What Do Corporate Energy Managers Want from Their Utility Account Representative?
November 5, 2009
How can you best serve your corporate energy manager customers in a variety of business, economic, and regulatory climates?
Content type: Research Brief | Document ID: BMS-RB-5 | Author: Stephanie Cary
Outlook for Power and Gas Prices
Fall 2009
October 14, 2009
Wholesale natural gas prices will gradually increase beginning this winter, but they should stay below about $5.50 per million Btu throughout 2010. Wholesale electricity prices will follow the trends in wholesale natural gas prices.
Content type: ESCD Report, Focus Report, Outlook for Power and Gas Prices | Document ID: CEMC-F-15-ESCD | Author: Neil Kolwey and Bill Horton
Strategic Planning for Key Accounts
Best Practices in Developing Strategic Plans
August 18, 2009
Strategic account plans benefit both utilities and their key account customers. Pacific Power and PNM develop strategic account plans for key accounts. Pacific Power’s plans focus on what the utility will do for a customer, and PNM’s focus on sales of energy-efficiency and renewable-energy ...
Content type: Best Practice | Document ID: BMS-BP-1 | Author: Sarah Weldon
Outlook for Power and Gas Prices
Spring 2009
April 16, 2009
Most analysts expect energy prices to remain low in 2009, although prices could begin to increase later this year due to several factors.
Content type: ESCD Report, Focus Report, Outlook for Power and Gas Prices | Document ID: CEMC-F-14-ESCD | Author: Neil Kolwey
Cap-and-Trade Policies: How Will They Affect RECs and Offsets?
An E Source Roundtable Discussion
March 30, 2009
We discuss regional carbon emissions trading policies in North America and the implications of these on utility green pricing programs, sales of renewable energy certificates (RECs), and carbon offset programs.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: CAS-F-3 | Author: Yuki Iida
Voluntary Climate Change Programs
Reaping Benefits Now and Preparing for the Future
September 15, 2008
Hundreds of U.S. companies are joining voluntary climate change programs to help develop cost-effective plans for responding to future greenhouse gas regulations. These businesses are signing up for a variety of reasons.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: CAS-F-2 | Author: Neil Kolwey
GHG Inventories 101
August 15, 2008
Developing a greenhouse gas inventory may seem daunting, but it’s not that difficult if done in a systematic way, following the key points discussed in this report. We detail six steps for completing a good-quality, basic inventory, which may be adequate for many companies’ needs.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: CAS-F-1 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Subsidized Energy Manager Programs
Energy Manager Salary Support, Training, and Tracking for Verifiable Energy Savings (Sometimes)
February 1, 2008
We look at two utilities that have created programs to reduce the risk of hiring an energy manager and to make the benefits more transparent. These programs provide financial incentives and guarantees to encourage large customers to hire an energy manager for a three-year term.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: EDRP-F-15 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
You Are Where You Sit
Using Professional Role Personas in Account Management
January 1, 2008
Professional role personas capture characteristics common across businesses and industries and could be important tools for helping account managers build collaborative relationships with their customers.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: MAS-F-7 | Author: Chad Garrett
ABCs and kWh's
Educating Future Customers Through K-12 Outreach
April 19, 2007
Many energy providers are using innovative methods for reaching the education sector. Within the K–12 segment, there are numerous opportunities to creatively and cost-effectively engage teachers, students, and parents—and through them, the broader community as well. In this report, we ...
Content type: Core Report, Service Report | Document ID: MS-2 | Author: Kelsie Bell, Gwen Farnsworth
Strategic Marketing to Key Accounts: Simple Techniques for Key Account Managers
February 28, 2007
Coordination among marketing, program management, and key account staff is vital not only for successful marketing but also to ensure that products and services are well designed to meet customer needs. Many key account managers (KAMs) essentially operate their own personal marketing empires, often without ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-6 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Sharing Account Management with the Business Call Center
December 1, 2006
Utilities taking a comprehensive, thoughtful look at the needs of all business customers are finding value in moving away from segments defined only by revenue and demand. This kind of conscious segmentation reveals both small commercial customers who need more attention and large customers who don’t ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-5 | Author: Tertia Speiser
Counting Stars: Building Customer Relations and Harnessing Energy Savings with One-2-Five Energy
May 1, 2006
It's a familiar challenge that frequently frustrates utilities and their largest customers: how to achieve significant and sustainable energy savings. One-off retrofit projects aren't meeting expectations. A solution for larger commercial, industrial, and institutional accounts is to take a strategic ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-4 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Know Thy Customer: Consultative Techniques for Key Account Managers
November 1, 2005
Today’s key account managers are being tasked with deepening customer relationships and generating revenue from additional product and services offerings. To accomplish this, many are adopting consultative selling techniques—proactively asking lots of questions and working with the customer to find ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-3 | Author: Matthew Joyce
Upgrade, Switch, or Hold? Helping Your Customers Make the Right Equipment Choice
September 1, 2005
Sustained high energy prices are forcing utility key account managers (KAMs) to scramble for new ways to keep their large customers successful and satisfied. Increasingly, customers are asking KAMs whether they should be changing out or upgrading boilers, water heaters, or space heaters. Not surprisingly, ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-2 | Author: John Egan
Fifteen Critical Skills for Key Account Management
June 1, 2005
In a survey of 125 key account managers (KAMs) and their supervisors, E source identified 15 critical skills for energy service provider account managers, which we further explored through in-depth interviews. The top-rated skills in each category include tactfully handling complaints, understanding ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MAS-F-1 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Stories from the Dark Side: Improving Outage Communications with Large Customers
December 1, 2004
Effective outage communications, both reactive responses and the proactive dissemination of information, are essential in maintaining high levels of customer service during the most vulnerable of times.
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-13 | Author: Melissa L. Tuck , Gwen Farnsworth
Is North American Manufacturing Going South? Trends in Industrial Energy Use
September 1, 2004
Some industrial sectors are being hit hard by the recent increases in natural gas prices. The total U.S. industrial electricity demand and total number of manufacturing jobs have also declined since 2000. Will these trends continue? This report looks at how utilities can help industrial facilities to ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-9 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Opportunities and Challenges of Procurement: A Primer for Energy Managers
July 1, 2004
Electric and natural gas markets in North America are a labyrinth of regulations, market forces, and extreme volatility. For any large company with high energy costs, there is great opportunity to save money, but also the risk of paying much higher prices during certain periods. For end users, understanding ...
Content type: ESCD Report, Service Report | Document ID: CEMC-6 | Author: Nathan Adams, Arthur Venables
Large Commercial Companies Are Building Green: What's the Energy Provider's Role?
May 1, 2004
As more and more architects, builders, developers, consumers, and government entities support and build “green” facilities, utilities are getting involved, too. This report examines some pioneering utility programs promoting high-performance commercial construction—programs that focus on more than ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-12 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Partnering for Success: Revitalized Economic Development Adds Value to the Bottom Line
February 1, 2004
Successful economic development creates a healthy local economy that helps local businesses, improves the community’s tax base, and increases utility sales and revenue. In this report, we look at how utilities are breaking down traditional barriers and forging stronger alliances across internal departments ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-8 | Author: Cindy Marzofka, Kenneth Black, Matthew Joyce
User Perspectives on Utility Bill Data Services
November 1, 2003
Large commercial customers may be good targets for utility accounting services and energy usage analysis reports. How do large commercial customers use and value these services? What are the decision factors involved in securing these services? This report offers survey results, user experiences, and ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: LC-F-5 | Author: Kathleen Burns
New Opportunities for Midsize Cogeneration
October 1, 2003
This report shines some light on when midsize (200 kW to 5 MW) applications of combined heating and power in industrial, commercial, or institutional facilities deserve a closer look. It will also help guide energy managers through a screening process to separate out promising projects from likely losers ...
Content type: ESCD Report, Research, Service Report | Document ID: CEMC-5 | Author: Neil Kolwey, Arthur Venables
Shake Things Up: Innovative Rates for Large Commercial Customers
July 1, 2003
A number of utilities have created new rate options for their large commercial customers during the last few years. Can conjunctive, time-of-use, critical period, and other rates be successful with commercial energy users? With deregulation on the wane, this report examines efforts many utilities are ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: LC-F-4 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Tapping the Industrial Market for Energy Information Services
May 1, 2003
Many industrial companies are beginning to take advantage of recent advances in metering technologies and energy information systems to significantly reduce energy costs and enhance overall productivity. We predict there will be a growing market for services such as load profiles and submetering as more ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: IND-F-3 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Large Commercial Market Opportunities for Products and Services: Report and Slide Presentation
May 1, 2003
What energy services do each of the large commercial segments want from their energy service providers? This report analyzes survey data collected by Platts Research & Consulting Market Research Group in 2002, with close to 1,500 commercial company respondents in the U.S. and Canada.
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: LC-F-3 | Author: Kenneth Black, Doug Hargrave
Thermography and Predictive Maintenance: Get It Before It's Hot
January 1, 2003
Several energy service providers (ESPs) across the country are offering thermography services to their commercial and industrial customers to assist them in their preventative-maintenance efforts. We examined three successful thermography programs, focusing on how these utilities market their thermal-imaging ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: IND-F-2 | Author: Arthur Venables, Neil Kolwey
UV Lighting: A Killer Application
October 1, 2002
Toxic mold and bioterrorism scares have recently brought high-profile public attention to indoor air quality (IAQ) concerns. HVAC systems often contribute to the spread of airborne contaminants such as fungus, bacteria, or even viruses present in buildings. Studies have shown that shortwave ultraviolet ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: LC-F-2 | Author: Kenneth Black, Gwen Farnsworth
Industrial DSM: Finding the Keys to Unlock Low-Cost Energy Savings
October 1, 2002
As industrial energy managers’ dreams of deregulation yielding lower energy prices have receded, many are turning their attention to the savings to be gleaned from energy efficiency and energy management. This report focuses on several successful approaches utility efficiency programs have employed ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-7 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Customer Pulse: Voluntary Load Curtailment Programs—Marketing Tips for Increasing Industrial Participation
September 1, 2002
Voluntary load curtailment (VLC) programs are becoming an increasingly important method for utilities and customers alike to hedge their exposure to volatile natural gas and electricity prices. Most of these programs target industrial and large commercial customers above a certain size because of their ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: IND-F-1 | Author: Neil Kolwey, Arthur Venables
Customer Pulse: End Users Speak Out on ESP Key Account Management
July 1, 2002
Providing customer service to large commercial companies is all about building and maintaining relationships. For this report, we queried energy and facility managers at large commercial companies in the U.S. and Canada about their perspectives on what constitutes good key account management. We found ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: LC-F-1 | Author: Gwen Farnsworth
Key Account Management: Here's What's In It for You
June 1, 2002
Where once key account management was synonymous with fern bars, golf outings, and rides in the corporate jet, today industrial energy managers are demanding a lot more. At the same time that energy service providers are becoming more savvy in meeting the needs of the customer, they are also being asked ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-6 | Author: Pamela Milmoe
Gas Procurement Strategies for Volatile Times
May 1, 2002
Knowing that a repeat performance of what happened to gas prices in the winter of 2000 to 2001 could be career-ending, energy managers for many companies are struggling to find a better way to buy their gas. This report discusses the various strategies and tools available to end users, including fuel ...
Content type: ESCD Report, Research, Service Report | Document ID: CEMC-4 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Saving Energy Through Maintenance: An Efficiency Program Case Study
March 1, 2002
During the summer of 2001, high wholesale power prices were pressuring Spokane, Washington-based Avista Utilities' efficiency department to cut electricity demand fast. One of the solutions the utility implemented was an operations and maintenance (O&M) program for packaged rooftop units and economizers ...
Content type: Research, Research Brief | Document ID: LC-RB-1 | Author: Nathan Adams, Arthur Venables
Proceed with Caution: Navigating the Mechanical Services Industry
January 1, 2002
During the mid-1990s, a dozen or so utilities began purchasing mechanical services companies and incorporated them into their unregulated affiliate companies. Additionally, a few industry consolidators or “roll-ups” emerged at the same time, buying up mechanical services companies all over the country. ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-11 | Author: Nathan Adams, Kenneth Black
Energy Efficiency: Something Old, Something New
November 1, 2001
This report describes the cutting-edge methods that energy managers are using today to improve energy use and the bottom line in the face of higher energy prices. The key lessons—both old and new—include starting with better energy use data; involving employees and implementing low-cost improvements; ...
Content type: ESCD Report, Research, Service Report | Document ID: CEMC-2 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Energy Efficiency Makes a Comeback?
October 1, 2001
Even though higher energy prices are creating greater demand for energy-efficiency services, the industrial market is still a tough nut to crack. This report’s insights will help you penetrate this market whether you’re an ESP selling energy-efficiency services for a profit or a utility providing ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-4 | Author: Neil Kolwey
Making Peak Load Management Work for the Mid-Market Industrial
October 1, 2001
Reliability and price concerns have made reducing peak loads coincident with system peaks a necessary part of today’s electric market. Energy service providers are reaching out to mid-market industrials because they’re more flexible production-wise than large industrials and they’re looking to ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-5 | Author: Patricia Thompson, Pam Milmoe, Arthur Venables
New Construction Programs: Get to the Table Early for Your Share of the Pie
September 1, 2001
Energy service providers (ESPs) can enjoy great success in new construction, expansion, and renovation programs if they’re involved during the customer’s decision-making process. However, all too often customers and design firms do not include or value an ESP’s advice or allow it to be involved ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-10 | Author: Rick Morgan
Peak Load Management Programs for Large Commercial Customers: Secrets of Success
May 1, 2001
Recent electricity price spikes and an unstable natural gas market have many ESPs clambering for ways to shed load in times of high demand. But the large commercial market can be a particularly vexing customer class when it comes to load management. Its core product—customer comfort—in most cases ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-9 | Author: Nathan Adams
Making Industrial Electricity Purchases on the Internet
January 1, 2001
While electronic procurement (e-procurement) of energy is booming in the energy wholesale market, online purchasing is in its infancy on the retail side. E source expects that this market will grow and that mid-market industrials will be among the early adopters. This report provides an analysis of where ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-3 | Author: Nikhil Gandhi, Pamela Herman Milmoe
In the Legal Zone: Energy Contracts for Industrial Customers
December 1, 2000
There is a fifth dimension beyond what is known to energy service providers in their day-to-day operations. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between law and paranoia. This is the dimension of imagination, an area we call ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-2 | Author: Patricia Thompson
Take This Job and Outsource It: Energy Outsourcing Comes to Market
October 1, 2000
This report identifies and discusses the key practices that have helped expand the market for the outsourcing of energy services in recent years. These practices include involving facility-level staff from prospective clients even before the deal is signed, building monetary incentives for ESP staff ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-8 | Author: Barry Friedman, Tony Burnett
Selling Distributed Energy to Large Commercial Customers
September 1, 2000
The market for distributed energy (DE) services is evolving. Although it is still dominated by diesel-fired reciprocating engines, the number of large commercial end users interested in expanding the role of natural gas–fired generators is growing. Customers are driven by a desire to reduce energy ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-7 | Author: Barry Friedman, Scott Daily
Data Mania: A Perspective on Midsized Industrial Customers
August 1, 2000
Except for key accounts, how well do you know your industrial customers? This report offers detailed analysis of industrial demographics and spending habits across sectors. Data is broken out by the three-digit SIC codes for the different types of businesses as well as by region. We address the following ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: IND-1 | Author: Patricia Thompson
Developing Happily-Ever-After Relationships with Large Commercial Accounts
August 1, 2000
To build sustainable and productive relationships with large commercial customers, energy service providers (ESPs) must meet the needs of an increasingly broad and diverse group of decision-makers. How can ESPs segment the market to satisfy these stakeholders, and how should account representatives be ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-6 | Author: Rick Morgan
Pricing Strategies for Large Commercial Customers
May 1, 2000
Countless surveys of large commercial energy purchasing behavior have identified price as the number one influence in selecting a provider. Many ESPs have interpreted this to mean that customers will always focus on the lowest price. But securing a low price is not nearly as important as getting the ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-5 | Author: Tony Burnett
Selling the CFO: Making the Business Case for Energy Services
December 1, 1999
A company’s chief financial officer is often the toughest sell for an energy service provider (ESP). But what CFO could resist a proposed project that has the potential to increase revenue and profitability, protect the balance sheet, mitigate risk, accelerate return on assets, and enhance shareholder ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-3 | Author: Tony Burnett
Forming Successful Alliances in the Energy Services Market
December 1, 1999
Alliances between energy service providers and equipment manufacturers, specialty engineering firms, suppliers, or other ESPs can provide numerous competitive advantages, including access to new customers, increased territorial coverage, and expanded service offerings. We examine two alliances that illustrate ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-4 | Author: Tony Burnett, Barry Friedman
Targeting Large Commercial Customers Through Affinity Marketing
August 1, 1999
Affinity marketing has significant potential to increase large commercial market share for energy service providers (ESPs). Many overlook this strategy because they assume that industry endorsements are of limited value to end users. But E source research reveals that decision-makers at many large companies ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: LC-2 | Author: Tony Burnett
