In my nearly 10-year career at E Source, I’ve focused primarily on residential energy-efficiency programs and related marketing approaches for residential customers. So I hesitated when I was asked to be the lead researcher on the 2011 E Source Account Management Assessment (AMA). However, I’m glad I took on the challenge because it was a great experience. I learned so many interesting details during the almost year-long AMA research project about the ways utilities structure their account management teams, as well as strategic approaches utilities use to provide effective account management to their business customers. I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned with everyone.

Some of the most interesting facts the research revealed include:

• At 92 percent of utilities, type of business or industry is the key criterion for assigning specific customers to specific account representatives
• The average number of customers assigned per account rep is 23
• Most account reps have 10 to 15 years of experience
• When making hiring decisions about business account reps, utilities put more importance on a candidate’s ...

Each year, I’m one of those people who can’t wait to see the TV commercials during the Super Bowl. I love to size up their creativity, memorability, and originality. One of my favorites from 2012 was this Volkswagen ad with the dog on a fitness plan:

Who can resist such doggie charm?

I also can’t wait to see the ads that are entered in the 2012 E Source Utility Ad Awards Contest. This is the fourth year we’ve held the contest and each year the ads get better and better, showing more creativity and humor. And, speaking of doggie charm, check out Georgia Power’s first place winner (PDF) in the 2011 best overall ad campaign category. The campaign also included this video ad:

Are you interested in seeing the ads for this year’s contest? We’re looking for judges!

Awards will be given out in these categories: Print Ads (Business and Residential), Radio Ads, Video/TV Ads, Digital Ads, Outdoor Ads, and Overall Campaign. Each category will be judged on criteria for ad effectiveness, objectives, message, memorability, and creativity. The judging process will be conducted online and ...

Just last week, I interviewed Donna Mann, process owner of customer experience at Pepco. The stars must have been aligned because I had this interview lined up and then it was announced that Pepco was named most improved in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI). Could the timing be any more perfect? As I get ready to write my upcoming report on developing the business case for customer experience, I can’t help but think about Pepco’s tremendous accomplishment.

ASCI ranked Pepco, an East Coast utility serving almost 800,000 customers, as the most improved in customer satisfaction (CSAT). Just a little over a year ago in early 2011, utility customers experienced prolonged outages due to back-to-back snowstorms. These two storms and several prior outages drove the Maryland Public Service Commission to investigate Pepco’s frequent outages, resulting in a not-so-small $1 million fine for Pepco in December 2011.

Ouch!

The key takeaway for utilities is this: Not investing in customer experience cost Pepco at least $1 million. I say “at least” because we don’t know the cost of the countless ...

“I’ve recently been working with Justin on feasibility assessments for emerging energy-efficient technologies. We met while working with Project Get Ready, the electric vehicle initiative at Rocky Mountain Institute.” —Bryan Jungers, E Source Research Manager

Can utilities profitably position themselves as the next economic engine within their communities? The short answer is, “Yes.” We’re still in the early innings of the electric vehicle (EV) ballgame, but I have reason to believe EVs will be net job creators, helping to arrest the flow of assets out of communities.

Last year, I interned with the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI’s) EV initiative, Project Get Ready, and had the opportunity to survey the project’s members about how EVs are affecting jobs in their regions. My findings revealed that the majority of people doing a broad spectrum of functions in the EV space view the technology as having positive impacts on local economies.

Current EV messaging doesn’t promote these positive impacts. Utilities should be creating campaigns to inform and educate customers. Utilities ...

To say Adam is active is an understatement. Last summer, he won an E Source contest challenging our staff to see how many miles they could ride on a bike—but it was slightly more complicated than that. The rules factored in those times when employees could have riden a bike, but chose a car instead. Adam won first place, logging nearly 600 miles! Also, his last vacation had him trekking miles through the jungle and sleeping in caves. Clearly, if he’s tough enough for that, we trust him with our efficiency offerings!

Nickname: Wheel

Hometown: Needham, Massachusetts—home of the Rockets (Needham High School football rules!)

What you do at E Source: I’m the product manager for the E Source Efficiency & Demand Response Programs Service.

Why you like working at E Source: Several reasons! I love that we have a far reach throughout North America, that I have many different job functions to keep me busy, that I work with such smart people, and that I get to have a work/life balance.

Something most people don’t know about you: I’ve been to ...

As I was preparing my garden for planting this past weekend, I remembered that April is National Safe Digging Month, and I thought it was the perfect time to remind utilities to get the word out to customers about safe digging.

A large majority of utilities communicate about outdoor gas safety information via the national 811: Call Before You Dig campaign; other utilities have gotten creative and designed their own taglines (members of the E Source Experience & Communications Management Service can check out the E Source report Communicating Natural Gas Safety for examples). Raising customers’ awareness about safe digging practices is best accomplished by using multiple channels such as TV and billboard ads, event marketing, dedicated web pages, and social media. In fact, more and more utilities are using Facebook to communicate gas safety messages. These messages can help prompt goodwill in the form of “likes” on the posts, customer comments such as “You guys are working so hard…” or “Keep up the good work,” or even safety reminders from customers. For example, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) is ...

The answer may be “both.” I’ve seen a growing number of good light-emitting diode (LED) products out there (and still a lot to be wary of), but I’ve also been hearing about concerns that some of those products may be “too good!” The best products feature sophisticated drivers that take whatever power is fed to the device and fine-tune it to maintain constant power so that the end user experiences a nice, even illumination. But what if, for example, there’s a brownout in a city lit by thousands of LED fixtures, all trying to draw more current as the voltage sags—probably not a good thing—unless the products are allowed to dim, or the driver includes logic that distinguishes between a modest sag and a long brownout.

And then there’s harmonics. I’ve heard that some products, even some very good ones, have higher total harmonic distortion (THD) than expected. Concerns about power quality and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have been raised in the past, and mostly dismissed (for example, see Power Factor: Policy Implications for the Scale-Up of CFL Programs), but if lots of LEDs, with lots of THD, are installed ...

Now that you’re all caught up on Day 1 of the 4th Annual E Source Utility Marketing Conference, it’s time for a rundown of Day 2. Bill LeBlanc, senior advisor at E Source, kicked things off and said the reason that things stay the same is that there’s a lack of incentive to change. He challenged utilities to address these five things right away:

• Revamp the utility bill. This is the most common interface with all customers and it’s usually as user-unfriendly as you can get.
• Stop thinking of yourselves as commodity providers. People are knocking on your door to buy solar, electric vehicles, home automation—learn to sell it!
• Thermostats! Almost 40 percent of household energy is controlled by the thermostat. Don’t abdicate this huge efficiency opportunity to a third party.
• Work on pricing. Bundle price and efficiency.
• Talk to customers differently. We talk at them instead of with them. We allow lawyers, engineers, and regulators to tell us how to talk to our customers.

Innovation and Human-Centered Design: Even Utilities Can Do It. Andrew Burroughs, ...

On our first day at the 4th Annual E Source Utility Marketing Conference here in Charlotte, North Carolina, we had the opportunity to hear about several of Duke Energy’s business energy-efficiency programs and initiatives. I was pleasantly surprised by this growing city’s businesses; it appears that they’re forging ahead with programs like Smart Energy Now with help from Duke Energy.

Read on for highlights of the business sessions from Day 1, including presenters from Duke Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), APS, and Puget Sound Energy.

The Strategy Behind Successful SMB Engagement

John Shuler, Duke Energy: There are two basic ways to talk to small and midsize business (SMB) customers. First, give them straight talk; they’re already skeptical of new ideas that may not always pan out. Second, make it easy for them. They want a hassle-free experience.

Marketing Success with Business Customer Segmentation

David Schoenberg, PG&E: Across their organization, Schoenberg and his team at PG&E discovered four different definitions of “small business.” ...

Holy cow! Day 1 of the 4th Annual E Source Utility Marketing Conference just ended and I seriously feel like I’ve been drinking nonstop from the water hose. I don’t know how we managed to get so many amazing speakers packed into one day—and there’s still another full day to go!

The predominant themes of Day 1 were to “go where your customers are” (which is not your website, that’s for sure!) and the value of segmentation.

We started out by hearing from the guys who are doing the marketing to get butts in the seats for NASCAR. Mike Burch, VP of national sales and marketing for Speedway Motorsports, and Logan McCabe, VP of the consumer group at Bristol Motor Speedway, spoke about understanding your customer and driving your marketing campaigns to meet their needs. I won’t go too deep into their amazing talk because Stephanie Spalding already wrote a thorough recap. You can see a little clip of Logan talking about being nimble but consistent. And I love their five Ts of keeping customers happy: tickets, traffic, tummies, trash, and toilets—talk about meeting your customers where they’re at.

I ...