In 2020 Uplight partnered with See Change Institute, to conduct a comprehensive survey of 1,000 customers from all over the US. And we gained an excellent understanding in how the pandemic has affected their relationship with energy and their utility. With 36% of households working from home, the pandemic has led to 48% of homes becoming distracted on how they use energy, and subsequently 50% of homes have seen an increase in their energy bills. The result is an increase in vulnerable customers as well with 15% having to postpone paying a bill.
Despite that though, customers indicated they are still just as interested in adopting smart energy saving technologies, including:
- 23% made an energy-related purchase to increase comfort
- 36% were thinking about buying a smart thermostat
- 34% were thinking about buying an Electric Vehicle
With these insights on hand we’ve been able to better understand the customers in our demand management programs and define their challenges, and subsequently:
Ideate on how to improve our programs and user experiences to better meet customer needs
Prototype these adjustments and test hypotheses with our utility clients,
And then iterate as more data comes to hand and the environment changes, continually improving with this loop
An example of this was updating our demand response program messaging to be empathetic of the circumstances. This include emphasizing elements of comfort and control, financial and community benefits, as well a frictionless, low to no level of effort experience. In the programs where community element was particularly emphasized we’ve seen higher levels of satisfaction as well.
The second modification we made was to leverage our partnerships to create an innovative offering whereby we could in a matter of just a couple weeks stand up a high profile 100,000 free thermostat giveaway at Consumers Energy, to enable customers to help save on their energy usage and be more comfortable while at home. In addition we could significantly grow the smart thermostat demand response program.
And finally, while in previous years only a third of customers reported having someone home during an event, this year it surged to 70%. So there was a increased awareness of events, particularly the pre-cooling schedule. Subsequently this resulted in iterations of how we optimize dispatch and daily schedules, across the device manufacturers we work with. I touched on this before, but emphasizing community impact and benefit of their participation was really important to ensure understanding and ride-through with events.
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