Smart meter rollout grows by 6 percent during 2010-13

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Smart meter rollout has increased from 37 percent, in 2010, to 43 percent in 2013, according to a new research from Navigant Research.

Meanwhile, smart grid rollout has increased steadily year over year, in the 36 percent to 37 percent range, the research said.

Smart grid rollouts continue in the United States, albeit at a pace slower than in previous years, . Utilities and vendors are now in a period of looking for ways to maximize the impact of these deployments, through demand response (DR) programs, home energy management (HEM) bundles, and smart thermostats.

Consumer resistance to these technologies, however, has been a significant obstacle, the research said.

Smartgrid

The percent of consumers who have “favorable” or “very favorable” attitudes toward smart meters has increased over the last few years. This indicates that initial concerns over privacy regarding smart meters in homes are dissipating, but utilities still have some miles to go in building majority support for these technologies.

DR programs, which allow a utility to remotely control energy consumption – for example, by slightly increasing the thermostat setting for homes or businesses on hot days – have the benefit of taking pressure off the grid, and provide cost savings for the consumer as a result of lower energy consumption.

While this may seem like a win-win proposition, the survey results indicate that consumer interest in DR programs is not very strong. Less than 30 percent of respondents say they are “extremely interested” or “very interested” in adopting such arrangements.

picture source: .hitachi.com

editor@greentechlead.com

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