E Source Blog
Welcome to the E Source Blog! Our staff will share insights and observations about life at E Source, our events, our research, and other fun stuff.
Each year, the tech team at E Source chooses the biggest technology developments of the past 12 months. Our recent report details the top 20 technologies, but here we list our top 5 picks, which include huge leaps forward in battery storage, home energy management, the growth of the cannabis industry, ultra-cheap solar photovoltaics, and grid-interactive water heating.
Almost invariably, when I’m discussing the topic of customer experience (CX) with utility professionals, the topic of culture comes up. But is culture just a convenient scapegoat—a bogeyman we can blame for holding back CX progress? Or is it something we can—with a structured approach, the right skills, and the right tools—manage, control, and even capitalize on? The E Source Utility CX Culture Health Check breaks culture down in terms that lead to productive action and progress, enabling utility CX professionals to start getting real about customer-centric culture.
The linguistic and cultural mix of populations throughout North America is shifting, and utilities are working to develop community outreach and communications strategies that can meet the needs of all. Recently, we talked to Nancy Casanova, social media community manager for Southern California Edison (SCE), about SCE’s attempts to connect with its Spanish-speaking customers. She explained how the utility developed and launched its multicultural social media strategy, including its Spanish-language Twitter feed.
Last week, San Diego became the first major US city to commit to going 100 percent renewable. Find out how the city views the future of its relationship with local utility SDG&E and what this might mean for your utility’s relationship with municipal customers.
Now that electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining some market share, utilities are getting involved and encouraging adoption. One strategy they’re using is the installation of publicly available charging infrastructure, but the usage data suggests that EV drivers aren’t interested in the chargers. What, then, is the best strategy for utilities going forward?
In the offices of yesteryear, the everyday task of reading required industrial-strength overhead lighting. But today’s mobile professionals work off of backlit laptops, tablets, and smartphones; they’re not sitting down to read anymore, so offices don’t need the blinding fluorescents of the past. Many commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses are catching on and retrofitting their fixtures with efficient lighting technologies. But if they couple these upgrades with advanced lighting controls, they could realize up to 90 percent energy savings.
Who’s the cheeriest of them all? Check out some of these top-performing utility social media posts to find out which utilities are making the most of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to inspire the spirit of the holidays.
This past year, I got to work on a project that involved one of my favorite subjects: websites. Our Review of Electric and Gas Company Residential Websites measures how well utility websites engage residential customers; it also assesses website improvements as they relate to customer needs. After lots of hands-on and heads-down work, we gleaned some key insights. Learn what they are and how new E Source resources can help you build a better website.
Appliance-recycling programs suffered a major jolt in late November when JACO Environmental, one of the largest appliance-recycling firms in the US and a major program implementer for dozens of utilities, abruptly announced it was shuttering its operations. Utilities were left without any recourse and had to scramble to update their websites letting customers know the program was temporarily suspended. And customers who were waiting for their refrigerator to be picked up and recycled were left not knowing what to do with a big hunk of scrap metal.
The release of a brand-new E Source website is imminent. We’ve overhauled our site, creating a fast, reliable, user-friendly experience that will help our customers discover information and ideas. But more important than the upgrades we’ve made is the foundation we’ve built that will help us realize our ambitions for this site. As a senior software developer on the project, I see this release not as an ending but as a new beginning.