Could AT&T’s Digital Life Make the Smart Grid “Smart” for Consumers?

One of the biggest challenges smart grid implementations face is that utilities and other stakeholders have done a poor job of bringing consumer benefits to life. The ability to monitor and control home energy usage is what consumers seek, and that’s what’s lacking in smart grid rollouts. Some companies have started to rollout pieces, but the technology infrastructure to tie this all together and company to drive adoption has been absent— until now.

Enter AT&T.

Digital Life Suite, AT&T

It’s called the Digital Life Suite, and it brings security and home automation to AT&T customers. While I am guessing that the suite was meant to grab share from ADT and local security companies, home automation could be a huge driver for this product. After all, it does have the ability to activate appliances from a mobile device, and it could:

• work with other devices for energy measurement
• tie into smart grid information and give consumers real-time data
• provide accurate information on how much energy is used by appliances
• offer tips on optimizing energy usage

Given the low trust that many energy providers have, I’d partner with AT&T to promote smart grid benefits and let their brand cache help drive adoption and reduce consumer doubts. This could be a game-changer.

Digital Life Suite Links: http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=22821&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=34415, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUP8UMAE8Q, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySpaGgj5U70&feature=related

Tags: AT&T, Energy, energy management, home automation, Smart Grid