Dive Summary:

• Despite the expected reduction in peak demand after widespread smart meter rollouts, residential and commercial utility customers maintained old energy consumption habits during one of the hottest summers in the history of the U.S.
• This is largely due to the fact that utilities have yet to implement demand reduction plans that properly accommodate households and businesses.
• Some utilities, such as Dominion Virginia Power, are looking to manage peak demand by employing advanced conservation methods.

From the article:

With companies like Opower pushing data and behavioral analytics, and literally hundreds of energy management services now on offer, we wondered earlier this year whether 2012 would be the summer where smart grid would come to the rescue during the most sweltering of days.

The answer, for the most part, is not really. ...