What Customers Say Vs. What Customers Do

.

Sheldon Reiffenstein

Getting people to change their energy consumption behavior requires a combination of customer engagement, motivation and action. Even though a majority of people agree they need to be more energy efficient, a majority of that majority isn’t motivated to do much about it. How do you solve this dichotomy between what people say and what they do? One young company claims to have cracked the code.

.

Advanced Customer Engagement

OPOWER in Arlington, Virginia, is helping utilities find success in changing customer behavior through a unique energy efficiency software program that is producing demonstrable results. This program is so successful that as many as 80 percent of its users are taking steps to lower their energy usage. In just two years OPOWER has contracted with 33 utilities. These utilities have seen efficiency gains ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 percent. Importantly they have also experienced gains in customer satisfaction.

The software is OPOWER’s Advanced Customer Engagement (ACE) Platform. Based on findings of an independent customer behavior study on energy usage, OPOWER takes meter data and produces energy usage reports that allow utilities’ customers to compare their usage with comparable groups of customers.

Three Steps to Changing Customer Behavior

The ACE Platform gets people to take action through:

1. An impressively consumer friendly display of household energy usage

2. A comparison with other similar households

3. A short list of suggestions on how the household can lower next month's consumption.

What might be the most eye-opening piece to this high-tech platform is that customers respond to a very low-tech communications vehicle. So, while OPOWER provides state-of-the-art Web portal and support mobile and in-home devices, it’s a print-out of the report included with the good old-fashioned monthly energy bill that is getting the majority of people to lower their energy use.

Amazing, how when a dazzling technology meets simplicity, the desired outcome ensues.

While the platform uses data from all types of meters its strongest functionality comes from the data generated by advanced meters. This makes the platform ideally suited for the Smart Grid.

Guaranteeing Results

The ACE Platform appears to have cracked at least part of the code on engaging the customer and changing behavior. OPOWER is so confident of its track record they are ready to guarantee utilities that their customers will use less energy. And guaranteed energy savings is a refreshing certainty in a marketplace often muddled with uncertainty.

Sheldon Reiffenstein is an energy marketing communications consultant in Washington D.C. (OPOWER is not a client.) He also blogs on the smart grid and energy communications issues at www.sheldonreiffenstein.com.

.

You might also be interested in …

Customer Engagement: The New Metric for Utility Success

Customer Care resources on SGN

Energy Efficiency resources on SGN

The Six Most Important Smart Grid Trends

Smart Meters: An Apology from PG&E – and a New Paper on Meter Accuracy and Customer Perceptions from EPRI

8 Not-So-Easy Steps Toward Consumer Acceptance

New Industry Group Will Try to Bring Consumers to the Party

Blowback Attack: The Smart Grid’s Greatest Danger?

Selling the Smart Grid to Consumers? Start by Helping Them Answer One Simple Question

.

Stay connected with SGN …

Smart Grid Discussions: Get LinkedIn with Jesse

Smart Grid on Facebook

Follow Us on Twitter

Try our RSS feed

Get our email digest