14 DAY TRIAL // With its hands in every cookie jar in the kitchen, there doesn't seem to be anything that Google isn't doing or planning to do. It's gotten to the point where even the slightest hint or rumor that Google is planning to enter a new market is making established players worry. But do utility companies have any reason to fear Google? As far fetched as it may seem, the truth is that, in a way, they very well may have, though the search giant is eager to dispel any worries.
Google was represented by Ed Lu, the company's program manager for advanced products at the GreenBeat 2009 conference, focused green technology. There's a very good reason for Google to be present at such a conference, aside from building operating systems and selling ads, it also has a big focus on alternative energy and manages several “green” projects through its philanthropic arm Google.org.
Google also offers PowerMeter, an power-usage monitoring software designed to work with so-called “smart meters” giving users an easy way of keeping track of their energy usage. It's this tool and the partnerships which Google has with several device manufacturers that lead to the inevitable question of whether Google was trying to squeeze its way as a middle man of sorts between utility companies and the consumers.
“We are not in the business of providing electric power,” Lu, a former NASA astronaut now leading Google's advanced technology products, told the audience. “[C]learly, we aren’t going to generate or distribute power. Utilities are good at that. We are good at reaching lots of customers and we think this is where we can help — we can help utilities reach customers and customers to monitor their energy usage.”
This isn't the first time that the company has said it only wants to enhance a product or service, using a similar approach in the mobile phones market. Yet, despite not building a physical phone, at least, not for the time being, Google has had a big effect on the market with its Android OS, which is beginning to get some serious traction. Still, Google claims it only wants to offer consumers a way to keep track of their power usage not to do the actually metering and would much rather have deals with utility companies to offer its services, which are free, to their customers.