Parks Associates continues its thirteenth-annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer with the virtual session, Home Energy Management Solutions: Driving Energy Savings, on Thursday, June, 30 from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM CT. Advait Katarki, Business Development Manager - Connected Solutions & EV Charging Infrastructure, Eaton will be featured on the interactive panel, Smart Apartments and Energy Platforms, at 11:15 AM CT, addressing the business and consumer value of access to real-time energy consumption data, including the most appealing and useful value-added services, Advait provided insights on key trends that will impact the energy industry over the next few years.
As a result of COVID, how have consumer behaviors changed in adopting more (or less) energy management solutions?
COVID has changed a lot of consumer habits. One of the biggest impacts we are seeing is that consumers are spending more time at home. This increased dependence on homes led to an increase in Residential energy demand (average of 20%-30% increase); this is leading to more consumers being more aware of their energy costs and looking for ways to manage them more effectively.
What new opportunities have been created for smart home and energy players serving consumers in new ways?
We are seeing more consumers being aware not just about how much energy is being consumed, but where is the energy coming from? There’s a greater focus around sustainability and looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint. This is fueling a growth in the adoption of distributed energy resources (DER) like rooftop solar and energy storage. Which in turn has led to an increase in demand for smart energy management solutions to better integrate these DERs. Utilities are also looking for ways to better engage consumers and provide energy management tools to help consumers take advantage of complex rate tariffs like Time of Use (ToU) and Demand Charges.
What challenges is your organization working to overcome in 2022?
As a leading power management company, we are focused on helping our customers in their Energy Transition journey. Providing differentiated solutions to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for DERs, and EV Charging. While helping utilities better balance the power grid through solutions that address resiliency, sustainability, increased insights and control at the edge of the grid. You can find more at: www.eaton.com/energytransition
In the next 3-5 years, name what top three changes you think will take place in the consumer energy market?
In the next 3-5 years, we believe consumers will continue to stay engaged and get more knowledgeable about the energy choices they are making and focus on sustainability. With increased legislation banning gas appliances, and increasing penetration of EV Charging.. the home electrical system will need energy management solutions now more than ever. Utilities are also eager to drive a deeper engagement with the consumer to establish greater flexibility at the edge of the grid to balance for variable generation (renewables) increasing as a part of their generation mix. In summary, we expect the smart home to converge with Energy Transition and lead to increased penetration of Smart Home Energy Management Solutions.
Sponsored by Schneider Electric, SmartThings, Rapid Response Monitoring, Zen Ecosystems, and Particle.io, Smart Energy Summit addresses the evolution of the consumer utility market, and the impact of COVID-19 on energy management programs, and new opportunities to drive engagement in utility-sponsored programs. Register now to attend this event along with upcoming virtual sessions throughout 2022:
