Consumer outreach and awareness

PhilCarson.jpg [2]

Opinions abound on how consumers will respond to an opportunity to participate in energy management and demand response.
 
Early surveys have found general consumer ignorance of smart meters and in-home displays and controls, which does not necessarily mean that consumers won't want control over their energy use once they "get it." 

Others say that only a certain segment of consumers will want to play a very active role in monitoring their energy consumption.

This past week at the Grid ComForum in Santa Clara, Calif., two investor-owned utilities presented information on their efforts to engage consumers, educate them and gauge their interest in participating in demand management.

Southern California Edison's (SCE) Edison SmartConnect [3] program aims to install about five million smart meters on customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile area within central, coastal and southern California by 2012.

John Bubb, manager of the program, said that "the key is to engage customers and raise their awareness level." Of course, that is an easy conclusion to reach in the wake of Pacific Gas & Electric's travails in smart meter rollouts in Bakersfield and Fresno last year when a lack of awareness led to a public relations nightmare. But SCE has been working on its program for years; they "get it" on consumer buy-in.

SCE's mantra is "set it and forget it," Bubb said. SCE plans to offer demand management products that fit consumers' lifestyles, according to Seth Kiner, director of customer experience management and marketing for the utility. Kiner pointed out that SCE's nearly 5 million consumer accounts represent about 14 million people who speak 40 different languages across a spectrum of locales and socioeconomic classes.

There will be little or no discussion of kilowatt-hour usage -- "nobody cares," Kiner said. Instead, demand management product offerings may look like "The Comfort Plan," "The Green Plan," "The Saver Plan" -- products that reflect the customer's level of interest and lifestyle. These programs would offer various mixes of possible energy savings tailored to the customer's preferences. Keeping it simple is the theme, SCE executives said.

To get it right, SCE has hired Ideo, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm that specializes in design, from the exterior of smart meters to the behaviors that might shape consumer acceptance of smart meters and in-home energy management displays. Sounds a bit California-y, but the firm's clients include the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which seeks to overcome homeowner inertia on tightening up their homes to save money and possibly cut demand.

DTE Energy in Detroit has also embarked upon a smart meter rollout (600,000 meters in two years) and it is striking up practical partnerships for in-home energy efficiency and management. 

Shaun Summerville, marketing program manager for the Detroit Edison's SmartCurrents [4] program, pointed out that demand response is not new in her service area; Detroit's hot water heaters were under utility control in the 1960s.
In a pilot program to gauge consumer attitudes and behavior, Detroit Edison will install smart appliances, including smart thermostats, in a few hundred residences. A few thousand people will also get in-home energy displays. And some ratepayers will be allowed to pre-pay their bills so they can play around with settings on these devices without unpredictable results.

The utility is partnering with Comverge to develop smart thermostats that can respond to price signals and will combine a digital readout of energy use with a color-coded set of lights that might range from red to green, with green signifying best practices-level of energy conservation. Homeowners, if they care, might see a red light and use that impetus to reset some appliances.

Meanwhile, the utility is partnering with appliance maker Whirlpool to develop refrigerators that delay the start of the defrost cycle, clothes dryers with an economy mode and dishwashers with timers for off-peak use.

The fact is, intelligent utilities may not have all the answers right now. But they are designing products and services that they think will make sense to consumers across a broad spectrum of lifestyles and socioeconomic classes. Success will not come overnight but these utilities are familiar with the hard questions and are putting dollars and sweat equity into finding answers.

Phil Carson
Editor-in-chief
Intelligent Utility Daily
pcarson@energycentral.com [5]
303-228-4757