Home energy where the money is—billions of dollars of it

I've written before about how huge growth is expected in the home energy market, and now a new report is predicting growth that's even greater—in the billions by the end of this decade. It's more evidence that security companies selling home automation along with security are on the right track.

The home energy management market will exceed $2 billion in annual revenue by 2020, according to a forecast by Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm that studies clean technology markets worldwide. The Pike report says the home energy management market was $93 million in 2011.

And, as one market analyst has told me, security companies are uniquely poised to take advantage of that growth because of their close relationships with customers.

In a news release, Colorada-based Pike Research predicts:

“The home energy management market will make steady progress over the coming eight years. It will be driven by government mandates, utility programs, and a growing number of consumers looking to manage their energy bills. Also, a combination of consumer desire to be more 'green,' home construction and retrofits with energy management objectives, and new technologies surrounding plug-in electric vehicles will help stimulate the market.”

The company also said: “HEM products can be viewed in five groups, or segments, along a continuum that moves from paper bills (a mailed statement from the utility showing a customer's energy usage as it compares to households nearby), through standalone HEM systems, which include some device-level tracking and automated device control capabilities, up to networked HEM, comprising auto-pricing response capabilities, demand response (DR) load control, and home automation controls. Of these, networked-HEM revenue will see the strongest growth (76.8 percent CAGR), as utilities attempt to drive volume sales of networked HEM systems in order to make DR and time-of-use pricing schemes feasible.”