You have to push to get ‘customer pull’

There are three major government programmes now falling into place: smart metering; the Green Deal; and Midata. These will be well known to readers of this magazine - in the case of smart meters, it will seem to some as if some have spent their entire careers with that possibility tantalisingly just over the horizon. But ask any of your neighbours if they know or understand these initiatives and you are likely to get blank looks.

Yet these programmes are fundamentally different from both the vast majority of government plans and, indeed, most utility industry actions. That’s because they are hoping for customer interest and engagement to deliver their results.

Implementation is more difficult than theory, but all three are actually rather exciting ideas. Smart meters can give customers the power to examine their energy use – or pass that examination to a specialist if they don’t want to take on the job. The Green Deal really could make a difference to the kind of buildings we live and work in. Midata – which allows customers to compare how they use sectors such as banking and retail, as well as energy – really could empower customers. And it doesn’t take much to see that a smart customer who understands how all three schemes could be used together, could have some powerful tools at their disposal.

This is a good news story. What’s more, the schemes are the kind of investment – in our infrastructure and data – that is being called for to promote growth alongside our need to make cuts to address the economic crisis.

But so far there has been so little explanation that all customers have seen so far is rumour and misinformation.

Look at the information out there so far. Minimal explanation on smart meters means that the most frequent stories are still about the “spy in the hall”, or about the dangers of wi-fi. Smart meter opponents are quick to react – take a look at the comments on our smart meters stories on the Utility Week website and you’ll see the anti-campaign at work.

The Green Deal is complex and needs explanation – ominously, it is much more complex than recent new rules on energy efficiency that were quickly reduced to a “conservatory tax”.

For Midata, it’s even more important, relying as it does on discussions about data sharing that may be hard to sell to anyone but geeks at the moment. Its possibilities are hard to imagine now, but anyone who uses the apps on their mobile can see that once the information is out there, bright ideas will start appearing.

To get the best out of these three programmes, you need to start getting people excited – people who want the next gadget, people who hate not to be in control and, crucially, gamers and the curious who will start playing with the ideas and come up with some products (incidentally, Decc, that’s a way of giving customers power at the expense of energy companies).

This could be a great news story and a powerful message. But if you want customer pull – and here it’s vital – you have to start telling them what’s happening. Government needs to start talking much louder.

Janet Wood

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 22 June 2012.

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