How Energy Efficiency Program Managers are Driving Success During COVID-19
WRITTEN BY JESSE HITCHCOCK & ANGELICA PEREIRA ∙ TORONTO, ONTARIO
The temperatures are rising and customers are spending more time than ever at home due to social distancing. Energy Efficiency and DSM Program Managers are facing multiple challenges: high bill complaints, juggling internal logistics and administration, coordinating vendor management and reaching customers during these challenging times.
More than ever, digital tools are essential in solving these problems. MyEnergyXpert is an online energy assessment that helps customers manage their energy consumption while simultaneously reducing the administrative burden for Program Managers.
For Customers:
Homeowners who use MyEnergyXpert found they could reduce their energy bills by an average of 25%.
Accurate assessment in less than 10 minutes
Ultra-personalized recommendations to reduce energy bills
Discover utility programs and supports unique to their circumstance
For Program Managers:
Program Managers benefit from industry-leading conversion rates and customer satisfaction. As internal champions for energy efficiency, Program Managers need to be able to precisely quantify the objectives, processes and successes of their DSM programs to the relevant stakeholders in their organization.
By focusing on data analytics paired with user experience, MEX provides industry-leading customer engagement outcomes for the utilities we partner with. Following launch, 30% of visitors to the homepage become users on the platform (compared to an industry average of 5%), and they achieve Net Promoter Scores of >80. NPS measures customer experience and loyalty. For context, Tesla’s NPS is 96, Costco’s is 78 and Amazon’s is 62. Most importantly, 80% of customers who sign up for an account complete an online energy audit, in comparison to an industry average of 15%.
Typically Program Managers define success as the ability to hit KWh energy savings targets while remaining within budget. This metric has typically encapsulated a wide array of success metrics including energy reduction, cost efficiencies, regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction. With the onset of COVID-19, success of a DSM program becomes increasingly nuanced and not fully captured with one single measure. Digitization of the customer relationship and automation of workflow processes, including vendor management, must be part of an integrated solution to build resilience going forward.
With MyEnergyXpert, Program Managers benefit from the simplicity of a simple online assessment that has been designed for optimal customer conversion, along with a workhorse analytics-focused backend that can be used to track program metrics in real time and facilitate vendor management through intelligent tracking and communication tools.
