The S3C consortium represents a team of experts from various fields reaching from electrical engineering to social science to psychology. With the experience gained from building on existing expertise in scientific literature and in-depth analyses of our 32 collaborating smart energy projects, we identified opportunities for engaging customers. From there we have developed a set of customer engagement guidelines and tools for practitioners from the areas of smart grid and energy efficiency projects, products and services. In our 50 guidelines and tools, we have integrated recommendations and feedback from experts from several smart grid research projects and utility partners. Our tools and guidelines have been tested and/or evaluated in the field, since we teamed up with three utilities and eight field test beds across Europe as well as a network of additional experts. We have improved them according to our experience and the experience of our partner projects and companies.

In sum, S3C

• analyses and assesses critical success factors for consumer involvement in active demand by measuring the performance of technical and non-technical interaction schemes as well as customer awareness initiatives deployed in smart grid pilot projects;
• draws up a practical set of guidelines and tools for those involved in setting up active demand projects or programs (DSOs, policy makers, research institutes, regulators etc.) for ensuring a better engagement of consumers in active demand; and
• actively disseminates these guidelines and tools on a dedicated website (www.smartgridengagement-toolkit.eu) in order to improve the knowledge on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of active demand programs.