Held twice a year, our tech roundup webinars keep members of the E Source Technology Assessment Service updated on the latest developments in efficiency, load management, and decarbonization technologies.

The stakes were high this year for EV advertisements during Super Bowl LVI with costs of up to $6.5 million per 30-second spot and awareness that EVs are attracting a lot of attention and investment. This is all with the backdrop of knowing that front runner Tesla doesn’t advertise (at least in the traditional sense) but still blows away all other EV sales combined.

On March 2, 2022, the US government released its National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan to give Americans a path forward as we learn how to live with the COVID-19 virus and its variants. The plan focuses on four key goals:

When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, there’s no one-size-fits-all option. DEI is a subject that requires a lot of thought and intentionality.

As part of its On The Spot Light campaign, National Grid used LinkedIn and other social media platforms to promote in-store, distributor’s counter lighting incentives to commercial and industry customers. Ads directed key accounts to the utility’s On The Spot Light Incentive Program web page for a list of products and a store locator tool (figure 1).

In my previous post The Sustainable Utility: Data takes center stage, I introduced the idea of The Sustainable Utility, the desired endpoint for every utility balancing the competing (and costly) demands to become more environmentally friendly, safe, reliable, and equitable while keeping rates affordable. I view this as an existential challenge—one we can, must, and will overcome.

This is the second installment of “Sustainable utility matters,” a new series on the E Source blog exploring key trends and developments in the utility sector.

In the series, we interview experts to highlight industry trends and challenges utilities are facing. We believe that to become truly sustainable, and, therefore, become The Sustainable Utility, utilities need to drive decarbonization, provide safe and reliable power, and serve all customers equitably—all while ensuring a strong bottom line.

As we’ve been highlighting in our energy equity research and resources, utilities are working with the communities they serve to apply an equity lens to their demand-side management, distributed energy resource, and EV programs. They’re also incorporating equity into their marketing and communications, internal operations, and trade ally engagement. And they’re learning more about the unique needs and challenges of the communities they serve and modifying programs and services to increase energy equity and affordability.

Happy (belated) Earth Day! To celebrate what we view as one of the most important days of the year, we wanted to share what the new E Source Sustainability Task Force spearheaded to honor Earth Day. We also wanted to highlight some of the creative ways utilities across the US and Canada supported the fight for environmental protection and change.

As we kick off the 2022 E Source Achievements in Customer and Employee Experience awards, we wanted to look back and celebrate last year’s winners. Hopefully, these top projects from 2021 will ignite a spark for your own customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) efforts. We’re accepting entries through June 10 and want you to share your great work in making your utility more customer- or employee-centric.