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By Patty Durand

SGCC Executive Director

 

Leveraging consumer profiles into meaningful messaging is a critical marketing challenge for utilities deploying smart grid technologies. No two consumers are alike, and understanding how and why consumers differ is the first step in the ongoing journey toward enhancing the performance of smart grid advocacy and communication efforts.

 

New research findings from the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) shed light on these issues through an exploration of consumer attitudes, values and motivations toward smart grid concepts, products and services. SGCC’s Consumer Voices 2012 Study gathered insights from 24 in-depth interviews conducted in April with residential electricity consumers in three cities across the country. In the one-on-one interviews, SGCC explored what consumers knew about the smart grid, associated with it, felt about it, liked and disliked about it, and whether they would be inclined to participate in different pricing programs like time-of-use and peak time rebates.

The findings validate the segmentation framework introduced last year by SGCC’s Consumer Pulse and Market Segmentation research program, wherein residential customers were divided into five distinct segments: DIY & Save, Concerned Greens, Easy Street, Young America and Traditionals. The five segments react very differently to smart grid concepts, benefits, and messaging, with their levels of interest in participating in energy management ranging from “yes, definitely” to “no, thank you,” and their motivations for participating varying vastly.

 

·         For the DIY & Save segment, the personal satisfaction of saving money is compelling enough to drive their interest in the smart grid and participation in energy management programs. 

 

·         For consumers in the Concerned Greens segment, protecting the environment and improving air quality are the real motivators. 

 

·         Consumers in the Young America segment are highly motivated to both save environment and save money. Being young and living on their own for the first time in many cases, they need more education being energy efficient and preventing large shifts in their electricity bill from month-to-month.  

 

·         Those in the Easy Street segment are not willing to limit the comfort of their lifestyles for the cause of energy efficiency. What speaks to them are smart grid programs and services that offer ease and convenience, not the opportunity to save money. 

 

·         Consumers least interested in smart grid and energy management programs are Traditionals. Being predominately older, these consumers want increased security and reliability. As such, to them the most compelling reason for their utility to modernize the grid is to improve power reliability and quality, enabling shorter restorations.   

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