Smart meters are a powerful tool that could enable households in reducing and having an overall control over energy consumption. The aim of this study is to investigate the usability of the Italian Enel Smart Meters. A field research was conducted with consumers who were requested to obtain information from the meter trough some tasks, complete a satisfaction questionnaire and a structured interview. The specific objectives of the study are:
– to find out if the information that the meter presents is understood by the users
– what prevents the users from successfully completing the task
– the users opinion and the overall evaluation of the meter

A convenience sampling was used to select 40 Italian native speakers, who were responsible in paying their bills and didn’t have any expertise in electronics or engineering. The age of the participants ranged in between 23 and 85 with an average of M=47.2 (SD=18.8). The participants were divided into two groups: one group had to read the Enel’s meter manual before the experiment, and the other couldn’t. The participants were interviewed in their house and where requested to complete seven tasks aimed to investigate the comprehension of the meters feedback. The order of presentation of the tasks was randomized with the Latin square procedure eliminating learning effects.

After the completion of the tasks a satisfaction questionnaire adapted from the Microsoft Desiderability Toolkit was administered to the participants with the aim of investigating the user’s opinion on the meter. A post structured interview was conducted on the answers from the satisfaction questionnaire in order to explore more in depth the motivation and opinions of the participants on selecting their answers. The tasks and the interviews were video recorded and the participants behaviors and verbalizations were coded and analyzed with the software Noldus the Observer.