New Research Captures Consumers' Voices on Energy Amid Pandemic

ATLANTA, Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), the leading nonprofit organization researching energy consumers, today released a new research project that illustrates consumers' attitudes and values related to energy, smart home technology, their electricity providers and more during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The "Modern Customer Engagement Journey" research includes five videos and a topline report that were developed from more than 30 on-camera interviews recorded from June 15 to July 2 in the United States and Canada. These interviews focused on understanding the reasons behind consumers' energy-related behaviors and decision-making at home and their views on their electricity providers, renewable energy and other important issues.

Key insights from the interviews include:

• Consumers are increasingly engaged with energy-related products and technologies, and smart home products – particularly smart speakers, thermostats and lighting – feel particularly interesting.
• After purchasing a first smart home device, consumers often have an appetite for more. Introductory products tend to be smart speakers, and once consumers are comfortable setting these up, they want to take the next step.
• When consumers make appliance upgrades at home, energy efficiency is a key factor that they consider – along with smart capabilities. Moving is an important catalyst for reassessing devices and appliances.
• Consumers often struggle with assessing the cost-saving potential of programs and say they need more transparency on the savings from their electricity providers.

The interviews also investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household energy usage. While many consumers expressed that their bills had gone up due to staying at home more, few have made significant changes as a result. Some have made small behavioral adjustments (e.g., turning off lights and adjusting the thermostat), and others noted that larger technology investments are on hold for the foreseeable future.

The five videos can be viewed on YouTube here, and a topline report can be accessed here by both SECC members and the public. Key findings and select clips from the videos will be presented during a webinar on Thursday, October 8 at 1 p.m. (ET).

To learn more about SECC, visit www.smartenergycc.org or follow @seconsumer on Twitter.

Jonathan Field                                                                                  
Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative               
770-833-6026
[email protected]

SOURCE Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative

Related Links

http://www.smartenergycc.org