Case Study
Electricity providers in the U.S. and Canada are making strides in educating and engaging consumers on better controlling how much energy they use, the resulting costs they incur and the benefits of shifting their usage.
These case studies collected by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative spotlight how smart energy technologies and programs have engaged consumers to empower them to match the energy they use with their needs.
Dominion Energy provides regulated electricity service to 3.6 million homes and businesses in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and regulated natural gas service to 400,000 customers in South Carolina. The company is one of the nation’s leading developers and operators of regulated offshore wind and solar power and the largest producer of carbon-free electricity in New England. The company’s mission is to provide the reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy that powers its customers every day.
From 2016 to 2020, Dominion Energy and Honeywell ran the successful Small Business Improvement (SBI) program, one of the most enduring energy efficiency initiatives in Virginia and North Carolina, achieving over 49,610 MWh of energy savings (150 percent of the plan). The program was able to issue $9.2 million in incentives and reach over 2,500 customers, many of whom could be categorized as hard to reach and hadn’t previously participated in energy efficiency programs.
In early 2021, building on this previous success, Dominion Energy introduced the next iteration as the “Enhanced” Small Business Improvement program (SBIE). Recognizing the critical support small businesses needed to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the program included an expanded list of eligible measures and created outreach materials in multiple languages – including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean – to better connect with non-English-speaking customers.
From June 2021 to June 2024, over 2,550 small businesses in North Carolina and Virginia participated in the Small Business Improvement Enhanced program, saving approximately 8,476 MWh – an average of 6,545 kWh per participant. To date, over $7.1 million has been distributed to customers. In addition, after redesigning the previous small business program to the new “enhanced” design, Dominion Energy achieved a 34-percent increase in applications and saw a 50-percent increase in adoption of measures beyond lighting.
