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.

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

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

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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.”