Page 2 >>

By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

 

There may never be a way to totally avoid customer backlash in smart grid deployments. But if you heed lessons learned from utilities around the country that are knee-deep in AMI programs, you can pick up valuable pointers on how to prepare for and deflect consumer angst. And you can find all of that (and more) in the just-released Excellence in Customer Engagement report prepared by Altman Vilandrie & Company for the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC).

 

I talked with SGCC Executive Director Patty Durand last week and got a sneak peek at the research, which not only covers a lot of ground in terms of where/how/when to engage consumers – but also gets pretty granular about specific approaches utilities have taken, messaging used, organizational changes made, etc.

 

The over-arching take-away, says Durand, is the industry has collectively learned how to engage consumers. "It's not a mystery," she says. "It's not a dark hole." And she's confident the findings are strong because the 20 utilities covered in the research are broad – from major IOUs such as Duke, AEP Ohio, Pacific Gas & Electric and Xcel Energy – to municipals and cooperatives.

 

The best practices that surfaced in the research are actually pretty straight forward, or as Durand puts it, "It seems really obvious in hindsight." Below are four we pulled out, but go to the SGCC site and download the free report. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

 

1. Out with the old business model

Durand believes one of the key findings from the report is that utilities that re-organized their business processes to integrate consumer engagement throughout were far more successful than those that stayed with siloed operations. Training employees – in the field, on the phone, in accounting, wherever -- to talk the smart grid talk paid dividends.  "That's a really big one," she says, "the transformation that has to take place internally at the utility."  CenterPoint Energy, for example, has educated its staff so customers don’t “take different avenues and get different answers.” Additionally, CenterPoint has created an employee ambassador program in which employees take an online smart grid course and must pass an exam. These ambassadors are then equipped to act as smart grid resources and advocates in their community. To date, 18% of CenterPoint’s employees have become ambassadors, according to the report.

Next page: when to message, what to message >>

Talk Back to the Author

Leave a Comment

---

Got something to say about this article? Be the first to leave a comment!

---

Leave a Comment

New to this Blog? Need some help?

Email: [?] We will send you an email with an appproval link you must click for your comment to appear.
Full Real Name:	[?] Real comments need a real name.
Subject:	[?] Please provide a short subject for your comment.
Comment:[?] Do not post commercial/sales messages here. They will be deleted. Try: pr@smartgridnews.com PLEASE NOTE:  All HTML codes will be removed from your comment.
CAPTCHA Security Code The numbers (0) and (1) are not used. [?] Please type the characters you see into the box above.
Remember my name? (Uncheck to forget.)
You can not edit or delete your comment once it is posted. Please check for spelling now. Your IP Address is: 184.72.91.94