Customer engagement in innovative smart grid deployment projects: evidence from Russia

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 5902 - 5911
• Main Authors: Ratner, Svetlana, Salnikov, Anastasia A., Berezin, Andrey, Sergi, Bruno S., Sohag, Kazi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Consumers; Customers; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Electric power grids; Energy consumption; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Low level; Nonparametric statistics; Research Article; Russia; Smart grid; Smart grid technology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Technology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Russia; Expectations; Survey; Consumer’s behavior; Smart grid projects; Nonparametric statistics
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16095-4

In recent years, Russian power grid companies have significantly intensified their planning and implementing innovative projects to introduce various elements of smart grid technology. The global experience shows that the best potential outcome from smart grid technologies largely relies on the customers’ readiness and adoption. To this end, we assess the Russian consumers’ awareness and readiness regarding smart grid technologies by conducting a comprehensive survey. Our empirical study showed that, in general, Russian consumers are unaware of the various aspects of smart grid technologies. On the contrary, a significant share of respondents believes that smart grid technologies can reduce their energy consumption burden through gaining efficiency. The low level of awareness would be detrimental to accrue smart grid innovative projects’ potential socio-economic and environmental benefits. We propose several recommendations for policymakers and managers of grid companies for the elimination of the identified risks.