One of the best ways to ensure a successful smart grid program is to learn from others' successes—and failures. That’s why we're convening this Intelligent Grid Council. E Source utility members involved in advanced-metering or smart-grid programs are invited to share their experiences and challenges. This informal peer exchange will be a unique opportunity for frank dialogue, as it is open only to utilities. Vendors will not be participating. We’ll focus on issues of concern to our members, such as how to build a credible business case, what advanced functionality is most useful, and the best implementation strategies and tactics. The session will also provide an opportunity for attendees to influence the research agenda for the newly launched E Source Intelligent Grid Service.

Gary Fauth, Independent Consultant, Harvard University
Stephen S. George, Principal Consultant, Freeman, Sullivan & Co.
Sandy Goodwin, Director, Intelligent Grid Service, E Source
Larsh Johnson, Chief Technology Officer, eMeter

Everyone wants to get the most value from their investments, but sometimes it’s not obvious how to go about it. We’ll offer dozens of practical tips and suggestions for maximizing the benefit of your E Source membership. For example, we’ll explain how you can maximize the return from your Member Inquiry privileges, how to use information from our reports to enhance your newsletters and customer information pamphlets, and how to get access to E Source speakers for your meetings and conferences. We’ll also provide brief overviews of all the E Source services. Existing and potential members are welcome to join us for this session.

E Source Staff

Not enough time or money in your budget to recruit customers into your energy-efficiency programs? Learn how to work with contractors and other trade allies—who already have relationships with your commercial and industrial customers—to help market programs and track results. Our panelists will discuss how to develop and make use of these networks to increase the market penetration of your C&I DSM program offerings.

Roseann Brusco, Program Manager, C&I Energy Efficiency, NSTAR Electric & Gas Corporation
Francine Collette, Manager, Power Smart Alliance, British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority

What do residential customers want in terms of self-service from their energy provider? Are they satisfied with their utility’s interactive voice-response system (IVR)? Are online offerings meeting their needs? Come hear the results from the recent E Source market research survey on self-service customer care and gain insight on aligning your self-service options with customer needs. We’ll consider such issues as bill payment, speech recognition, paperless billing, and phone and web options.

Moderator: Andrew Heath, Director, Customer Satisfaction Services, E Source
Florence Connally, Research Manager, E Source
Richard Goodwin, Manager, Utility Customer Care Service, E Source

Building automation systems are becoming more sophisticated and are therefore drawing renewed interest as a means of effectively reducing energy consumption and shaving peak demand. Join us for discussion of the benefits, drawbacks, and best applications for this evolving technology.

Greg Bradshaw, President, Bradshaw Building Solutions
Dr. Srinivas Katipamula, Staff Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Kevin McKinnon, Vice President of Business Development, Franklin Energy Services

The operational benefits of advanced metering in the areas of energy theft and outage management are widely misunderstood. Business cases tend to misstate the true value of the technologies. In many instances, they don’t fully account for all the implications of using advanced metering. Many of the utilities that have mature advanced metering systems have learned to make optimal use of the functionality of those systems to help prevent theft and to manage outages. Find out how they’ve been able to reap benefits in operational savings, improved reliability, and increased revenue.

Glenn Pritchard, Senior Project Manager, Meter Reading Technology, Peco Energy
Michael Wiebe, President, MW Consulting

Some people can sell ice to Eskimos, but why do things the hard way? Getting the right message to the right customer will take your marketing to the next level. Find out how marketing segmentation can help you determine which customers are the best candidates for your programs and what specific messages you should send their way.

Amy Hebard, Chief Research Officer, Earthsense
Jan Moore, President, Direct Options
Lorrie Maggio, Marketing Services Manager, Progress Energy Inc.

Electric-drive vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles, simultaneously represent a tremendous potential opportunity and a potential problem for electric utilities. We’ll review the technology, economics, and potential market for plug-in hybrids; describe the vehicle-to-grid concept and its potential benefits; and discuss one or more of the ongoing field trials that are testing the vehicles and their ability to interact with the grid.

Michael Brylawski, Vice President, Mobility & Vehicle Efficiency, Rocky Mountain Institute
Sandy Simon, Director, Xcel Energy
Sven Thesen, Director, Utilities and Sustainability Strategies, Project Better Place

Employees are a critical stakeholder group for utilities, but they are often overlooked, underinformed, and underutilized. Using a high-energy, interactive town-hall format, we'll query a panel of utility communicators to get answers to a host of pressing questions, including: What's the most effective way to communicate with field employees who aren’t reachable via e-mail or who lack access to the corporate intranet? What are the benefits of employee satisfaction surveys? How can employees become message carriers to their communities?

Gil Broyles, Manager, Corporate Communications, Oklahoma Gas & Electric Services
Pam Fricke, Director, Xcel Energy
Cris Kling, Director, Public Relations, Otter Tail Power Company
Nelson Ross, Manager, Salt River Project

Many electric and gas companies are striving to get half of their customers to use self-service channels within the next five years. Getting more customers to use self-service features is a critical objective for e-business and customer care professionals. Join leading industry experts for a discussion that will explore the different strategies and methods utilities have employed to get an increasing number of customers to use their utility IVRs and web sites for many transactions.

Heather Martin, User Experience Manager, Reliant Energy
Vinita Thakkar, Web Business Technologist, San Diego Gas & Electric Company
Becky Williamson, Strategic Marketing Coordinator, Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division

Bigger TVs, set-top boxes, digital photo frames, cell phone chargers, computers—together they’re energy hogs, consuming a lot of energy even when they’ve been turned “off.” What does this continuous power draw mean for overall utility loads? If we give customers better information, will they change their behavior? Come learn how big the problem might be and which kinds of equipment are the largest users. You’ll also hear about new programs Pacific Gas and Electric Company is launching to curb today’s increasing plug loads.

Chris Calwell, Vice President, Policy & Research, Ecos Consulting Inc.
Keith Reed, Manager, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

We’ll examine the impact of increasingly stringent building energy codes, the likelihood of new regional equipment standards, code changes from the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and how codes are being used to “bring the bottom up” as ownership or renters change.

Richard Morgan, Manager, Green Building Program, Austin Energy

Xcel Energy and its Smart Grid Consortium partners have announced that the first SmartGrid City will be Boulder, Colorado. The partners intend for this forward-thinking project to transform the way Xcel Energy does business. When fully deployed, the new system will provide customers with smart-grid technologies designed to provide environmental, financial, and operational benefits.

Randy Huston, Business Technology Executive, Customer & Field Operations, Xcel Energy
Kara Mertz, Assistant to the City Manager, City of Boulder

We’ll explore ways to measure an array of communications initiatives. The most appropriate approach may vary for different types of campaigns such as brand awareness, community relations, or employee engagement. You’ll have an opportunity to learn from the experience of other utilities that have taken steps to quantify the impact of communications.

Robert Hughes, Manager, Product Marketing, Georgia Power
Kim Pederson, Manager, Otter Tail Power Company
Jean Williams, Lead Market Research Specialist, Progress Energy Inc.

In this session, demand-response program managers will shed light on innovations targeting commercial customers. Discussing programs targeted at small commercial businesses, industrial users, and every customer class in between, we’ll explore such questions as: How can participation be increased? What are the benefits and drawbacks of using aggregators? How can programs be designed with the customer in mind?

Masoud Almassi, Manager, Conservation & Demand Management, Hydro One Inc.
Allen Dennis, Director, Products and Services, Kansas City Power & Light Company
Bruce Sailers, Manager, Product Development Analytics, Duke Energy
Randy Wong, Supervisor, Demand Response, Emerging Technology Product Development, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

A number of utilities sell carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates to customers. Yet many customers are skeptical of offsets and RECs. Are some offsets legitimate and beneficial, and if so, which ones? Does the purchase of RECs actually contribute to more renewable generation? When does it make sense for a customer to spend money on offsets, RECs, or green power? We’ll highlight one utility program that offers carbon offsets to its customers, and then our panelists will debate, from the customer’s point of view, the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to offsets and RECs.

Moderator: John Sottong, Senior Research Associate, E Source
Adam Capage, Director, Utility Partnerships, 3Degrees
Neil Kolwey, Research Manager, E Source
Robert Parkhurst, Manager, Climate Protection & Analysis, Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Get a supercharged, fast-paced look at the latest developments in lighting technologies and controls.

Roy Hughes, Manager, British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority
Ira Krepchin, Associate Research Director, E Source
Judie Porter, Account Manager, Architectural Energy Corporation
Michael Seaman, Program Manager, PIER Buildings Program, California Energy Commission

Regulators often question marketing budgets for energy-efficiency programs because they don't come with a promise of concrete energy savings. Can marketing and outreach programs be designed to generate a reliable track record of energy savings? We’ll showcase an exciting, customized residential energy-use feedback initiative and a comprehensive utility DSM marketing campaign that has been convincingly linked to energy savings. You’ll also learn how another utility encourages its large customers to obtain energy savings from behavioral and operational measures, and how it tracks the results.  We'll close the case with a roundup review of the literature on energy savings from behavior-change initiatives.

Gwen Farnsworth, Research Manager, E Source
Alex Laskey, President & Cofounder, Positive Energy
Lori Moen, Senior Energy Management Engineer, Puget Sound Energy

Ho-hum—just another session on renewable programs? Guess again. New technologies, fresh program designs, and innovative marketing techniques are about to completely change the way we think about renewable energy.

Mike Keesee, Project Manager, Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Spencer Sator, Research Associate, E Source

In many call centers, Baby Boomers or Gen Xers are managing a workforce that increasingly includes a younger, tech-savvy, but allegedly coddled Gen Y cohort. Find out how psychologists and futurists see the potential clash of the generations, and what call center managers are doing to avoid any generational problems.

Lisa Stockberger Vice President, Vanguard Communications
Lyndalou Bullard HR Employee Development Manager, Las Vegas Valley Water District

While it's true that some customers may view their utility company as a resource, many think of their utility as little more than a monthly bill. Fortunately, this does not have to be the case. An increasing body of evidence shows that previously lost opportunities can be captured by approaching your service territory at the community level. One of the best ways to start such an effort is to establish partnerships with trusted local entities such as nonprofit organizations and municipal governments. We’ll give you the tools you need to create effective partnerships with the communities you serve. Although we will present specific case studies of successful partnerships, the overall goal is to give you a template for action that can be modified to meet your specific program goals.

Corey Diamond, President, Summerhill Group
Frank Gundal, Manager, Ancillary Energy Services, NSTAR Electric & Gas Corporation
Tim Kisner, Residential Conservation, Austin Energy