Two-thirds of U.S. broadband households are interested in smart...

Two-thirds of U.S. broadband households are interested in smart home service bundles including safety, security and management, said Parks Associates. Home management is the most appealing bundle combining safety alerts, remote home monitoring and remote thermostat management, Parks said. “Consumers, while interested in smart home services, are averse to long-term contracts, but there are other, alternate options for building revenues,” said Tom Kerber, Parks research director for home controls and energy. Consumers, for instance, are willing to let their service provider adjust their thermostat during peak hours to avoid monthly monitoring fees, he said. In-app purchasing and advertising also could be a source of incremental revenue for product manufacturers and service providers, Kerber said. According to a Q4 2013 survey of 2,500 households on energy conservation steps they had taken over the past year, 47 percent of respondents said they had switched to LED or CFL light bulbs, the third-most-cited activity behind turning off appliances when not in use (54 percent) and adjusting thermostats (48 percent). The trend showed an upswing in adoption of LED bulbs from 6 percent to 11 percent of households from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013, while CFL bulb adoption dropped from 54 to 50 percent for the period and incandescent usage slipped from 50 to 49 percent, it said. Only 5 percent of households had switched to a time-of-use electricity plan to reduce energy consumption, it said.