An Empirical Study of the Acceptance of IoT-Based Smart Meter in Malaysia: The Effect of Electricity-Saving Knowledge and Environmental Awareness

Today’s increasing demand for electricity requires solutions that better align with energy demand and supply. Innovative technological solutions such as smart metering applications are gaining popularity among electricity providers. Despite numerous benefits, smart meters, a part of the technology on the Internet of Things (IoT), continue to struggle for widespread consumer acceptance due to limited knowledge on electricity savings and environmental awareness. These factors were examined in isolation and have not been theoretically incorporated or examined. Hence, this study investigates the factors that influence residential consumers’ acceptance of smart meters by integrating electricity-saving knowledge and environmental awareness with the second generation of “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology” (UTAUT2). The literature revealed an important link between users’ behavioural intention and users’ use behaviour. Well-established theories of acceptance like “technology acceptance model” (TAM) and UTAUT, incorporate the behavioural intention variable in the nomological network of technology adoption determinants. This study highlighted the impact of users’ behavioural intention on users’ use behaviour, which was not examined previously by any of the smart meter acceptance models. The data were collected from 318 consumers of residential smart meters in Putrajaya and Malacca, the cities in Malaysia, and were statistically tested using SME-PLS The study confirms that adding electricity-saving knowledge and environmental awareness to the UTAUT2 leads to a significant increase in the explained variance in consumer acceptance of smart meter.