To highlight the critical role of energy users in the smart grid, utilities, technology companies, and industry groups launched the Smart Energy Demand Coalition today at a press conference at the European Union's Strategic Energy Technology Plan Conference. SEDC members include founding members eMeter and VaasaETT, as well as Landis+Gyr, EDF, ENEL, Gas Natural Fenosa, the Climate Group, Vodafone, Universidad Comillas, the European Smart Meter Investment Group, the Demand Response and Smart Grid coalition, The Peak Load Management Alliance, Capgemini, Entelios, Jouleasset, Schneider Electric, the ZigBee Alliance and Silver Spring Networks.

The SEDC is a not-for-profit industry association based in Brussels and consisting of utilities, electricity retailers, and providers of services and technologies related to demand response, energy efficiency, smart meters and smart grids. The coalition is willing to share expertise and information regarding the deployment of smart meters and communications systems seeking to enable energy providers to offer their customers time-based rates with off-peak discounts, thereby allowing consumers to save on their electricity bills by varying their demand in response to price signals. Additional benefits are provided by smart grids, which automate substations and circuits used for electricity distribution.

The association will be led by Executive Director Jessica Stromback, currently a senior partner at global energy think tank VaasaETT. Chris King, founder of DRSG, a similar group in the United States, and an industry expert who has spoken at several industry events in Europe as well as testifying before the U.S. Congress on smart energy demand and smart meters, will initially chair the SEDC.

"Regulators across Europe are presently debating and finalizing requirements for smart meter and smart grid deployments, including the platforms on which demand response and energy efficiency programs will be built, helping influence the ability of electricity customers to contribute to the advancement of the EU's aggressive 2020 climate change objectives," said Stromback. "Our goal is to provide useful information on price responsive loads, program and technology experience, market structures and rules, including information on market participants' roles, consumer needs and actions, enabling technologies, and specific programs as appropriate."

Balancing consumption with generation could be said to form the heart of the intelligence of the smart grid. To a certain extent, the success of the "smart" grid depends on the ability of utilities to make energy demand "smart," using such tools as feedback, pricing, automation etc. Despite their central position within a new Smart Grid future - European demand centered programs are lagging well behind other global markets.

Billions of Euros are currently being spent on the development and rollout of a variety of smart grid-related technologies throughout Europe. These include smart metering, wind generation, solar generation, electric vehicles and heat pumps etc. Yet in comparison to the funding, standardization initiatives, regulation, publicity and special interest activity surrounding and supporting these technologies – relatively little attention is paid to the development and support of the demand side programs which will be essential for successfully integrating them into the grid – and are the heart of the grid's "intelligence".

The SEDC has an annual smart energy demand conference for all industry participants to share success stories and learnings in programs ranging from pilots to large-scale rollouts. The SEDC also has members-only meetings for EU program and policy planning and development, quarterly information sharing and networking webinars, an extensive database of demand side research and consumer-related information, and regular communications, including a bimonthly organization newsletter and special bulletins on policy and industry developments.