by the meter / device itself, but if the meters are to succeed in helping consumers to change their behaviour and reduce the amount of energy they use, the real test will be whether this information can be made available in a form that they can easily understand – and whether those consumers can be persuaded that smart meters are delivering a genuine benefit for them.
Inspire the Buyer - turning the downturn into an opportunity…
Posted by: Colin in Comment on February 5th, 2009
Inspiration is the key to weathering the downturn - and increasingly the minimum consumers expect...
On the surface, the recent economic downturn is a disaster for retailers and manufacturers – and particularly those in luxury goods and services. Consumers and businesses alike are more focussed on value for money than ever – but not all products and services lend themselves to the ‘easy’ route of discounts and price-cutting seen across the High Street.
And yet many businesses – whilst still expecting to be affected by the overall downturn - are bucking the trend by maintaining or even increasing their market share – why?
The ‘trick’ these and other companies have learnt is to inspire their customers.
Whether it’s Apple selling slick consumer products like the iPhone and iPod at a premium, Iceland Frozen Food stores offering customers the lowest possible prices – or like the rest of us, somewhere in-between – we all need to ‘inspire the buyer’.
But how do we do that during a credit-crunch when prices may already have been cut, and there simply isn’t the money available to develop new products or services?
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