The research findings of the second wave of SGCC’s Consumer Pulse Study are now available to download.

The results show that consumers want more than just savings on their electric bill from smart grid and smart meter technology. Many non-financial benefits of smart grid upgrades are as compelling as those that can save consumers money.

Seven potential benefits of smart grid and smart meters were ranked by respondents in terms their personal importance, including ease of connecting renewable energy sources to the electric grid, reduced outages, new cost-saving rate plans, fewer new power plant investments, increased quality of power delivery, availability of near real-time energy use information and more accurate billing. Most benefits were ranked as important as saving money with some benefits scoring even higher, in terms of how personally important they were to consumers.

“We found that the most commonly-discussed benefits like cost saving and greater power reliability, while important, represent only a part of a broader spectrum of smart grid and smart meter benefits that are appealing to the average consumer,” said SGCC Executive Director Patty Durand. “To achieve greater impact upon a diverse customer base, utilities should take care to bring these other benefits into their marketing messages.”

Consumer education about smart grid remains critical, results show, as awareness and understanding are still lacking. 51% of consumers, a number unchanged since September 2011, say they have never heard the term smart grid, and another 21% say that they have heard the term but don’t know much about what it means.

The majority of consumers who are familiar with smart grid concepts have positive feelings about it. Their feelings grow even more favorable toward the technology after comprehensively learning about the potential benefits and/or concerns.

The 2011 Consumer Pulse Survey – Wave 2 is a national telephone survey completed (November 12 to December 6) for Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) by Market Strategies International. It is part of a series of consumer pulse surveys designed to track public awareness, favorability, and understanding of smart grid and its consumer benefits.

Download the free study here > >