Customers love connected home ‘energy’ products – but not at any price

More than half of consumers across Europe surveyed by Delta-ee find connected home ‘energy’ appealing. Smart heating controls (smart thermostats and multi-zonal controls) topped the list at 70% in Germany, with smart lighting and remote diagnostics offering less appeal. Arthur Jouannic, manager of the Delta-ee Connected Home Service, says “this is encouraging given the low awareness of these products in the market”.

[lightbox full=”http://www.delta-ee.com/images/delta_site_images/press_releases/Delta_ee_ConnectedHomeResearch_Sept15.png” title=”Ratio of respondents who found the products and services appealing”][/lightbox]

The chart above shows the range of appeal for each product between the countries tested (Germany, UK, France and Sweden). Generally, customers in Germany showed most interest, with those in Sweden being on the lower end.

However at current prices these products are set to remain in a niche – on average less than 10% of customers would buy at existing prices. But for certain products uptake could increase quickly if prices fall. For example smart thermostats would have ~30% uptake at €100 and even 60% when offered for free in some countries.

“There is plenty of scope for prices to fall”, explains Jouannic, “both from increasing volumes, as well as the possibility for energy suppliers, telcos, heating equipment manufacturers to subsidise the product cost given the value opportunities they could exploit”.

Arthur added “Industry players have to decide whether they continue with the current approach of high prices and low volumes, or they start stealing the market by having lower prices and rely on upselling services in the future”.

Energy suppliers, despite their public perception, are well positioned to exploit this opportunity. When asked who customers would prefer to buy smart heating controls from, energy suppliers come first in the UK and Sweden, and second in France just behind the manufacturer’s online shop.

The majority of German customers would, however, prefer to buy from a well-trusted local installer, for all connected home energy products.

More information on the Connected Home Service – and the Customer Research report under which it is published – is available from http://www.delta-ee.com

Ends

Note for editors:

The latest Delta-ee Connected Home Service report provides insights on consumers and their attitudes towards connected home ‘energy’ products and services, across 4 countries: Germany, France, the UK and Sweden. Connected Home ‘energy’ as Delta-ee defines it, includes smart thermostats, smart multi-zonal heating controls, smart plugs, smart lighting, remote diagnostic, energy efficiency reports and electricity dynamic tariffs optimisation.

The Delta-ee Connected Home Service is a syndicated, subscription service providing:

• In-depth reports on key issues in the European market
• Outlook and forecasts for the European connected home market
• 50+ reviews of products in the market
• An info-base on offerings across the European market
• A secured seat at our invitation-only roundtable event
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About Delta-ee

Delta-ee (www.delta-ee.com) is a specialist distributed energy and heat research and consulting company. Headquartered in Edinburgh and with offices in England, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. Our clients comprise many of Europe’s leading utilities; heating appliance manufacturers; controls companies; policy makers; and investors. Delta-ee provides a range of subscription research services, consultancy and specialist Summits.