Alarm.com has announced it acquired EnergyHub, which is a startup focusing on home energy management. Alarm.com is a security company that has been working diligently in recent years to expand its system capabilities, and raised $136 million in capital last year alone in order to help in the achievement of this goal. Prior to this official acquiring of EnergyHub by Alarm.com, the two companies were already working with other organizations such as San Diego Gas and Electric in order to reach customers for the purposes of promoting the demand response programs being offered by Alarm.com.
“As we go after larger utility programs, we’re now representing a larger, moreresourceful entity,” said Seth Frader-Thompson, president of EnergyHub.
With this new merger, EnergyHub will continue to operate as an independent entity within the larger scope of Alarm.com.
“We believe that EnergyHub’s Mercury platform provides the best available solution for powering comprehensive residential demand response and energy efficiency programs,” Steve Trundle, CEO of Alarm.com, said in a statement.
It is anticipated that , along with telecom companies will take the reins of the home automation industry, and become leaders in that particular sector, particularly since these companies already have preexisting relationships with customers and have the capability to package connected and home automation services. Although energy efficiency alone is unlikely to draw in a large customer base, the key to home automation with mass appeal lies in the ability to provide a large suite of services, including home security, comfort and convenience.
Alarm.com is one of the primary partners of Vivint Security, which is one of the world’s largest providers of and security systems. Similar to the acquisition of EnergyHub by Alarm.com, Vivint recently expanded its company to include residential solar, and the security giant secured $75 million to help fund its solar business.
“When you look at the connected home,” said Jay Kenny, VP of marketing at Alarm.com, “it becomes more valuable the more devices you can connect.”
According to Kenny, one of the fastest selling items for EnergyHub is the thermostat, and the company reportedly has hundreds of thousands of customers that have thermostats operated by the EnergyHub Mercury platform. EnergyHub has over one million customers in total, and will reportedly keep its relationships with other partners which include businesses such as Radio Thermostat of America.
It is anticipated that connected homes and will continue to grow in popularity, particularly as the technology advances and they become easier to operate. Additional factors expected to play into the growth of this sector include the desire for more energy efficient homes and reduced energy costs, the expansion of smartphones and tablets that can be used to operate these systems and the reduced costs of these systems, which used to be only found in the homesof very wealthy individuals.
Tim Eveler
Author & Public Relations – Tim has been working in sales for the home security system industry over twelve years. He’s held positions at large home security companies and in charge of working with the team to create our security system reviews.