Navigant Research published the results of a new consumer survey which found that the percentage of consumers with favorable and very favorable attitudes to the deployment of smart meters has significantly increased over the years.

The survey results have been summarized by the research agency and are available as a white paper which can be downloaded for free from the Navigant Research website.

Neil Strother, senior research analyst with Navigant Research said, “While smart grid favorability has held steady year over year, in the 36 percent to 37 percent range, smart meter favorability has increased from 37 percent, in 2010, to 43 percent in 2013.”

The Navigant research white paper entitled, “Smart Grid Consumer Survey,” highlights the findings of a Web-based consumer survey covering 1,084 consumers in the United States. The survey was aimed at gleaning more information about the interest and attitudes toward a select group of smart grid concepts.

Conducted during fall 2013, the study selected a nationally representative and demographically balanced sample. The study made provisions for the dynamics of consumer demand, favorability and attitudes toward several key smart grid product and service categories including smart grids and smart meters, smart thermostats, HEM bundles and DR.

Smart grid implementations are going on in the United States but the pace has become slower and utilities and vendors are looking for ways to enhance these deployments through demand response (DR) programs, home energy management (HEM) bundles and smart thermostats.

DR programs are designed to allow a utility to remotely control energy consumption.  It helps reduce the pressure on the grid and enables cost savings for the consumer as it indirectly reduces energy consumption. However the results show that consumers are not favorable towards DR programs. Only less than 30 percent of respondents were interested in such methods, said analysts.

“This result indicates that initial concerns over privacy regarding smart meters in homes are dissipating, but utilities still have some distance to go in building majority support for these technologies,” Strother added.

The study by Navigant Research analysts also examined if consumers were willing to pay for these products and if they expected savings from using these technologies. The reasons for interest or disinterest in these offerings were also ascertained.

Recently Navigant research reported that the need for data centers to improve their energy efficiency while meeting an ever-growing demand for IT capacity is driving rapid growth in the market for data center infrastructure management (DCIM). The report entitled, “Data Center Energy and Infrastructure Management” analyzes the global DCIM market.