London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/21/2010 -- A report published today by the Finland based VaasaETT Global Energy Think-Tank, predicts that by combining smart meters with smart home automation in existing homes, householders can realistically expect to reduce their electricity consumption by tens of percent, depending on the nature of the technology used and the consumer's own consumption behaviour. What's more the report finds that such savings are possible with relatively affordable existing technology. Gas savings are also predicted to be large.

The report, the largest such survey ever conducted, analysed the results of 114 pilot projects conducted in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan, in collaboration with utility companies and researchers around the world. The research focused on residential pricing, feedback and home automation schemes, referred to collectively as 'Demand Response Programmes'. Traditional energy efficiency measures such as insulation were excluded from the study.

The report called Respond 2010, found that while savings varied greatly, a large proportion of the success rate depends upon the way programmes are implemented. According to Dr Philip Lewis, CEO of VaasaETT, "Communication and the development of a trusting relationship with the customer are keys to effective programmes. We need to change the way utilities (energy companies) relate to and interact with their customers. In future, customers will become partners in the efficient use and production of energy. This is something that represents a big mindset shift for both utilities and customers alike, but evidence shows that it is possible. It is already being achieved by a few utilities."

More specifically the report found that the greatest savings, up to 33% are possible at peak consumption times, through the use of 'critical-peak' pricing (prices that are substantially higher when the demand on the network is especially high) in combination with the use of home automation such as the use of home heating/cooling systems. If average savings found in the analysis of the most successful pilot studies were applied to Denmark for instance, a typical customer would save over €220 on their annual electricity bill. They could also save on water and gas. Through the use of additional home automation of smart appliances (such as fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and lighting) even higher savings would be possible.

According to Dr Lewis, "the fact is that these in-home solutions are available now, some leading utilities are already planning to role them out commercially within two years. Within five years, the smart home will to some extent be a reality for millions of customers in Europe, North America, Australasia and Asia. It is vital that we do it well so that we don't waste an excellent opportunity". "We can either achieve an energy efficiency revolution or a technological flop".

The report, which is made up of nearly 40 sub-reports, written by a total of 35 leading experts from 18 countries, also provides a clear vision for the future of the smart home, a home where low-cost wireless solutions enable a wide range of appliances to be turned on and off and automated in a way that ensure energy is used when it is available, and wasteful energy consumption is avoided. But such services will also provide added convenience and style. According to Dr Lewis, "for as little as 30 Euro per month, households will be provided greater security, convenience and lower energy bills – everyone will win, the customer, the utility and the environment." "We're not talking about heavy, expensive solutions here, but rather cost-effective, easy to install, cool solutions that you can interact with via something as cool as an IPhone, IPad or other preferred interfaces."

The report indicates that smart meters, being rolled out across Europe and North America, will be an essential part of the infrastructure for such services. "Without accurate and timely measurement of energy consumption, such services will not be optimized. Telecom companies are already entering this space, and that is a good thing, but smart homes will need to be linked to smart pricing in order to maximize savings and thus benefits for the customer" says Dr Lewis.

Additional Selected Key Findings of Respond 2010

1. A lack of regulatory leadership and authority knowledge is inhibiting the success of demand response and other energy efficiency measures, in Europe the USA and elsewhere.

2. There is a need to develop and incentivise utilities and regulation toward a culture of conservation.

3. A successful social communication campaign is central to the success of DR. Media reaction should not be underestimated. Everyone needs to work together, benefit together.

4. Major investment private equity capital structure is needed to enable the upgrades required in buildings (e.g. for device to grid enablement). EU level regulatory certainty is needed in order to provide investment security for public investment.

5. Industry needs to create a thought leadership group surrounding demand response which cooperates over the boundaries of retail, distribution.

6. Demand Response and the smart home is typically seen as an add-on to the smart grid and consequently solutions for the customer are working from the outside in. This is especially a problem where distribution companies and integrated utilities are dominant. More representation is needed for the customer and retail end of the business.

7. Price structures are typically currently not suited to demand response programmes, and necessary changes represent a daunting marketing and communication challenge.

8. Smart home components remain far too expensive to enable a clear smart home business case, although prices are falling.

For More Information
Please contact: Dr Philip E. Lewis at Philip.lewis@vaasaett.com or +358 40 529 5852

About VaasaETT and The Global Energy Think Tank
The VaasaETT Global Energy Think-Tank is a unique collaborative concept based on a philosophy of mutuality. Through its network of thousands of senior executives, officials, researchers and other experts who are for the most part known and trusted personally, the Think-Tank provides value-to-all by combining an interactive community and collaborative projects.

The Think-Tank focuses broadly on practical strategic business and market issues, as well as envisioning state of the art innovations and developments.
VaasaETT has already established a world-leading reputation in certain fields, including Customer Psychology & Behaviour, Utilities Marketing, Smart Metering, and Demand Response (including Energy Efficiency, Demand Side Management, Eco Home and related issues). More information at: http://www.vaasaett.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Customers switch in huge numbers, a wake up call for inactive energy markets

Clacton-on-Sea, Essex -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/23/2010 -- Customers switch in huge numbers, a wake up call for inactive energy markets

http://www.bwrnews.co.uk

Research by the Helsinki based VaasaETT Global Energy Think Tank indicates that between February 2009 and 2010, Bord Gais Energy, the Irish Utility Company, won nearly 21% of the occupied residential electricity market in the Republic of Ireland. According to VaasaETT, the world's leading source of global comparative customer switching trend data for the electricity industry, the Bord Gais Energy campaign has been by far the world's most successful marketing campaign ever for an electricity retailer, if measured in terms of the percentage of residential customers in the market who were won over a 12 month period.

According to Dr Philip Lewis, CEO of VaasaETT, this is additional proof that there is no such thing as a safe customer for incumbent energy companies. "Markets that are uncompetitive now, can become active very quickly if the conditions are right. In the coming few years we will see the same happening in other markets around Europe and elsewhere". "Once truly active, such markets furthermore tend to remain active", says Dr Lewis.

"The main reasons for this extraordinary level of customer switching have been price margins, the economic downturn in Ireland and outstanding marketing. Price margins were achieved through a combination of regulatory price controls placed on the incumbent, as well as clever energy purchasing strategies by Bord Gais Energy", says Dr Lewis.

Dr Lewis points out that one should not underplay the significance of marketing in all of this. "Energy companies typically fail to achieve sufficiently simple, clear and appealing campaigns. Energy may seem like a simple product to sell but few companies have ever managed to win many customers in this market", says Lewis.

Only five national markets have ever managed a (calendar) yearly level of switching above 20% (the Australian markets of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, plus Great Britain and New Zealand). Prior to 2009, the highest national switch rate ever recorded for a 12 month period was 28.33% in Victoria, Australia, between the 4th Quarter 2006 and 3rd Quarter 2007, and that switch level was shared between competitors in the market. "Within this context the 21% gained by Bord Gais Energy alone is quite spectacular", claims Dr Lewis. "No company has ever gained such a large proportion of the market in such a short time".

Bord Gais Energy are not the only energy company in Ireland that has won customers from the incumbent, Airtricity has also won significant numbers of residential customers, and new entrants into the market are now a possibility since the market has shifted from near inactivity just over a year ago, to being one of the most active electricity markets in the world. "It remains to be seen however, if there is yet enough long-term momentum in the market to sustain this level of activity" says Dr Lewis.

Nicky Doran, Head of Marketing at Bord Gais Energy stated that the success of the campaign was down to a number of factors, "the right price point, the simplicity of the message and great creative were all major factors in the success of the campaign" according to Mr Doran. "The web has proved to play a huge part in the success of the campaign with as many as 30% of customers switching on our micro site thebigswitch.ie". "Of course none of this would have been possible without great vision and leadership from Bord Gais' CEO John Mullins and Bord Gais Energy's Managing Director David Bunworth".

According to Dr Lewis "VaasaETT will be publishing its free 2010 World Energy Retail Market Rankings report in May, and it will be interesting indeed to see where Ireland is placed. It is possible that Great Britain may be knocked off the top spot in Europe for the first time since records began"

More Information: Andy White, +44 871 315 7334, andy.white@vaasaett.com,

About the VaasaETT Utility Customer Switching Research Project
The Utility Customer Switching research project, founded jointly in 2004 by Dr Philip E. Lewis and Paul Grey, monitors switch rates and trends in all fully liberalised energy retail markets worldwide.

It was the first and remains to this day the only global view of utility customer switching activity, as well as being the most comprehensive and uniform source of comparable switching statistics in the electricity and gas markets worldwide. More Information at: www.utility-customer-switching.com

About VaasaETT and The VaasaETT Global Energy Think Tank
The VaasaETT Global Energy Think-Tank is a unique collaborative concept based on a philosophy of mutuality. Through its network of thousands of senior executives, officials, researchers and other experts who are for the most part known and trusted personally, the Think-Tank provides value-to-all by combining an interactive community and collaborative projects.

The Think-Tank focuses broadly on practical strategic business and market issues, as well as envisioning state of the art innovations and developments.
VaasaETT has already established a world-leading reputation in certain fields, including Customer Psychology & Behaviour, Utilities Marketing, Smart Metering, and Demand Response (including Energy Efficiency, Demand Side Management, Eco Home and related issues).

More information at: http://www.vaasaett.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Global energy think-tank VaasaETT is set to hold a groundbreaking roundtable event bringing together major utilities and other leading experts from around the world to pool their resources and discuss how to make concrete moves from smart metering to smart homes by 2020.

Clacton-on-Sea, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/18/2010 -- Exchange 2010 is a world leading demand response event, bringing together leading practitioners and other experts from around the world to share their knowledge and engage in a truly interactive forum. It is the second meeting of the Global Demand Response Round-Table, an event that will this time focus on demand response in its broadest sense, as well as both commercial and residential applications.

Following on from the highly acclaimed Exchange 2009, this is the perfect venue for all those with a stake in this quickly developing market, to gain from the collected international experience of the experts within the group. The interactive and discussion oriented nature of the event provide an excellent opportunity to raise your own practical questions and to network.

Exchange 2010 will also be the launch venue for our world leading demand response (and smart home) report Respond 2010. Don't miss it!

What is the Global Demand Response Round-Table?
A global knowledge network of utilities, researchers and technology providers, from the USA, Australia, Europe and Japan, all of whom are actively working with Demand Response development in their own markets. They have agreed to share their results and findings with the other members of the group in order to benefit from this global pool of knowledge.

The meeting will discuss such questions as:
" What factors cannot be fully tested in even the best DR pilot and how should one prepare for them? Lessons learned.
" Successful business models for cooperation with third parties.
" Customer communication challenges: Full rollout dramatically increases the challenge of customer communication. How to make the jump and avoid public relation problems. Lessons learned.
" The meeting will cover Commercial and Residential Demand Response program rollout with an intensive look at business

models and customer acceptance and uptake.

Who will be attending?
Approximately, one third of all participants are expected to be utilities or aggregators. A further one third are expected to be researchers, policy makers and associations. The rest will be key vendors, including those leading solutions innovations in this field.

Confirmed participants already include:
• BC Hydro (Utility), Canada
• Yello Strom (Utility), Germany
• SEAS-NVE (Utility), Denmark
• EDF (Utility), France
• Gas Natural – Union Fenosa (Utility), Spain
• C-Power, USA
• Tendril, USA
• Statkraft (Utility), Norway
• Fortum (Utility), Finland
• ESB (Utility), Ireland
• GDF Suez (Utility), Belgium
• Kiwi (Aggregator), UK
• EnergiMidt (Utility), Denmark
• Tieto, Finland
• Schneider Electric, USA
• NZO, UK
• Dong Energy (Utility), Denmark
• General Capital Group (Entelios), Germany
• Danish Energy Association, Denmark
• Panasonic, Japan and Europe
• Delta Energy and Environment, UK
• BI School of Management, Norway
• Narvik Institute of Technology, Norway
• Hansen Technologies, Australia
• The Technology Partnership plc, UK
• TNO, The Netherlands
• SAP, Europe
• BPL, USA
• EEE, UK
• ENCT, Germany
• Logica, Portugal
• and many others from around the world
Limited Space, Excellent Interaction

Due to the intensive and interactive nature of this event we are limiting attendance to a maximum of 70 attendees. Therefore – if you know you would like to attend or present at Exchange 2010 please reserve a space as soon as possible.

Conference Programme

5 reasons to attend Exchange 2010
" Get to know the world's leading international DR expert network.
" The truly interactive and informal atmosphere of the roundtable means members join in the debate not just listen to speeches.
" 50% of the event will be devoted to structured open discussion.
" It's a forum for finding out about the latest studies, pilots, implementations and reports from around the world
" Just € 500 for a two day event (we only aim to cover costs). Purchasers of Respond go for free.

Sign Up Now to reserve your seat! at http://www.vaasaett.com

Where it will take place

The event will take place at the Scandic Palace Hotel Copenhagen. This central Copenhagen hotel has an excellent location, close to Copenhagen attractions, shops and entertainment. The modern Scandic Palace Hotel is situated in Copenhagen's historic Town Hall Square, right in the heart of the city and only 15 minutes from the airport. Don't miss a visit to the nearby Tivoli Gardens and Copenhagen's popular shopping street Stroget. The hotel was renovated in 2008 and has a new, contemporary design.

Address:
Scandic Palace Hotel Copenhagen
Raadhuspladsen 57
1550 Copenhagen V Copenhagen
Denmark
Phone: +45 33 14 40 50
Fax: +45 33 14 52 79
E-mail:
palacecopenhagen@scandichotels.com

Visit http://www.bwrnews.co.uk/Energy-thinktank-to-hold-ground-breaking-discussions-on-the-future-of-smart-homes.htm for further information

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm