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A SMART METER? WHAT FOR?

Create a digital service to wrap around a smart meter

The Challenge

The innovation department of a French utility behemoth came to us with a question: why are French people still antagonized by the deployment of a fleet of smart meters in their homes?


The Project

The roll-out of Linky, the French version of a smart meter, was facing significant backlash from the public. The lack of clear value proposition to offset the intrusion of a smart device in people’s homes, even when free, was a major issue.


My Role

As design lead, I shaped the project and picked the best team for the job: quick, efficient and able to build a prototype fast. We navigated a fairly complex ecosystem of needs and I made calls on where to focus the value proposition, how to build it and how to scale it.


The Result

We defined and tested a compelling value proposition for a new digital service associated with the smart meter. This service would:


1. Provide alerts and advice when customers’ energy consumption is not aligned with their pattern, before their bills arrive. Provide financial solutions to ease the pain of a massive bill.

2. Comparison. Provide ways for a customer to evaluate their consumption with similar households in their neighbourhood.

3. Progressive value proposition. Nudge customers into disclosing more about their households to provide them with accurate recommendations on energy efficiency.

In only 4 weeks we built a functional prototype that created significant appetite from the targeted customers base.


In Their Words

Always good to hear customers say: ‘at last, I feel now that I’m in control of my energy bill.”

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