Dennis Mathew, VP, Xfinity Home at Comcast Cable, answers several industry questions before speaking at Parks Associates' seventh-annual Smart Energy Summit in Austin:

What do you think is the most challenging issue for your company as it relates to the residential energy management market?

In general, many consumers aren’t truly informed or aware of the many values of and ease of home energy management. To engage them in this space, the key is finding a direct path to deliver the home energy management experience at little cost or effort. We’ve found that once consumers have a product or service in their homes, such as EcoSaver, our energy saving tool, they have a chance to not only understand and interact with it, but see the values first hand when it comes to reducing energy use and saving money while staying comfortable.

What are the major challenges that your business must address in 2016? In 2020?

We’re really pleased with the growth we have seen in our home security business, as well as the role it has played in exposing customers indirectly to home energy management. As noted above, many consumers simply aren’t familiar with the benefits of home energy management. To help drive adoption, we will continue to leverage our front line, from customer service agents to technicians, to help educate customers about the benefits around comfort, efficiency, and economic savings. We’ll also continue to develop new, simple features and interfaces within the Xfinity Home platform that are easy for customers to use and understand.

What are the major barriers impacting consumer adoption of energy related products and services?

Two major barriers impacting consumer adoption of energy related products and services are introducing home automation itself to consumer households and educating consumers on the valuable money and energy saving potential of home energy management.

What are the biggest opportunities for the smart home industry to work with the electricity industry?

By working together, smart home solutions and energy providers can enable large scale utility programs to help consumers ultimately reduce energy and lower costs.

What impact with smart products and smart home services have on consumer adoption of energy solutions?

Smart home controls are not just about convenience, they’re also about helping users save money. The cost of heating and cooling a home can account for nearly half of a home’s utility bill. Some smart home products and services, like Xfinity Home’s EcoSaver, can leverage big data and analytics to help consumers easily manage their energy use, and savings, from at home or on the go. For instance, EcoSaver has helped customers save $2.3 million dollars in less than three years. 

Dennis Mathew will be participating on the panel "Role of Energy Management in Smart Home Solutions" alongside speakers from National Grid, Rheem, Carrier/United Technologies, and Vivint on February 24.

Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer is the premier IoT and energy conference held each year in Austin. For more information, visit www.ses2016.com.