Five takeaways from DistribuTECH February 8, 2011
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: customer service, demand response, DistribuTECH, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, energy usage, market research, online energy information, privacy, security, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility marketing
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The Oracle cars and Elster bike cabs crossing paths in front of the San Diego Convention Center confirmed the hype surrounding DistribuTECH 2011 last week… and that people were tired of walking. I took a break from traversing the USS Midway of San Diego exhibit halls to identify five trends from the show:
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New spate of utility TV ads clever and fun, but integrated marketing campaigns still your best bet January 11, 2011
Posted by Jennifer Quay Allen in Utility Industry News.Tags: advertising, energy efficiency, integrated marketing campaign, marketing, television, utilities, utility communications, utility market research, utility marketing
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There’s a resurgence in television advertising for utility energy efficiency programs. In fact, 40% of utilities surveyed by Chartwell sometimes, often or almost always use TV ads to promote their most successful energy efficiency program; only 28% regularly used TV in 2008.
Not just another year-end countdown – the top Chartwell member requests for 2010 December 23, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, call center, contact center, customer self service, customer service, Customer service automation, demand response, energy efficiency, energy usage, Nashville Electric Service, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utility communications, utility market research, Web-based customer service
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Being a music aficionado, I have always enjoyed the year-end countdowns hosted by the likes of Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Rick Dees and more recently Ryan Seacrest. Okay, I don’t actually listen to countdowns anymore and I only assume Seacrest does one, as my age has me disliking most of the modern music out there, instead preferring my “adult alternative” programming and the popular music of my youth.
Still, countdowns, Top 40s and Pick 5s are fun, and I confess I still enjoy them. They also provide a window into the trends and styles of the day. Things in the utility industry aren’t as fashionable as the music business, but we do indeed see trends come and go. In the 1990s it was automated meter reading (AMR); music business parallel: grunge. Today, it is smart meters; music biz parallel: hip hop, unless it’s been replaced by something I’m too old to know about. There are also styles and genres that are evergreen – blues, R&B, rock. In the utility industry, things like billing, customer contact and outage management come to mind.
So, if we draw up an issues-oriented, Top-10-or-so list for the utility industry, what would it look like? (more…)
Cocktail profiling and how your customers feel when you lead with assumptions November 30, 2010
Posted by Vanessa Edmonds in Utility Industry News.Tags: abt SRBI, Chartwell, customer assumptions, customer profiling, energy conservation, energy efficiency, ENERGY STAR® awareness, energy suppliers, energy-efficient products, energy-efficient services, energy-saving behavior, February utility conference, market research, market research initiative, national random-digit dial telephone survey, Research into Action, utility market research, utility market research conference, Utility Market Research Summit
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During a recent 3-hour layover at the Dallas airport, I sat down at a high-boy in one of the airport’s restaurants. As the waitress approached, she gave me a quick once-over and asked if I wanted a strawberry daiquiri. Was it because daiquiris were on special? Not likely. After taking my order, she offered the travelers next to me a couple of microbrews, and the woman behind me a glass of wine.
Sometimes reality is hard to accept, and on that particular day I had to entertain the thought that I look like the kind of woman who drinks a cocktail that conjures up images of high school grads unsupervised in Mazatlan.
While I sat there drinking Diet Coke, (it was lunch time, afterall) it occurred to me that I have committed the same type of offense as a marketer. How many times have we made assumptions about our customers and prospects based on very few facts? More often than we probably care to admit.
FarmVille, Weight Watchers, Xbox…utilities? October 29, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, customer service, EMACS, energy efficiency, energy usage, FarmVille, gaming mechanics, Google PowerMeter, online energy information, smart grid, utilities, utility customer engagement, utility marketing, Web-based customer service
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What do FarmVille, Weight Watchers, Xbox 360 and utilities have in common? Not very much. But that will change.
To understand why futurist Garry Golden referenced FarmVille and Weight Watchers during his keynote address in front of a standing-room-only crowd of utility professionals this week in San Diego at Chartwell’s EMACS 2010 – The Customer Experience Conference, you must first understand the concept of gaming mechanics.
Electric vehicle promoters: Tree huggers, utility professionals and other fine folks October 14, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: electric vehicle, energy efficiency, Leaf, plug-in electric vehicle, smart grid, smart meter, transformers, utilities, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility marketing, vehicle-to-grid, wind power
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Austin Energy’s director of emerging transportation technologies, Austan Librach, shared a smart comment from a brilliant man during Chartwell’s Electric Vehicle Programs webinar last week. He said former CIA director James Woolsey once affectionately referred to the Plug-In Partners coalition as “tree huggers, do-gooders, sodbusters, chief hawks and evangelicals.” (A sodbuster is a farmer, not Charlie Brown after every field-goal attempt.)
Quite an eclectic group. Two years later, another word applied to Librach and his fellow Plug-In Partners (who promoted electric vehicles to automakers) – winners. The coalition declared victory in October 2008. As evidenced by the increasing number of companies manufacturing electric vehicles – Lance Armstrong got his Leaf – automakers are convinced.
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Coming soon to your grid: plug-in electric vehicles July 30, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: charging stations, electric vehicle, energy efficiency, energy usage, gasoline, plug-in electric vehicle, rates, smart appliances, smart grid, smart meter, utilities
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CODA Automotive announced the gasoline pump’s demise at a Santa Monica gas station last month. (I thought it at least deserved a montage on CNN.) Clever advertising? Sure. Accurate? Actually, the date of death on that headstone is closer than you think.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, unveiling the Big Apple’s first electric car charging station on July 14, said the electric vehicle “is not just a pipe dream or a scene from ‘The Jetsons.’ It is here and it is here right now.” (more…)
One-stop shopping experiences July 9, 2010
Posted by Jennifer Quay Allen in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy efficiency, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility marketing
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Walmart used to be just a great place to get bargains on stuff you need around your home. Have you been to Walmart lately? Many have Starbucks, McDonalds, beauty salons, one-hour photo processing, gas stations, and even optometrists. And don’t forget the full-service grocery stores! Sam Walton’s successors are smart cookies. They know that North Americans value one-stop shopping experiences. We don’t want to drive all over town to get our Saturday errands done. By the way, most of our Saturday to-do lists don’t include “Stop at Starbucks for a latte.” While the latte is a great way to treat ourselves, chances are it’s an impulse purchase simply because Starbucks was there!
What does the Walmart experience have to do with utilities? Or energy efficiency? (more…)
An extra grand now vs. $360/year in savings June 10, 2010
Posted by Jennifer Quay Allen in Utility Industry News.Tags: demand response, energy efficiency, energy usage, meter data, smart appliances, smart grid, smart meter, utilities
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I recently wrote about the disservice utilities are doing their customers if all they provide them via smart meters is usage data. Unless that data is backed by information, education, and a direct tie to the programs and services that can help them, customers may not know what to do with the data.
Unfortunately, there’s also the whole issue of inertia. (more…)
