Moving beyond grid management, utilities can use interval data to boost demand side efficiency and improve customer engagement
Commercial and industrial (C&I) electricity customers are increasingly looking to their utilities for their energy efficiency and sustainability needs.
In fact, prior to making any investment in energy efficiency or sustainability programs, C&I clients generally turn to the utility first to see what programs or incentives are available to reduce the cost and increase the ROI of these programs.
If you’re a utility, can you deliver?
In large part, the answer has been yes. Many C&I utility customers have taken advantage of utility energy efficiency and demand side management programs and incentives.
The benefits have been advantageous for both sides: C&I clients have reduced energy related costs and emissions, and utilities have gained an inexpensive means to defer the cost of new generation.
As the demand for electricity continues to rise, however, so will the need for more of these programs.
So, now the question becomes…can you continue to deliver?
This will be challenging for a number of reasons:
- Equipment replacement opportunities are dwindling.
- It is difficult to create programs that can serve a larger and more diverse set of C&I clients.
- Cost pressures and resource limitations restrict your ability to execute.
- One size does not fit all in the C&I sector.
Let’s take a step back for a moment.
For decades, the utility industry enjoyed a stable and well known business model. In a nutshell, this meant providing affordable electricity; maintaining reliability and safety; and managing environmental pollutants.
Today, however, the situation is more complex. Utilities have had to learn to act and compete like more traditional industries, and customer engagement is a large part of the equation.
As Carol Stimmel writes in her upcoming book, “Big Data Analytics Strategies for the Smart Grid”:
Even with the smart grid raising the specter for greater operational efficiencies, lowered costs of doing business, and improved billings and collections, the utility customer is becoming part of a participatory market and can no longer be ignored.
The good news in all of this is that you already have one of the most valuable resources to help you address many of the customer engagement hurdles you will face. What is this resource?
Data!
Accessing the wealth of information available to you through data that you already collect can transform your efficiency and demand side management programs, and help to engage and interact with C&I clients of all shapes and sizes.
Just as important, you will enable deeper efficiency gains that become available from programs combining operational and system-level approaches to energy management.
Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make this happen.
Gridium’s energy analytics solution for utilities is here to help. From the screening and identification of lucrative efficiency opportunities, to frequent and personalized value-added communications with your clients, Gridium will can boost the effectiveness of your efficiency, demand management, and customer engagement programs.
Our benefits include:
- Accurate and timely pre-screening of customer opportunities to save you time and money, and make the best use of your resources
- Deep rate modeling and benchmarking
- Analytics based retro-commissioning
- Demand management
- Automated M&V
Best of all, we offer a low-cost solution based in the cloud. There is no hardware or software to install, and no manual data entry required. It will scale to as many meters as you require.
Our system provides proven results with a 60% weekly engagement rate…unheard of in the industry.
From beginning to end, Gridium supplies the technology you need for cost-effective customer engagement, and drives your efficiency and demand management programs to the level you need.
Affordable. Scalable. Engaging. Gridium is helping utilities to ensure that their future generation and sustainability needs are met.
