A version of this blog post originally appeared in POWERGRID International magazine. To read the longer article, click here.

Consumers’ expectations for their electricity providers have evolved swiftly in recent years, driven by their daily interactions with tech companies like Apple, Netflix and Lyft, and the increasingly digital business models of other organizations, including banks and telecom companies. This is particularly true for millennials, who are now the largest generation in the U.S.

At the same time, within the energy industry, investments in grid modernization are creating new areas of opportunity for digital and/or data-driven products and services. In fact, according to the EIA, half of U.S. electricity customers had smart meters at the end of 2016 – a two-fold increase from 2010.

For the most part, electricity providers have not missed the importance of these developments. In recent years, we’ve seen advancements in website functionality, app development and a host of new products and rate plans that take advantage of new technologies.

Given these changes in the energy ecosystem, it’s important that the consumer’s voice is not lost in this sea of opportunity. What exactly do consumers want in next-gen digital offerings from their electricity providers? Would they utilize a one-stop platform to manage their energy usage? And if so, what capabilities would be most helpful in meeting their evolving needs and wants?

To provide insight into this, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) undertook extensive research aimed at getting to the heart of consumers’ needs and wants in the new digital world. Published in January, the “Consumer Platform of the Future” report is an investigation into what the utility industry could look like in the next five years for both consumers and utilities themselves.

The research began with interviews with 16 industry executives to develop a list of functions that a consumer-facing, digital “Platform of the Future” might offer and to define information objectives. We then held four focus groups with consumers to edit the definitions of concepts that could be included and determine how best to describe the options to consumers. Finally, these inputs were used to develop a quantitative survey of 1,292 consumers drawn from a nationally representative online panel.

Utilizing the insights gleaned from the industry insider interviews, we developed a cohesive definition of this theoretical Platform of the Future. While we also extrapolated based on some current digital products and services being offering in today’s market, for the purposes of this study, the Platform is a theoretical offering, something that could potentially be available in the next three-to-five years.

That said, our consumer-facing survey described the Platform to panelists in this way:

The Platform is an online energy resource that you can access from your computer, smartphone or tablet. This portal would combine your household’s energy usage data (current and historical), your preference settings, real-time energy usage data, energy provider and third-party programs and offers and use this information to help you understand and manage your energy use.

So are consumers really interested in using such a Platform to manage their home energy usage and access additional services from their electricity providers? It appears that, for the most part, consumers do find value in such an offering.

According the survey, roughly half (49 percent) of respondents said they “definitely” or “probably” would use the Platform. By roughly the same proportion, respondents saw the Platform as something new and different that would improve their experience with their energy provider. In addition, only a minute proportion of respondents (four percent) said they “definitely would not” use the Platform.

Looking at interest through our attitudinal segmentation, we see that the Platform does, in fact, have at least some appeal among all segments: forty percent or more of consumers in four of the five segments demonstrate significant interest and are likely to use the Platform.

Among Savings Seekers, a group that’s primarily interested in the financial benefits of any new utility product or service, almost half are interested and would likely use the Platform if they believed they could save money by doing so. Unsurprisingly, consumers in the Status Quo segment are true to type, with fewer than one-fourth expressing any interest in the Platform, but quite notably, 40 percent of consumers in the Technology Cautious segment are “likely” to use the Platform.

Overall, the research shows that there is broad appeal among all types of consumers. Even renters, a typically difficult-to-reach group, express considerable interest in the Platform. These findings reinforce the potential for energy providers to address diverse needs through products and services based on the Platform.

While our Platform is a theoretical product that industry executives believe could be offered in the next several years, several electricity providers are already on the journey to offering a Platform-like product.

For example, many electricity providers (including Georgia Power, ComEd and Con Edison) are already offering their customers online marketplaces stocked with a range of energy-efficient and smart home products. Others, like Central Hudson Gas & Electric, are offering marketplaces that make it easier to residential customers to connect with third-party distributed energy resource (DER) providers.

Other electricity providers, like Fort Collins Utilities and Kansas City Power & Light, have already begun to focus on energy “concierge” offerings that make it easier for residential and business customers to connect with energy advisory services.

And today, we're also seeing an increase in bundle offerings from electricity providers to customers that wanted to access several energy-saving products and services. For example, Green Mountain Power’s eHome Program offers homeowners a holistic suite of offerings, including rooftop solar, Tesla Powerwall storage, smart water heaters, Nest thermostats, car charging and weatherization.

It’s no surprise that the energy ecosystem is changing rapidly today. What was once a commodity-based industry is transitioning into a consumer-focused, transactional industry where consumers expect more than just the delivery of energy. A major component of this transition is the emergence of new digital tools, and with the rise of millennials, the demand for digital offerings will only increase.

As the “Consumer Platform” research demonstrates, almost two-thirds of consumers responded that they would use at least one product or service offered them on the Platform, and of those, nearly a quarter indicated they would use four or more products and services. However, quite notably, we learned that the concept of the Platform appeals to consumers in all segments and all demographics.

Consumers clearly respond to the idea of a one-stop digital platform, and as electricity providers plan for the future and create new ways to engage with their customers, it seems that a consumer-facing digital platform should be a major component of their future offerings.