Smart Grid - Smart Customer Policy Needs

In September 2010, the International Energy Agency (IEA) held a workshop on the regulatory, market and consumer policies necessary to ensure that smart grids are deployed with adequate consideration of their risks and benefits to all stakeholders.

This was one of several workshops that brought together energy providers, network operators, technology developers, regulators, customers and government policy makers to discuss smart grid technology and policy.

The Smart Grid - Smart Customer Policies workshop allowed stakeholders to:

• gain a perspective on key issues and barriers facing early deployment of smart grids
• hear expert opinion on regulatory, consumer and market challenges to smart grids
• discuss smart grid-smart customer policy priorities; and
• build consensus on the technology and policy ingredients needed for customer-friendly smart grid deployments

Drawing on workshop discussions, the following paper lays out a logical framework to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks that smart grids pose for customers. The paper also describes key policy research questions that will guide future IEA research on this topic.