While we have long been proponents of connecting smart grids to smart markets to truly engage consumers, Earth2Tech provided an interesting endorsement on the idea that consumers may indeed be the key to successful home energy management. As the article notes, success may indeed be a consumer technology play vs. a utility play:
“…Evidence that the home energy management sector is reaching bubble proportions — as we’ve argued before — ratcheted up a notch today with two new entrants into the space: Microsoft and eMeter. The two companies are symbolic of the landscape of this emerging industry, which aims to help consumers monitor and reduce the energy they use in their homes. They also provide a glimpse as to how it might unfold. In Microsoft, you have a giant tech company with experience developing consumer products. In San Mateo, Calif.-based eMeter, you have a younger startup with a tight focus on energy-related markets.
While Microsoft is giving away its energy management tool Hohm to consumers (and cutting deals with electric utilities), eMeter initially seems focused on marketing exclusively to electricity providers, which would then offer the product to their customers. Most companies entering the industry have similarly chosen to emphasize one of these distribution routes over the other.
But Gartner analyst Zarco Sumic, who covers the home energy management sector, believes there’s only one clear avenue to success in the industry, and that’s selling directly to consumers. Companies that sell to utilities must tailor their products to each unique service territory, he said. But companies that develop solutions focused on consumers will tap a global market. Sumic told us:
“The vendors that will dominate will be the ones who know how to market, sell and meet the needs of the consumer space. It is a consumer technology play. It is not a utility play.”
For startups looking to get a foothold in the market, however, utilities are an attractive partner. Young companies don’t have established distribution channels so selling to individual consumers can be a slow crawl compared to cutting deals with utilities, which can have millions of customers. It’s an issue of more bang for your marketing buck. eMeter, it should be said, is a bit of a special case. The startup has built a business off of developing back-office meter data management software for utilities, so they are its natural customers.
While utility deals mean immediate gains for startups, Sumic said large technology companies experienced in selling consumer-oriented products will eventually dominate the market. “People want something that is mainstream and has the same look and feel of other consumer technologies that we use in our homes,” he said. “It should be some sort of iPhone for the home, but ultimately it will come down to how well you know how to market to that segment.”
Microsoft’s announcement today means that it joins Google as another giant tech firm to have officially moved into the home energy management sector. Networking giant Cisco has said its smart grid strategy includes energy management systems for homes, but the actual interface and computing intelligence of any offering will likely come from a third-party vendor (perhaps Toronto-based Lixar SRS?). Expect other big companies to follow. Sumic mentioned Apple, Philips, LG and Samsung, among others. These companies will be looking to gobble up startups with innovative technology to help them spring into the market and differentiate themselves from the other giants wading in the pool.“
You must be logged in to post a comment.