IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2014 - 53

the signature of specific television
programs.3 Such microdata levels will be even more intrusive -
as the energy industry will see it,
valuable - assets. The microdata is
being handed to the industry as a
bonus - but without any concomitant contribution to the consumers
who will involuntarily (if systems
are not redesigned to protect them
from this) provide it. At this time
the industry is also being provided
information from and about users
who do not understand the power
of these informational assets. This
is all being done without users' full
and renewed specific consent. The
ownership of this data will quickly
become controversial in itself.
Ownership has a material economic value and this should at the
very least be shared between consumer and energy supplier. Price
uncertainty at a given time, like
unanticipated termination of power
to a specific device or premises,
affects both attitudes and behaviors at the consumer end of the
chain. Here the issues can clearly be
addressed by a combination of consultation, contract, regulatory clarity, and process structures with mass
customization of tariffs [16], times
of use, and terms. Power abuses
(e.g., for debt recovery) will also
need regulation [12].
The treatment of Smart Meters
has to date been dominated by
industry and top-down government
investment perspectives. Solely
supply side perspectives are now
clearly inadequate, and consumer
engagement and perspectives are
now critical to overall success. As
the UKERC cited: "put social science studies on every implantation/rollout of new technology to

a) understand why people behave
as they do, and b) to quantify these
behaviors and motivations" [17].
A key neglected policy area is
the use of information and communication capabilities to engender
mass customization - and to enable
dynamic scanning of offers or supplier switching by the customer.

Cultivating the "Smart
Energy Consumer"
Smart Grid systems are being
developed to serve customers.
These will become increasingly
sensitive and "smart." IBM recently
pinpointed the emergent "smart
energy consumer" [18] as a result
of utility survey research emphasizing the importance of information to and about these people [19].
It would be prudent for both
governments and smart-grid planners and engineers to make an early
start on catching up with fuller
engagement with, and better understanding of, their energy customers.

Author Information
The author is Principal at Oxford
Systematics, as well as Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Communications
and Information Technology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia. Email: mwigan@swin.edu.
au. Website: www.mwigan.com.

References

[1] M. Roozbehani, M.A. Dahleh, and S.K.
Mitter, "Volatility of power grids under real-time
pricing," IEEE Trans. Power Systems, 2011.
[2] C. Cuijpers, "No to mandatory smart
metering does not equal privacy," Tilburg
University: TILT Weblog Law and Technology http://vortex.uvt.nl/TILTblog/?p=54, 2009.
[3] C. Cuijpers and B.-J. Koops, "Het wetsvoorstel 'slimme meters': een privactoets op basis van
art. 8 EVRM," Centre for Law and Technology
University of Tilburg for Onderzoek in opdracht
van de Consumentenbond, Tilburg NL 2008.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

SPRING 2014

[4] M.R. Wigan, "Smart meter tradeoffs," in
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[5] The Dark Side of the Smart Grid: Smart Meters (In)Security. Ramat Gan, Israel: C4, 2009.
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[10] G. Raw and D. Ross, "Energy demand
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[11] A. Kemp, A. Whitfield, B. Quach, Y.
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[12] M. McGann and J. Moss, "Smart meters,
smart justice? Energy, poverty, and the smart
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[13] T. Zhang and W.J. Nuttall, "Evaluating
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[14] Ofgem, "Smart metering for small businesses and other smaller non-domestic customers," Ofgem U.K., London, 2011, p 2;
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk.
[15] Standing Council on Energy and Resources (Australia): "Privacy for national
smart meter program" Aug. 2013; http://www.
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[16] A. Weekes, " The future in delivering energy to the "smart" consumer," IBM, relationship
pap. 3, 2011; http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/euw03046usen/EUW03046USEN.PDF, accessed Nov. 2013.
[17] M. Valocchi and J. Juliano, "Knowledge is
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Report.PDF, accessed Nov. 30, 2013.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk http://www.mwigan.com http://www http://scer.gov.au/workstreams/energy-market http://public.dhe.ibm.com/com http://vortex.uvt.nl/TILTblog/?p=54 http://www.smartgridaustralia.com

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