In its 12th Five-Year Specific Plan, China planned to construct 5-10 demonstration projects for smart cities and 50 demonstration projects for smart industrial parks.
By the end of 2015, State Grid had built 32 smart communities or smart buildings in Beijing, Chongqing and Hebei. Smart communities and smart buildings not only created an interface between public utilities and consumers, but also enabled interaction between buildings and consumers. Based on the interactive processing of information, both public utilities and consumers can control electricity utilization in air conditioning units, electric boilers, lighting and smart appliances, improving comfort. Moreover, based on detailed online and off-line data and behavior analysis, electricity suppliers can provide consumers with advice on how to improve the efficiency of their energy use.