Now live: Verizon’s smart energy home products

Phone company Verizon quietly launched its smart home products nationwide about three months ago, which enables customers to lock and unlock doors and windows, watch home video cameras remotely, and manage thermostats and lighting. This is the service that Verizon launched in trials in New Jersey about a year ago.

Verizon discovered a few things about the service in the months that it’s been widely available, as well as via the months that it’s been available in a pilot service. First off, Verizon’s Director of product development, Home Monitoring and Control, Ann Shaub, said that Verizon’s stand alone energy products haven’t been as attractive as the whole smart home package that includes cameras, door sensors, and door locks.

That’s not so surprising as security and media management are clearly a lot more attractive to customers across the board compared to products used for reducing home energy consumption. Verizon also says that it doesn’t make claims about saving energy for its home energy products, so it’s not actively marketing them as energy efficiency tools.

Verizon is currently working with Ingersoll Rand for its security products, and Aeon Labs for its thermostats and energy reader, which attaches to a circuit breaker and appliance switches. Shaub also told me that Verizon is actively looking to add more smart home tools over the coming months.

One interesting aspect is that Verizon says it’s seen 95 percent of its smart home customers install their own devices. That could be a good sign for Nest, the smart learning thermostat startup, which is selling thermostats straight to consumers.

Verizon wouldn’t give me any information about the numbers it’s getting for its smart home tools at this point, Shaub would only say that the division is here to stay and that it’s seeing significant growth.

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