Insight and Incent – The Keys to the Energy Consumer - CBD inTouch

Insight and Incent – The Keys to the Energy Consumer

Two free, easy-to-use online services designed to help consumers track and manage their energy consumption and expenses are being scrapped. Google plans to pull the plug on PowerMeter in September, and Microsoft will discontinue Microsoft Hohm™ next May. As these early-adopter platforms fade into history, what have we learned?

Maybe this is simply additional proof that consumers don’t want to be bothered, that the cost of electricity is too low to justify time out of their busy lives to worry about. But I think it’s more apt to say it’s additional proof that it takes a whole lot more than “build it and they will come” to change consumer behavior. As we’ve been saying, consumers need an incentive, and utilities need to get a deep understanding of consumers to effectively motivate them.

So we’re excited about two new innovators who have come to our attention, and we’ll be watching them very closely. GridGlo is a start-up with a very compelling story to tell. As utilities work toward implementing the smart grid, they’ve got to prove ROI and value to customers. Suddenly they have abundant AMI data, but what do they do with it to get to ROI? GridGlo has upped the game, with a solution that helps utilities gain a very deep understanding of their customers by combining AMI data with behavioral and demographic data. With this dimensional understanding of the individual customer, utilities should be able to develop programs that make sense for their market and their business model. Gridglo is currently piloting programs for several utilities, and is poised to be one of the early leaders in the customer engagement value chain.

The second innovator we’re excited about is Lowfoot, a remarkably differentiated newcomer out of Canada. Like Microsoft and Google, Lowfoot provides a means for consumers to monitor their usage, but they have added a rewards program – paying cash to consumers who meet targets set for reduced energy consumption. Lowfoot attracts advertisers to fund their rewards, and as a condition of membership, Lowfoot participants take an active role in building the community through social media and referrals. Because they have to be able to monitor the AMI data being sent to utilities, Lowfoot has created customized interfaces for five utilities in Ontario, serving 2.5 million smart-metered customers. However they are developing interfaces to another seven utilities, including two in the US. The number of customers who may be able to take advantage of the program will soon be 10 million. Kudos to Lowfoot for some great blogs, too. The one about usage spiking during Hockey games and dipping during the recent rapture scare was very entertaining.

Tags: AMI, customer behavior, data, electricity consumer, energy industry, incentives, lower energy consumption, lower energy costs, marketing communications, rate payer, smart meter

Thursday, June 30th, 2011 B2B Marketing, Energy, Technology

2 Comments to Insight and Incent – The Keys to the Energy Consumer

Greg Salerno
August 3, 2011

Thanks for sharing those examples. In these economic times, my money’s on Lowfoot to succeed as it scales-up. It seems to leverage a natural convergence of those who care enough to monitor use, since they tend to be disposed toward cutting it, with an economic incentive to play. My question it, how do they make money??

Gina Miller
August 25, 2011

Hi, Greg. Lowfoot has an interesting model based on partnering with advertisers. It totally ties in to the need to reach consumers who are like-minded and deliver to them a relevant message. We should all watch this closely as it may just be the model of the future. Thanks for commenting!