When it comes to the smart home, broadband providers’ sweet spot so far has been security services. A major example is Comcast’s Xfinity Home, which has a core business that revolves around offering advanced security options to customers including voice control and automated commands. But what kind of IoT-based services are operators like Comcast exploring beyond security? According to research, smart thermostats seem poised to be one of the next big smart home categories.

Parks Associates released new energy management research this week in which it says 40-50 percent of consumers find individual energy monitoring services appealing. “Safety and security are the leading value propositions for the smart home, yet more people own smart thermostats than any other product category,” Tom Kerber, director of IoT strategy at Parks Associates, observes.

Another report from the firm, “Smart Home: Quest for Compelling Use Cases” suggests 54 percent of U.S. broadband households are interested in a monitoring solution that identifies problems with any major appliance and 50 percent are interested in a solution that identifies ways of improving energy efficiency. Overall, U.S. consumers show a preference for energy solutions with actionable intelligence that are informative and proactive, over basic monitoring and reporting solutions, Parks Associates concludes.

Parks Associates’ 21st-annual Connections conference is set for May 23-25 in San Francisco. Experts will discuss strategies to better educate consumers about their energy management option as well as ways to leverage the billions of smart home devices already in U.S. broadband households. More information is here.