From 'Ratepayer' to 'Customer': Best Practices in Customer Engagement

An Intelligent Utility Reality Webcast

10/15 10/29 1/28

February 2, 2012

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From 'Ratepayer' to 'Customer': Best Practices in Customer Engagement

Anita Moreno
Manager of Member Services Flint Energies

Angie Thoma, PMP

Smart Grid Project Manager Colorado Springs Utilities

Todd Kowalczyk
Manager of CVPSs Project Management Office Central Vermont Public Service

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From 'Ratepayer' to 'Customer': Best Practices in Customer Engagement

Phil Carson
Editor-in-Chief Intelligent Utility Daily Follow Phil on Twitter @smartgrid_phil

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Capital Deferment Project Appaloosa Pilot Program

Angie Thoma January 2012

Colorado Springs Utilities

Service territory = approximately 491 square miles
All four services are fully automated meters- AMR implementation completed in 2010 212,966 electric meter accounts 189,111 gas meter accounts 135,019 water meters accounts

Appaloosa Initiative
Deferring the investment by:
modifying existing engineering planning design incorporating new and existing DSM programs and rates options leveraging current and new technology-AMI allowing customers to understand usage data

Appaloosa Demographics
Don't know 3%

Other 16% $40 or higher 8%

Wanted any % Discount 2% $10 per month 6%

$20 per month 13%

70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 43.7% 47.6%

69.0%

53.9%

$40 per month 34%

$30 per month 18%

40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% -10.0% 29.3%

Appaloosa Pilot Solutions

Circuit ECO Premium
Forecast circuit load Call event - no override

CFL Bulb Exchange

Marketing- schools and community centers DSM staff manned booth Up to 15 per customer

Circuit Time of Day

Reduce circuit peak Summer/winter peak Provide customer with usage data (manually)

Commercial Audits
8 commercial customers CSU commercial audit Provide costing

Appaloosa Goal
Circuit 12AP-3: MW Savings Required
10.00 2010 Expected Circuit Forecast 9.50 Circuit Design Capacity 9.00

MW

0.66
8.50

0.71

0.76

0.80

0.85

High Circuit Forecast Low Circuit Forecast

0.11
8.00

7.50 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Appaloosa Pilot Results

Circuit ECO Premium CFL Bulb Exchange
36 participated 18 events 4 temperature setback Avg. 3.2 kW savings 11 regular ECO Marketing- schools and community centers DSM staff manned booth Up to 15 per customer 472 total exchanged

Circuit Time of Day

5 participated Avg. 1.6 kW savings $41.71 avg. savings

Commercial Audits
8 commercial customers CSU commercial audit Provide costing Zero implementations

Time of Day Rate Savings

Model Customer
8.0 7.0 6.0 15 Minute KW 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Hour of Day Event TOU KW

Sample Survey Results

Lessons Learned
Process-Technology 2-way meter technology Collecting load profile data Strong upfront marketing campaign Reliable load cycling vendor Customer Customers want consumption data Customers can change behavior Customers want to save money Monthly incentive may not be needed

Contact Information

Angie Thoma, PMP Energy Services Colorado Springs Utilities Work: (719) 668-7482 Cell: (719) 491-8434 athoma@csu.org

From 'Ratepayer' to 'Customer': Best Practices in Customer Engagement

Todd Kowalczyk
Manager of CVPSs Project Management Office Central Vermont Public Service

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Customer Engagement Approach & Lessons Learned

26

CVPS Overview
Vision: CVPS - The best small utility in America Largest utility in Vermont CVPS serves over 159,000 customers in 163 communities 10 district offices located across the state Rural service territory with an average of 19 Customers per line mile Strong customer service and reliability orientation

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Program Scope
CVPS SmartPower

Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Customer Web Presentment

Upgrade of Direct Load Control Program

Dynamic Rate Pilot

Time of Use In-Home Display Beta Test

Heat Pump Pilot

Grid Automation

Peak Time Rebate

Critical Peak Pricing

Todd Kowalczyk
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CVPS Brand:
Care about Customers Reliable Environmentally Conscious Community Focused

29

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Early Focus Groups and Surveys Helped Us Understand Our Customers

Early Adopters

Majority

Laggards

30

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The path to informed, engaged consumers

Awareness

Desire

Acceptance

Engagement

Introduce Smart Grid / CVPS SmartPower

Seed Benefits

Answer Questions / Dispel Concerns

Invitation To Do & Know More

31

2/2/2012

Engagement Methods
Customer Surveys Newspaper Ads Radio Employee Outreach CVPS SmartPower Micro-site

Partnerships with Regulators & Other Stakeholders

Customer feedback from calls to customer service, online feedback forms, and community forums helps to inform further outreach efforts

32

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Engagement will build awareness over time

33

2/2/2012

Two Year Pilot of PTR/CPP rates to begin in 2012

PTR
Rebate Potential

CPP

Rate 1 Peak Event

$
Peak Event

Rate 1 CPP

Time

Time

34

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Learning the importance of consumer interactions from others

Pacific Gas & Electric apologized to customers this week for lousy customer service related to its smart meter rollouts. - SmartGridNews.com Study: Smart Grid Aware Customers More Satisfied with Utilities (But There Arent Many of Them). - JD Power study Consumer Engagement seen as key to the Smart Grids success. - greentechmedia.com

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Other Lessons Learned To Date

Plan ahead and build customer communication into your project
Keep messages simple and emphasize whats in it for the customer Build trust by being transparent Listen to customer feedback and enlist the help of community groups and others Be patient the typical customer doesnt think about a utility like they do many other businesses

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