Pike Research sees 28.1 million users getting on board the home energy management system train by 2015 – not bad compared to the mere handful of people who have them today, but still a tiny sliver of the potential market, which is anybody who lives within four walls.
Pike's report released Thursday put a figure on a market many analysts have said is growing increasingly crowded. Dozens of startups are competing to provide devices and software to allow homeowners to manage their energy use.
More prominent ones include Tendril Networks, Control4, Onzo, OpenPeak and Energy Inc., maker of the Energy Detective. Two of them have been bought this year – Greenbox by smart grid networking company Silver Spring Networks and Lixar by smart grid software company GridPoint – and meter data management software maker eMeter has a home energy management platform of its own.
And then there are Google and Microsoft, each of which has laid plans to bring free web-based energy management to the masses. The entry of these giants into the field has led some industry watchers to wonder how much longer standalone startups can compete (see Green Light post and Google, British Gas Help AlertMe Launch Home Energy Control).
But Pike's report noted that while Google's PowerMeter and Microsoft's Hohm products are free to consumers, the same isn't the case for utilities partnering with them, which have to spend time and money to integrate the platforms into their existing customer energy data systems.
Another key point for utilities is that the home energy management space is a buyer's market. Given the crowded market, they should be able to pick and choose the products that fit their needs, the report stated (see Utilities Mull Price Points, Policies for Home Energy Management).
That's important for vendors to pick up on, as utilities will be the primary distribution channel of these systems for some time, according to the report – a potential shot of bad news for startups that plan instead to bring energy management to customers through retail channels (see iControl's Home Security to Home Energy Strategy and More WiFi For Home Energy Controls).
And while half of the customers who responded to Pike's survey showed strong interest in these systems, the report's executive summary didn't delve into just how much they're willing to pay for the privilege of measuring and managing their home energy use (see $48: A Threshold Price for In-Home Energy Management?).
