Itron and Meritage Homes to keynote ninth-annual Smart Energy Summit in Austin, Texas

DALLAS, Nov. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The research firm announced executives from Itron and Meritage Homes will be keynote speakers at the ninth-annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, February 19-21 at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, Texas.

Smart Energy Summit focuses on energy efficiency, demand response, and home energy management solutions for consumers as well as crossover opportunities between smart home services and energy management solutions. The research firm recently released research, Non-Tariff Revenue Models for Energy Providers, showing 20-25% of homeowners in U.S. broadband households are interested in bundling energy with a home service such as HVAC, warranty, or home security.

"Bundling solar with energy services received the most consumer interest—40% of U.S. homeowners in broadband households are interested in bundling solar power purchasing with their electricity bill," said Tom Kerber, Director, IoT Strategy, Parks Associates. "Roughly 25% of homeowners are interested in bundling HVAC maintenance services or home warranties with energy services. As retail energy providers experience narrowing margins in their core business, they are examining alternate strategies to build new revenues. At Smart Energy Summit, we examine these efforts to diversify and the role of smart home solutions in creating new opportunities."

Confirmed keynote speakers for 2018 include the following:

CR Herro, VP, Innovation, Meritage Homes
Russ Vanos, SVP, Strategy & Business Development, Itron
"Effective design and construction standards would repurpose trillions of currently wasted dollars back into the U.S. economy," said CR Herro, VP, Innovation, Meritage Homes. "The only gap between current efficiency standards and one optimized is just a slightly wider understanding of value to all the stakeholders involved. Smart energy usage is only impeded by aligning the benefits so that they are actionable by the public."

At Smart Energy Summit, more than 300 industry leaders from utilities, service providers, manufacturers, and technology companies will participate in panel discussions about the impact of direct consumer participation in energy markets and strategies to increase consumer engagement in demand response, distributed generation, and energy efficiency offerings.

Other research includes:

40% of U.S. broadband households are familiar with smart thermostats, but only 11% own one.
About 50% of U.S. households have smart meters, but the number of the utilities and energy providers offering time-varying rate structures is relatively small.
Over 50% of U.S. broadband households would purchase a smart device to manage energy consumption during TOU peak hours.
38% of U.S. broadband households would purchase a smart thermostat for use in TOU programs.
45% of U.S. broadband households have interest in TOU plans.
22% of U.S. broadband households would purchase a $250 smart thermostat with a $100 mail-in rebate.
Parks Associates is accepting speaking submissions for Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer at www.parksassociates.com/ses-speaker. More information about the Smart Energy Summit is available at www.SES2018.com. To schedule an interview or to request data, contact Julia Homier at julia.homier@parksassociates.com, 972.996.0214.

About Smart Energy Summit

Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer examines the changing role of utilities to help empower consumers with solutions to save energy in the home. The event addresses the potential benefits of incorporating smart products into energy efficiency and DR programs and the opportunities across converging ecosystems for the market for energy solutions, including connected devices, energy management, utility services, and home control platforms and services.

Follow the event on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt and #SmartEnergy18. For information on speaking, sponsoring, or attending Smart Energy Summit, visit www.ses2018.com.