NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Exchange: Designing the best customer-sited battery storage programs for your customers and the grid

Join us to strategize with your industry peers about how to take advantage of the residential and commercial behind-the-meter batteries popping up across the grid. In this exchange, we’ll review findings from our interviews with two East Coast utilities that incorporated customer-sited batteries into their existing demand response and grid management assets.

Topics will include:

• Designing resiliency-as-a-service programs
• Designing load management programs
• Identifying complementary value streams for you and your customers
• Engaging vendors
• Making programs cost-effective

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve challenges and find solutions. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the event.

Moderators:

Amy Schmidt, analyst, Customer Energy Solutions

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Exchange: Promoting E Source Business Energy Advisor to customers and employees (PDF)

E Source Business Energy Advisor is an online library of information about energy efficiency in commercial and industrial facilities. Utilities can use this website (and apply their own branding to it) to educate business customers and utility employees alike. Business Energy Advisor offers more than 80 web pages of detailed descriptions of energy-efficient technologies, guidance tailored to a wide range of business types, and calculators to help users make the best choice when investing in new equipment. Join us for a discussion on how other Business Energy Advisor utility members have used this tool and promoted it to their business customers—and across their organizations.

Potential topics include:

• Educating customers about energy efficiency
• Marketing campaigns that drive traffic to your website
• Equipping customer-facing staff with resources to help business customers
• Utilities’ success stories from working with business customers

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve challenges and find solutions. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the event.

Moderator:

Jessica Bailis, solution director, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Exchange: Implementing a chatbot on your digital channels (PDF)

Join your utility peers once again to discuss all things chatbots. In our first exchange, Exchange: Building a chatbot strategy, we discussed the basics of developing your chatbot strategy—you can watch the recording and download the presentation. In this exchange, we’ll go into the details of building and deploying a chatbot on your digital channels.

Potential topics include:

• How to design and implement a chatbot
• How to work with vendors to create a chatbot
• What tasks and questions your chatbot should handle
• How to transition customers to human support when needed
• What metrics you should use to measure the success of your chatbot

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve challenges and find solutions. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the calls.

Moderators:

Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Lisa Schulte, senior analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Predict and plan for EV load growth with E Source EV4Sight (PDF)

Utilities are facing a new world of electric transportation, but how big will it become for your electric grid? And how quickly will changes come to your service territory? We’ll show you how you can use E Source data science to make more-accurate forecasts and partner with leading utilities to gain insights to mitigate any unplanned risk on your system.

To help utilities succeed in this dramatically shifting landscape, we designed the E Source EV4Sight consortium to continually forecast the impacts of electric transportation growth on utilities. Using our ever-expanding data hub and advanced data science, EV4Sight will provide consortium members with insights into how the charging patterns of consumer electric vehicles (EVs) and key categories of commercial and fleet vehicles influence loads at the national and state level, in a given service territory, and at the distribution-feeder level.

You’ll get an exclusive view of:

• Interactive data science dashboards
• Detailed charging-pattern analysis of your local residential EV sample powered through E Source partner Rolling Energy Resources
• Residential and commercial data inputs and sources
• Planned deliverables for consortium members

EV4Sight is a fee-based E Source service that allows utilities to have a cost-effective method to continuously forecast EV adoption and loads as the market rapidly shifts.

Speakers:

Bill LeBlanc, chief instigation agent, E Source

Michael Tulaney, engagement manager, Data Science, E Source

Scott Dimetrosky, president, Apex Analytics, and COO, Rolling Energy Resources

Bryan Jungers, director of mobility, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Exchange: the next phase of COVID-19 marketing and communications (PDF)

As vaccinations increase and businesses begin returning to more-standard operations, utilities are focusing their communications on the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join this exchange to connect with your peers on what your top marketing and communications priorities are now that moratoriums are ending and utilities are returning to work and in-person services. We’ll discuss summer marketing and communications plans and any COVID-related messaging you’re still doing. We’ll also share relevant examples and market research we’ve done on the topic. Through this discussion, you’ll be able to ask questions and provide advice to your utility peers.

Potential topics include:

• Plans for returning to in-person events and outreach and communications to support these
• Lessons learned from the pandemic and anything you plan to continue doing moving forward
• Summer marketing campaigns you’ll be doing and key programs and services you’re focused on
• Any COVID-19 communications you’re still prioritizing
• Internal communications to employees around returning to the office or other COVID-related transitions
• Any communications you’re doing around vaccines

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve challenges and find solutions. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the event.

Moderators:

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Lisa Schulte, senior analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording and event description.

Baseball season is upon us, and it offers a great metaphor for the utility industry. Two decades ago, baseball started making data-driven decisions, and that changed the game. E Source OneInform is doing the same for utilities. Sabermetrics helped Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane build a highly cost-effective team. Similarly, OneInform takes a customer-centric approach to developing the next generation of programs needed for our clean-energy future. E Source has the playbook to apply data-science to value, acquire, and optimize customer-resource capabilities through a portfolio of programs that serve the specific needs of all your customers while managing a clean energy grid.

OneInform is already delivering results for our utility clients. For example, using OneInform, one utility learned that 14% of its customers represent 60% of the opportunity to achieve its program’s goal. After adjusting the offering to appeal to the most-suitable customers, the previously underperforming program is now on track to meet its goals.

Join this webinar to learn how OneInform helps utilities succeed in the clean-energy game by securing cost-effective customer resources that are as reliable as a power plant with the precision to be called at a local feeder level. With the right combination of programs in their portfolios, utilities can accelerate clean energy in a way that’s equitable for all customer groups.

You’ll learn:

• How DTE Energy is taking a data-driven approach to its program portfolio for small and midsize businesses
• How Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) uses data to serve low-income customers
• How Portland General Electric is using data to identify which customers are the best overall fit for specific programs, not just based on who will enroll but who will deliver energy impact

Moderator:

Tom Martin, managing director, Data Science, E Source

Speakers:

Jeremy Cappello, energy waste reduction program lead – small, medium business, DTE Energy

Erin Carone, senior utility services specialist, LADWP

Kathy Wagner, product manager, demand response, Portland General Electric

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides | Solar Exchange (PDF)

Rooftop solar continues to be popular among residential customers. From conversations with various utility professionals, we’ve learned that the enrollment process is still a sticking point for many utility-led solar programs. During this exchange, we discussed:

• Increasing solar adoption
• Creating a smoother enrollment process
• Marketing your solar program to residential customers

Speakers:

Steven Day, analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Who should attend:

Members of the E Source Distributed Energy Resource Strategy or Residential Marketing Service who are interested in creating or improving a residential solar offering.

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Join E Source and your fellow utility customer experience (CX) leaders for the Spring 2021 Customer Experience Leadership Council. We’ve spread the leadership council content across three days, each focused on a major piece of the customer experience: CX strategy, contact centers, and digital CX. In these sessions, you’ll have the chance to network and discuss pressing CX topics.

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

How are utilities responding to 2020’s business customer experience wake-up calls?

Download web conference slides | The state of SMB customer satisfaction: 2021 (PDF)

Download web conference slides | Improving small business CX with self-service (PDF)

Download web conference slides | The business customers' construction experience (PDF)

Monday, April 26, 2021 | 2:00–3:30 p.m. EDT

The COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted our lives for more than a year now has served as a significant wake-up call for utility CX practitioners. We’ll explore the biggest lessons and opportunities related to providing a better business customer experience. We’ll focus on the small and midsize business experience, as well as new construction as an important moment of truth. As always, we’ll leave ample time for a rich discussion.

Moderator: Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Speakers:

Melanie Wemple, senior managing director, Management Consulting, E Source

Lisa Schulte, senior analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Reimagining the postpandemic contact center

Tuesday, April 27, 2021 | 2:00–3:30 p.m. EDT

Download web conference slides | Supporting remote employees (PDF)

Download web conference slides | Satisfying and safe in-person interactions (PDF)

Contact center experience design will be forever changed after 2020. Remote work is here to stay for many, creating opportunities and challenges alike. How will you supervise, coach, and ensure quality among your remote staff going forward? What are the most effective ways to manage handoffs from self-service to agent service? And how will you design satisfying, safe, and strategic in-person service experiences? Get answers to these questions and more, and learn from your peers.

Moderator: Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Speaker: Chris Peters, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Setting your new self-service strategy and road map

Download web conference slides | Increasing self-service adoption (PDF)

Download web conference slides | Chatbots as a self-service option (PDF)

Wednesday, April 28, 2021 | 2:00–3:30 p.m. EDT

There’s no debate that self-service is a great arrangement for utilities. But do customers prefer it to interacting with a person? Most do, according to E Source market research. While this is good news for utilities, the devil’s in the details. If you’re going to maximize the benefits of self-service for yourself and your customers, it matters which channels you lead them to first and how those channels fit in your omnichannel experience. We’ll share self-service experience design insights and case studies of successful customer-centric self-service projects. And we’ll save plenty of time for group discussion.

Moderator: Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Speaker: Lisa Schulte, senior analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

Technology is changing the way contact centers work. Utilities and other businesses are automating operational processes to offer a better customer experience and lower costs in contact center operations. In this exchange, we’ll discuss which processes are good candidates for automation, how automation affects operations, and what the business case for automation might be. We’ll also hear about processes that utilities have automated and what the successes and challenges were for these companies.

You’ll learn:

• What processes utilities are automating
• How to automate these processes
• Ways to monitor these processes for errors
• What the return on investment might be

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve challenges and find solutions. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the event.

Moderator:

Chris Peters, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Who should attend:

Members of the E Source Contact Center Optimization Service who are interested in robotic process automation.

Interested in this event but can’t attend? Register anyway and we’ll notify you when the presentation and recording are ready for on-demand viewing. Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

The utility of the future will be fully digital. To get there, you’ll need to completely rethink how your people, processes, data, and technologies will affect how your business functions. To reap the benefits of digital investments, you need specialized skill sets to transition from collecting data to connecting data. Your digital strategies will also need a human-centric approach and a technology roadmap. Web-based tools, for example, can help you gather input from employees and create alignment within the organization.

Join us to learn what’s needed for the kind of organizational agility that will ensure a successful digital transformation. We’ll dive into the five steps that we believe are critical building blocks:

• Alignment. Make sure stakeholders are on board with your business strategy.
• Culture. Make sure you’re prioritizing culture and how changing to a digital utility will affect it.
• Engagement. Embrace the new digital era and make sure your organization is engaged from the outset.
• Business-process redesign. Conduct business design activities before choosing technologies.
• Technology roadmaps. Get systems engineering input for your technology assessments.

Speakers:

Kim Neininger, vice president, Technology Planning and Implementation Consulting, E Source

Nicole Pennington, senior manager, Technology Planning and Implementation Consulting, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

After a year of tremendous change, customers are expecting even more from their utilities. Join us for this two-day virtual event to preview the latest trends in social media and to get equipped for what’s to come. Through this event, you’ll be able to connect with peers at other utilities. You’ll also hear from utility social media leaders on how they’ve met unique challenges and positioned their utilities for success.

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

2021 social media trends: What we learned after a year of COVID

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | 12:00 to 12:40 p.m. ET

Download webinar slides (PDF)

We’ll discuss how utility social media has evolved over the past year and highlight the major themes. Then we’ll take a look at new trends we’re seeing inside and outside the utility industry. Get ideas and inspiration as we share the content and platforms utilities are starting to explore.

Speakers:

Shelby Kuenzli, analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Miriam Stein, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Social media strategy with PG&E and SaskPower

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 | 12:50 to 1:30 p.m. ET

Download webinar slides (PDF)

Irene Wong from PG&E will share how her team persevered on social media through outages and power shutoffs as wildfires plagued California last summer. Then Casey Veroba and Chad Engel from SaskPower will walk us through their response to a recent storm event and discuss the challenges of navigating these events through COVID-19.

Moderator:

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Speakers:

Irene Wong, communications representative, PG&E

Casey Veroba, consultant, Brand and Communication Services, SaskPower

Chad Engel, manager, Brand and Communication Services, SaskPower

Integrating your social care team

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 | 12:00 to 12:40 p.m. ET

Download webinar slides (PDF)

Your communications and customer service teams both have a role to play in social media. We’ll address the challenges of splitting social media responsibilities and how to organize and align your teams. You’ll leave this session with new ideas for creating a social care team that puts customers first.

Speakers:

Shelby Kuenzli, analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Chris Peters, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Deidre Kuti, social and digital communications specialist, New Jersey Natural Gas

Philip Tinsley, supervisor of customer inquiry, New Jersey Natural Gas

Hot topics in social media

Wednesday, April 21, 2021 | 12:50 to 1:30 p.m. ET

Download webinar slides (PDF)

Join your peers to discuss hot topics in social media. Bring your questions, share your thoughts, and hear what’s working from other utilities.

Moderator:

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recordings, event description, and links to download the presentation slides.

As states move toward comprehensive carbon reduction goals, utilities are aligning their energy-efficiency, demand-response (DR), distributed energy resource (DER), and decarbonization objectives through integrated programs and portfolios. While these efforts seek to scale program offerings and reduce costs, utilities and regulators need to address separate proceedings, budgets, and evaluation metrics for these energy resources. This virtual meeting is a vendor-free opportunity for you to have meaningful conversations with utility leaders about the solutions to these challenges—helping you set strategic goals and initiatives for the integrated portfolio of the future.

The integrated portfolio in practice: Executive roundtable discussions

Download web conference slides (PDF)

In our first session, we discuss these questions:

• What are the near-term opportunities for integrated program offerings?
• What objectives should integrated portfolios take into account—savings, carbon reduction, rates, or a blend of each?
• How should you work with regulators to set goals for an integrated portfolio of energy-efficiency, DR, DER, and decarbonization offerings?
• How can you plan for the intersection of demand-side management (DSM), DERs, decarbonization, and customer experience? What will customer-centric design look like at your utility?

Moderators:

Katie Ruiz, senior solutions director, Sales Support and Engagement, E Source

Luke Beckett, product strategist, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Rachel Reiss Buckley, vice president, Enterprise Strategy and Product Development, E Source

Key opportunities for integrated solutions: E Source-led breakout discussions and presentations

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 | 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET

Breakout 1: Reassessing cost-effectiveness and evaluations for programs.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

Attendees discuss:

• Revisiting our intent and cost-effectiveness for DERs
• The NSPM for DERs core principles in action

Moderators:

Bill LeBlanc, chief instigation agent, E Source

Luke Beckett, product strategist, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Breakout 2: Navigating the rapidly shifting EV landscape.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

Attendees discuss:

• How electric bus programs are evolving into grid and customer solutions for fleet electrification
• How to plan for managed workplace charging

Moderators:

Steve Day, analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Bryan Jungers, lead analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Breakout 3: Integrated opportunities in the smart home.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

Attendees discuss:

• Claiming energy-efficiency savings from DR programs
• Optimizing smart thermostats for time-based rates
• Preparing for products with ENERGY STAR’s Smart Home Energy Management System specification

Moderators:

Essie Snell, lead analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Amy Schmidt, analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source