March 8
How to Improve the Utility Customer Experience
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Over the past decade, energy providers have come a long way in how they view the customers at the other end of the meter. From a long-entrenched mindset that viewed consumers as “billpayers,” “ratepayers” or even “load”, many energy providers are now thinking in terms of the customer journey and seeking to be a trusted energy advisor. Younger generations of digitally minded customers are bringing new expectations and values to their relationships with their energy providers.
Recently, Avista installed a smart electric meter, the first of its Smarter Together project, at a home on the National Register of Historic Places in the Millwood community near Spokane, Wash. Avista will begin major deployments of smart meters next week. Over the next 20 months, Avista will replace nearly all of its existing electric meters with smart meters. It will also add a new smart gas module to existing natural gas meters.
CLEAResult recently sponsored exciting research from SECC that sought to understand what causes 40 percent of consumers to engage only selectively in energy efficiency behaviors and programs. In February, Harish Munagala participated in a panel discussion about this report and its findings at SECC’s Consumer Symposium in New Orleans, LA.
Xcel Energy said its previously announced plan to deliver 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050 –part of a movement derided by some as unfeasible and too costly – is backed up by a new report showing recent and dramatic progress. Last year, the Minneapolis-based utility cut its carbon emissions three percent below 2017 and 38 percent from 2005 levels. Xcel’s more immediate goal is an 80-percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
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Industry News
When it comes to the challenge of connecting small and medium businesses with energy efficiency programs, a pair of recent reports confirm what many utilities already know: There are no shortcuts or one-size-fits-all solutions. Small and medium businesses consume about 20 percent of the country’s energy, but they account for less than four percent of utility energy efficiency spending, according to EnergySavvy.
The U.S. energy storage industry delivered record deployments in 2018, driven by a strong fourth quarter for utility-scale projects. But the new achievement for the young industry pales compared to what’s to come: an expected doubling in 2019, followed by a tripling in 2020. Such growth will propel energy storage out of pilot-scale projects and into grid planning conversations around the country.
For customers of the Roanoke Electric Cooperative in rural North Carolina, high energy costs are much more than a pesky bill or a grudging expense. “We’re one of the poorest areas of the nation,” says Curtis Wynn, the cooperative’s president and CEO. “We have a lot of low-income individuals who are our members and, quite frankly, a major portion of their monthly budgets are consumed by paying their electricity bills.”
Green Mountain Power and Renewable Energy Vermont have launched a program that allows customers to share access to their energy. The program, called Bring Your Own Device, is for customers with home batteries. It allows them to share access to their stored energy. This will drive down costs for all customers, while reducing carbon emissions and improving grid resiliency.
