Developing a Load Management Program

Business Objective

• An electric utility wanted to establish a load management program and sought consumer input to understand participation interest, impact of monetary incentives, and expected support.
• Identifying messaging that would best motivate consumer adoption of the program was an important study objective.
• Additionally, the utility wanted to assess consumer understanding of how their individual behavior impacts the grid.

The Challenge

• It was important to the utility that insights would be gathered based on real-life customer experience.

Our Approach

• Schmidt recruited qualified utility customers to participate in a 4-week pilot program. Within that timeframe, those customers received text messages that encouraged reduced energy usage during a four-hour window on specified days.
• Participants were divided into four groups, each receiving different messaging and incentive levels. Energy usage was monitored during the pilot period.
• After the pilot period, participants received a follow-up survey asking them to share their experience and identify opportunities for program improvement.