January 20
Utilities Missing Out on Personalized Marketing Opportunities?
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Utilities may be missing out on opportunities to market products to consumers in a personalized way and they are not alone, according to new research by SGCC. SGCC surveyed 2,000 consumers in the U.S. to produce its latest study, “Customer Experience and Expectations.” The study probes how utility customers react to smart grid technologies.
Georgia Power doesn’t just want to keep the lights on anymore. Increasingly, the southern utility wants to build on its relationship with customers, and earn the title of trusted energy advisor. On August 1, Georgia Power launched the Georgia Power Marketplace, an e-commerce website offering a suite of energy-saving products from smart thermostats to LED lighting.
Maryland has about 7,000 electric vehicles on the road, a relatively modest number the state would like to expand on. California is far and away the EV leader with more than 100,000 electric vehicles on the road, Georgia currently ranks second with about 25,000. So Maryland's offering is diminutive compared to those states.
FirstEnergy Corp.'s Met-Ed, Penn Power and West Penn Power are now offering commercial and industrial customers a Demand Response Program that provides financial incentives to businesses that curtail their energy use when requested by the utility during peak hours. The program will operate from 2017 through 2020 during the summer months of June through September.
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Industry News
The beginning of the smart utility era is upon us. With digital meter installation reaching nearly 70% of all meters installed in the US, according to an October 2016 Edison Foundation's Institute for Electric Innovation report, smart technologies embedded in utility infrastructures are seen as the new normal rather than the exception.
US municipal utility JEA is expected to implement a demand response pilot program to help its customers to use less energy during peak periods and reduce costs. The utility serves residents of Jacksonville city in Florida and is expected to kickstart the pilot, SmartSavings, from March this year.
DTE Energy's investments in smart meters, smart technologies and overall infrastructure modernization improved service quality, causing 70% more reliable power for customers in 2016 compared to 2014, the firm announced yesterday. These grid projects marked a milestone in a multi-year plan to provide reliable energy for customers while keeping rates below the national average.
When I suggested a chatbot, such as Alexa or Google Assistant, for my Mom’s upcoming 95th birthday, I was met with skepticism from both my siblings. But now, after six months, they enthusiastically support the technology. The chatbot has empowered our Mom, whose hearing and sight are failing. Instead of needing to wait for assistance to turn on the news, listen to music or be reminded of the upcoming bingo game, Mom now simply talks to Alexa.
