Silent running or loud and proud: What’s your smart meter approach? April 18, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer communications, smart grid, smart meter, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility market research
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You’ll find more enthusiasts than wallflowers among electric utilities planning to engage their customers during smart meter rollouts.
A clear majority of utilities tell Chartwell they plan to proactively involve customers in the rollout of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and smart metering systems. (more…)
Just how much data do customers want when it comes to their energy usage? Chartwell council aims to find out April 7, 2011
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer communications, demand response, energy usage, online energy information, smart appliances, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service
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Paper or plastic? It was a common question heard every time one checked out at the grocery store of the ‘80s and ‘90s. There was a time when the brown paper bag was king. Then it became plastic, but lots of people – my mother, for example – didn’t like moving away from paper, hence the question was always posed by the grocery bagger.
This question, of course, was asked to ensure that customers had a good experience – even those resistant to change.
Then about 15 or so years ago, shoppers started hearing that question less and less. It was assumed by the grocery baggers that plastic was what most people wanted, and most people didn’t complain. Sure, you could still request a paper bag, but not many did. Now, there’s often not even a bagger present. In fact, you can check yourself out in many stores, and the only option is plastic – unless you’ve bought one of those environmentally friendly reusable bags.
Much the way customer service and programs in other industries evolve over time, utilities will see customer attitudes and perceptions evolve. (more…)
Opting out of a smart meter should be a choice — at a cost March 22, 2011
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: customer service, marketing, privacy, security, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer service
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Evidence-based marketing is not working for the anti-smart meter crowd in northern California and Maine. And that’s why the utilities serving those areas should – and are, in some cases – let those customers opt out of receiving smart meters. Add the cost of manually reading the meters (“truck rolls”) and maintaining the old meters to the bill, sure, but let them opt out.
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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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…)
Big electric vehicle ideas aren’t just limited to the West Coast December 10, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: customer service, Customer service automation, electric vehicle, energy usage, gasoline, plug-in electric vehicle, rates, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility marketing
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – California utilities aren’t the only ones playing a major role in the deployment of electric vehicles. That observation was inescapable after leaders from TVA, DTE Energy, FPL, Duke Energy and Southern Company convened for a panel I moderated at the NAATBatt annual conference this week in Louisville. From Michigan to Florida, and North Carolina to Mississippi, utility leaders are contributing to electric vehicle discussion and education.
Let’s hit the highlights:
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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A case for public networks in the smart grid communications debate August 31, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: AT&T, cell phones, mesh, mobile communications, privacy, private networks, public networks, security, smart grid, smart meter, smartsynch, utilities, utility communications
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If you think about the public vs. private smart grid communications debate for too long, you’ll become more indecisive than Brett Favre. And speaking of people who call Mississippi home, I chatted with SmartSynch chief marketing officer Campbell McCool over the phone recently about this very argument.
Unlike Favre, Campbell is back in Mississippi – why shouldn’t an Ole Miss grad spend more time at the revered Grove? – and he certainly doesn’t waver on his sentiment concerning the benefits of a public network. He, like CEO Stephen Johnston (who recently predicted that, in two years, no one will ever buy a mesh network again), are certainly biased in their points of view – SmartSynch makes a smart meter system that uses Internet protocol (IP) networks, connecting meters to utilities over public, broadband networks managed by carriers like AT&T. Texas-New Mexico Power and the City of Griffin (Ga.) are two recent customers. Memphis Light, Gas and Water chose SmartSynch for its pilot earlier this month.
Johnston and McCool speak with conviction. And, in a week where mesh competitor Silver Spring Networks landed a deal with Indianapolis Power & Light, who doesn’t like a little bravado from the hard-charging alternative?
More consumers will accept the smart grid. Not everyone bought a cell phone on the first day August 13, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, cell phones, electric vehicle, privacy, radiation, radio frequency, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility marketing, Web-based transactions
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Read this New York Times article from 2000. Ten years after uncertainty swirled around the cell phone (in addition to reports of exploding batteries and rumors that using your cell while pumping gas can cause a fire), we’re seeing a similar pattern of uneasiness and misinformation surrounding smart meters. The correction at the bottom of the NYT piece only reinforces the point.
From Baltimore to Northern California, groups of consumers and regulators are rebelling against smart grids and meters. The Department of Energy will decide Aug. 16 whether Baltimore Gas & Electric can keep a $200 million grant for its embattled smart grid project after the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected the plan in June. (Maryland regulators will probably decide on the revised plan before then.) Instances of customers ordering smart meter installers off their property are being reported in California. (more…)
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…)
