IBM Global Business Services today unveiled its new report, “Lighting the Way: Understanding the smart energy consumer”, that shows consumers around the globe are willing to become more involved with managing their energy use.
Abstract:
Persistent climate change concerns, volatile energy prices and a growing awareness of technological advancement in energy are leading consumers across the globe to reconsider their role in the electric power value chain. Influenced by experiences in other industries, they are willing to assume new roles and be more involved with providers and technology.
Cost remains the most powerful motivator of consumers’ desire for control and willingness to change behavior; four in five consumers would change the times at which they do energy-consuming housework in exchange for significant savings. Consumers’ emphasis on climate change is still strong and consistent across countries, although they are less willing to pay a premium for greener products and services in the strained economic climate.
In combination, our survey findings suggest strongly that the historical view of customers as like-minded is not sustainable – it is already outdated in most places. As a result, utilities must plan now to:
-Understand and encourage new consumer behaviors that will be important in the future industry environment
-Invest in customer analytics and segmentation to assess the current consumer base and lay the foundation for continual reevaluation
-Initiate a program to analyze enhanced and new customer interactions that will take place over a more dynamic and data-rich network.
How can IBM help?
Strategy and Change, Business Model Innovation and Smart Grid Maturity Model: Help you define a company-specific strategy for moving toward a Participatory Network and manage change as the key industry drivers evolve
Selected Energy and Utilities Solutions and Offerings: Intelligent Utility Networks (Advanced Meter Management and Network Automation Analytics), Customer Operations Transformation and Power Generation Optimization
To read the full report – click to download
The 2008 Global Utility Consumer Survey
We launched our second Utility Consumer
Survey in fall 2008 to assess how changes in
the economic environment, persistent strong
messages on climate change and increasing
technological awareness of consumers are further
influencing consumer expectations of energy
providers. This time, we surveyed an “expanded
group” of over 5,000 customers, which included
the “core group” of the six countries from our
2007 survey – the U.S., the UK, Germany, the
Netherlands, Australia and Japan) – plus Canada,
Denmark, Belgium, France, Ireland and New
Zealand. Questions covered a range of topics,
including consumer preferences for green
offerings (both energy-related and in general),
future views on costs, usage and control options,
sources of information on energy, and willingness
to pay for new products and services.
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