Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) are an invention of the internet age; they are a 21st-century byproduct of the idea that utility smart meters can enable two-way communication with homeowners while smart consumer products can allow greater connectivity, control, and ultimately a better living. Since the earliest documented implementations of smart meters in the mid-2000’s, program administrators around the world have looked for ways to use the energy information provided at the whole home level to enhance residential energy efficiency and conservation programs. In certain parts of the United States, changes in utility regulation, such as the decoupling of sales from profits, have paved the way for alternate residential program mechanisms that utilize technology to deliver more energy savings and enhance customer satisfaction. These are some of the earliest instances of programs that used home energy consumption information with the goal of influencing energy savings, a concept which evolved into what is now referred to throughout the energy efficiency industry under the umbrella term of “HEMS.”
The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the potential for HEMS as an evolving avenue to deeper residential energy savings, and it explains, in detail, the variations and characteristics of HEMS; what the market is and who the major market players are; what the major barriers to implementation look like; and finally, it attempts to outline potential program solutions with HEMS at the core of the strategy.
A webinar on this report took place on September 15, 2015. That webinar recording is available here and the slides can be downloaded here: 
HEMSFinalResearchReportWebinarFinalForWeb.pdf
Download report Executive Summary: 2015HEMSResearchReportExecSummary.pdf.
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