Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Dedrick, Stanton Receive NSF Funding for Smart Meter Study

Friday, September 19, 2014, By Diane Stirling
Share
Research and CreativeSchool of Information Studies

Do people care how smart meters collect data about the electricity they use?

That’s one of the questions a new National Science Foundation-funded grant will permit two School of Information Studies (iSchool) professors to explore in their project, “Data Privacy for Smart Meter Data: A Scenario-Based Study.”

Jason Dedrick

Jason Dedrick

Associate Professor Jason Dedrick and Professor and Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Stanton, principal investigator and co-principal investigator for the study,  have been awarded $266,101 in NSF Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research funds to study the issue over the next three years.

“Smart meters” capture data on household energy use at frequent (typically 15-minute) intervals. That helps utilities automate meter reading and billing, detect and respond to outages, and match supply and demand. However, such data collection appears to create some significant privacy concerns for some customers, Dedrick explains.

In order to assess consumers’ perspectives of those concerns, Dedrick and Stanton will be creating realistic scenarios to test in focus groups and through questionnaires. Their goal is to gauge which issues consumers perceive as privacy risks, and to assess the degree of concern they have about various types of data-collection and data-breach situations. Their study also will examine how utilities currently protect consumer data and how well the practices and policies correspond to users’ privacy concerns.

Dedrick and Stanton have been studying smart grid electrical use and adoption for the past three years, working to identify the motivating factors, obstacles and challenges facing utilities and consumers regarding the technology’s adoption. One of the issues inhibiting greater adoption, they have found, is that smart meter use permits others to view usage patterns, including signatures left by the household’s varied devices and appliance. That added detail could present privacy issues based on how the collected data is used, stored and shared, Dedrick explains.

Jeffrey Stanton

Jeffrey Stanton

While most consumers don’t have a high degree of awareness about that data collection, the scenarios being tested will draw a clearer picture about the types of issues that do concern them, and to what degree, Dedrick says. He noted that some of the testing scenarios will be routine, and others will present more far-fetched potential outcomes of data-sharing. For instance, if one member of a divorcing couple engaged in a child-custody battle obtained meter data showing that the spouse’s household’s Xbox was in use 18 hours a day, that parent could form conclusions about the quality of parenting the other parent is providing, he says. “That might be the extreme, but it illustrates how innocent-looking data, put into different contexts, can be of concern or can be misinterpreted, with people drawing inferences from the data that might not even be accurate.”

Once the results of the study are known, the researchers will meet with utility company representatives to discuss how utilities can balance consumers’ concerns with business objectives and regulatory constraints, the professors say.

Although there are 45-50 million smart meters in use among electric customers today, only a small segment of that population is aware of the meter’s presence, and even fewer take advantage of the meter’s data to monitor their electricity use, according to Dedrick. Whether or not someone is interested enough to check their usage, the study is important to the average user, he says.

“I think it matters that people know how their data is being collected and used and that the companies and government agencies who are collecting, using, and sharing it are conscious of consumer and individual concerns,” Dedrick says. “There’s a much broader debate going on about who owns data and what responsibilities companies and individuals have, and what rights to privacy we have.”

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Diane Stirling

  • Jason Dedrick

  • Recent
  • Doctoral Candidate Wins Grant for Research on Infrastructure, Violence and Resistance in Pakistan
    Friday, August 1, 2025, By News Staff
  • Co-President of Disability Law Society Eyes Career in National Security Law in Washington
    Thursday, July 31, 2025, By Jordan Bruenger
  • Lender Center New York Event Gathers Wealth Gap Experts
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Diane Stirling
  • After Tragedy, Newhouse Grad Rediscovers Her Voice Through Podcasting
    Wednesday, July 30, 2025, By Chris Velardi
  • Back-to-School Shopping: More Expensive and Less Variety of Back-to-School Items
    Tuesday, July 29, 2025, By Daryl Lovell

More In STEM

New Study Reveals Ozone’s Hidden Toll on America’s Trees

A new nationwide study reveals that ozone pollution—an invisible threat in the air—may be quietly reducing the survival chances of many tree species across the United States. The research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres is the first…

Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Enthusiasts

A friendly competition is brewing in the corner of a basement classroom in Link Hall during the annual STEM Trekkers summer program, where students are participating in a time-honored ritual: seeing who can build a paper airplane that travels the…

5 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Use Generative Artificial Intelligence at Work

Not too long ago, generative artificial intelligence (AI) might’ve sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie. Now it’s here, and it’s ready to help you write emails, schedule meetings and even create presentations. In a recent Information Technology Services…

NSF I-Corps Semiconductor and Microelectronics Free Virtual Course Being Offered

University researchers with groundbreaking ideas in semiconductors, microelectronics or advanced materials are invited to apply for an entrepreneurship-focused hybrid course offered through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program. The free virtual course runs from Sept. 15 through…

Jianshun ‘Jensen’ Zhang Named Interim Department Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is excited to announce that Professor Jianshun “Jensen” Zhang has been appointed interim department chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE), as of July 1, 2025. Zhang serves as executive director of…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.