Download of the week: State of the Consumer Report

When the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative launched last year, its goal was to bring industry leaders together to pool resources to gain knowledge of what consumers need and how to communicate with them by listening to their concerns. One result of that effort was released Jan. 31 at the SGCC's Partnering for Progress Symposium in San Diego.

The 2011 State of the Consumer Report builds on a series of focus groups sponsored by the SGCC in October 2010 and is a comprehensive meta-analysis of more than 80 source documents, representing over 25,000 pages.

According to SGCC, the findings identify a knowledge gap with few "energy literate" Americans, yet reinforce that many are open to learning more and some are willing to become energy champions. "Such knowledge," said SGCC Executive Director Patty Durand, "can help utilities and tech vendors to provide the types of energy choices that would be welcomed by consumers and to better understand the needs and options for infrastructure investments in particular communities."

A free copy of the 38-page State of the Consumer Report is available on the SGCC website.

You might also be interested in …

Customer care trends and resources

Secrets of customer adoption videos

Proven strategies for partnering with energy end users