With the advent of the smart grid, observers wonder when, not whether, energy monitoring will go paperless. Zpryme, a smart grid research and consulting firm, conducted a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers to find out just how close, or far, we are from attaining that reality:
Despite utilities' concerted efforts to go paperless, 25.2% of respondents said they still use monthly paper bills to monitor their energy usage. PC/laptop monitoring was used by a substantial 19.8% of respondents while smartphones and tablets were only used by 3.7% and 3.8% of users, respectively. However, the largest subsection of respondents, 37.2%, said they used other means of monitoring their energy use. A sizable 14.4% reported they did not monitor their energy usage at all.
Although much-hyped mobile devices have yet to achieve widespread usage for energy monitoring, they are being touted as the technology of the future. Younger consumers are more likely to use paperless means of energy monitoring—25-34 year-old consumers used smartphones more than any other age bracket while 55-64 year-olds used monthly paper bills more than any other age bracket.
As the survey shows, however, the U.S. has yet to reach the tipping point. Expect that to change as both utilities phase out paper bills and consumers increasingly opt to go paperless over the next few years. Take a look at Zpryme's interactive infographic to see the full results and how they break down:
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