Community Pilot
~
Project Overview
and
Final Outcomes
12-17-13
Agenda
• WPS – Project Overview
– Communications/Branding
– Rates
– Tools/Tech discussion – Utility perspective
• Focus on Energy – Programs
• Energy Center of WI
– Tools/Tech discussion – Customer perspective
• DNV GL (KEMA) – Evaluation
– Findings
– Recommendations
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Overview
• 2008 - WPS reached an agreement with CUB to
provide increased funding to WPS customers
participating in energy efficiency programs. The
additional funds supported two types of programs:
– Territory-Wide programs (mostly bonus incentives on top of
existing Focus programs)
– Community Pilot programs – test the effectiveness of new
tools, technologies, program and rate approaches.
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– Key requirement: WPS jointly develop and implement at
least three community-based pilot projects. WPS worked
collaboratively with CUB, PSCW staff, and Focus on
Energy.
Community Pilot
Key Messages
• iCanConserve was a bold, new community
energy conservation pilot project
– Participation was voluntary
– Encouraged customers to conserve energy and
change energy behaviors
– Lowered energy bills
– Helped the environment
– Be part of the community
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Community Pilot
Goals & Objectives
• Evaluate customer response to current and new
innovative rates
• Better understand the communication and education
methods to encourage customer participation in energy
efficiency
• Create awareness of energy usage via feedback devices
and web-based tools
• Create scalable models incorporating lessons learned
from each pilot community
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Community Pilot
Selection Criteria
• Size of community
– City or village (1-10,000 customers)
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“Green” eco-friendly
Progressive
Diverse community
Active parks and recreation
Active business associations
South of Hwy 64
Scope
• Three communities
– Brillion - October 2009
– Allouez - September 2010
– Plover - July 2011
(Staggered approach to build on lessons learned)
• All communities completed – December 2012
• Residential and small commercial customers
included
• Large commercial and industrial customers
not included
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Community
Characteristics
• Brillion – 1,500 customers
– Tend to be older, more conservative, reluctant to change
or adopt new technologies
– Fewer internet connected customers
– Offers are “too good to be true”
– Receive information via TV, bill stuffers, news, neighbors
– Word of mouth is extremely important – leverage Energy
Advocates
– Community newspaper
– Small businesses with an average of 5 FTE’s
Community
Characteristics
• Allouez – 6,000 customers
– Younger, wealthier, and more connected
• Provides opportunity to leverage microsite
– No newspaper or schools so marketing channels differed
– Community leader support and involvement was high
– Small businesses with an average of 12 FTE’s
• Plover – 6,000 customers
– Similar to Allouez except
• More renters
• Slightly younger population – more families
• Plover newspaper and schools
Community Pilot
Key Program Elements
Brillion
Allouez
Plover
Population
~3,182
~14,126
~10,520
Total Households
1,408
5,894
5,498
Total Businesses
210
412
759
Program Duration
October 2009 –
December 2012
September 2010 –
December 2012
July 2011 – December
2012
Customer Base
Control Community
Reasons for Program
Variances
Community Reward
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Residential and Small Business
Chilton
Not applicable.
Ashwaubenon
Lessons learned from
Brillion and
opportunities to test
new design elements.
Weston
Lessons learned from
Brillion and Allouez,
opportunities to test
new design elements,
and shortened program
duration.
$25,000 per Community, if goal is met
Community Pilot
Program Offerings
Tools & Technology:
Smart Thermostat
Brillion
Allouez
Plover
X
X
X
Home Energy Management System
Smart Meter/CT, Thermostat, Plug Level Controller, Controlled
Strip, Home Base
X
In-Home Display
X
X
Google PowerMeter
X
X
Usage Graphs
X
Direct Load Control - New Technology (DRU)
X
Brillion
Allouez
Plover
3-Tier Time-of-Use
X
X
X
Response Rewards (Critical Peak Pricing with Time-of-Use)
X
X
X
Cool Credits (Direct Load Control)
X
X
X
X
X
Flat Rate Rewards (Critical Peak Pricing with Flat Rate)
Conservation Rate (Inclining Block Rate)
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X
X
Electric Car w/public charging station
Rates:
X
X
Community Pilot
Program Offerings
Focus on Energy Programs:
Home Energy Review/Assessment (two visits)
Brillion
X
X
X
Heating Equipment Bonus (no A/C bonus)
X
Community Participation Reward
X
X
X
Energy Education from School to Home
X
X
X
Brillion
Allouez
Plover
Small Business Energy Review*
X
X
X
Enhanced Business Incentives*
X
X
X
Community Supported Financing for Small Business*
X
X
X
Business Staffing Grants*
X
X
X
Small Business Customers
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Plover
X
Home Energy Audit (one visit - $25)
Heating & Cooling Early Retirement
Allouez
Community Pilot
Community Reward Outcome
Community Reward
Community Reward Progress
Community Reward Value
Community Reward Projects
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Brillion
Allouez
Plover
64%
82%
115%
$16,000
$21,000
$25,000
LED Pole
Lights on
Main Street
LED Bollard
Lights along
Green Isle
Park
Walkway
LED Pole
Lights at
Woyak
Sports
Complex
and Plover
Village Hall
Final Report
• Final Report available on Public
Service Commission of Wisconsin
website: http://psc.wi.gov/
• Search Electronic Requirement Filing
(ERF) System
– Docket #: 6690-UR-119
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Key Findings
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Marketing & Communications
– Successes:
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iCanConserve Microsite
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iCanConserve Brand & WPS Logo•
Involvement of Local Officials
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Email Newsletter
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– Challenges:
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Plover Success Kits
Community Involvement
Pilot-ending messages
Referral Rewards
WPS/Focus Collaboration
• Difficult to get customers to stop at pilot specific events
(Brillion and Plover).
• Various channels were used to deliver messages
– Challenge to get customers interested/motivated to take
action
• Media channel selection limited due to “spillover” effect
(Allouez & Plover).
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Marketing & Communications
– Lessons Learned:
• Reduce communications after second year in first community.
– Started to “tune out” pilot messaging (higher-than-normal
frequency).
• Individual messaging helped clarify each offer vs. multiple pilot
offerings in one communication.
• Customer’s preference for face-to-face interaction with the
Energy Advocates.
• Using testimonials to push the peer-to-peer participation in
communications.
• Tying actual energy savings (dollars) to the programs and rate
offerings in communications to give customers a sense of the
payback for such efforts.
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Overview of Communications
Channels:
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Bill Inserts
Targeted Web Banners
Direct Mail
Emails
Microsite (variety of
information)
Newspaper
Ads/Editorials
Free Standing Inserts
Social Media
Yard Signs
Topics:
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Program Offerings
Rate Options/Education
Energy-Saving Tips
Community Reward
Testimonials
Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Rates
– Successes:
• Rate Videos
– http://www.wisconsinpublicservice.com/home/response_rewards.aspx
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Outreach
Success Kits
Understanding Opt-out impacts
Load Shifting behavior change
Conservation behavior change
Google PowerMeter and WPS Usage Graphs
Plover Opt Out Evaluation
Simple is better
Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Rates
– Challenges
• Engaging/Educating Customers
– Major appliances – Natural Gas/propane or
electricity?
• Reviewing Rate Options
– Provided tables showing appliance consumption for
small and large appliances
– Impact of appliances to overall bill
– What to run off-peak
• Cell Phone Bill vs. Electric Bill Options
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Community Pilot
EPRI Demonstration Projects
152 W Each, LED
311W Each, High Pressure Sodium
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• EPRI Initiatives – Hyper-Efficient Appliances
– Refrigerators
• Design options to increase the energy efficiency of refrigerators
include:
– Variable-speed compressors
– Adaptive defrost technologies
– Improved insulation
– Better-sealing doors and gaskets
– Alternative refrigerants
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
EPRI - Refrigerators
• Savings based on
manufacturer/model
» Range: -5% to 45%
• Barrier to market adoption
– Cost
• 1980 – avg. refrigerator
• 19 cubic feet
• used 1275 kWh/yr.
• 2010 – avg. refrigerator
• 22 cubic feet
• uses 500 kWh/yr.
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Average energy savings of
about 50% (all host sites)
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
EPRI-Washer/Dryer
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• Average energy savings of
8 - 15% per washer-dryer load
• Average hot water savings
(gallons) of about 42% per
load
• ~90% of the energy used for
washers is for heating water
• Water extraction in the water
spin cycle reduces dryer
energy use
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• EPRI Initiatives – LED Lighting
– Successes:
• Customer Perspective
– Informal feedback - LED lights were favorable.
– Collaborative project made it possible for this technology to be
used in Brillion; otherwise cost prohibitive.
• Operating Perspective
– Cold weather in NE WI did not hamper operation.
• Energy savings ranged from 20% to 70%
– Challenges:
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• The collection of photometric data was a challenge.
• Circuit was controlled by a remote photo eye. Resulted in turn on and
turn off times that would not be considered normal.
• Location of the test site was a parking lot at a mini mall, which was not a
high traffic area.
LED Street & Area Lighting
Brillion Data
Research Objective:
Assess light emitting diode
(LED) technology by
measuring performance and
user satisfaction of the
technology when installed
in street and area lighting
locations.
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• EPRI Initiatives – Plug-In Electric Vehicles
– Successes:
• First-ever, North America-based scale demonstration of first
production Plug-in Electric Vehicles.
• Thirty (30) utilities, sixty-one (61) 2011 Chevrolet Volt vehicles,
Texas to Manitoba, Maine to Hawaii footprint.
• Focus on utility industry perspective – infrastructure impact,
energy use, effect of various parameters on energy consumption
and consumer preferences around infrastructure and charging.
• Comprehensive data analysis spanning over 750,000 miles of
driving and several thousand charge events over 2 years.
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• EPRI Initiatives – Plug-In Electric Vehicles
– Challenges
• Logistical challenges focused around structuring the program
terms that balanced risk (liability) of the new technology,
ownership of the vehicles, confidentiality of information and
technical objectives. Total negotiations > a year to complete.
• Enterprise risk management – with an advanced technology
class of vehicle being driven by regular drivers, liability and risk
exposure were major concerns. To resolve this, EPRI carried a
fleet-wide insurance policy for any unforeseen events.
• Technical challenges focused around getting data to flow
regularly from GM (OnStar) and analyzing it for meaningful
results, as well as getting the EPRI-designed data acquisition
platform running smoothly.
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• EPRI Initiatives – PEVs
– As of Jan 31, 2013 the fleet totaled 738,000 miles;
359,000 miles on electric.
– As of Jan 31, 2013 the fleet totaled 128 AC
megawatt-hours.
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Tools & Technology
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(EPRI) Feedback Type
Categorization
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Home Energy Report
– Designed based on industry
research and customer feedback
– Incorporated key data
and information
– Kept data consistent with
online and on-bill data
– Mailings in spring and fall
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Home Energy Report
– Successes:
• Two focus groups:
– Customers perceived the HER as a value added service
– Value in viewing their personal historical usage data, even if they aren’t
taking energy saving efforts
– Paper format was well accepted - mental trigger to think about energy usage
– Customers trust the data and the utility
– While viewing the entire report, customers found the most value from the
usage graphs
– The design was very appropriate, from the packaging to the overall layout of
the report
– Report spurred discussions within the household
– Energy savings tips were of value
– Comparison to average home (terminology) was preferred vs. providing a
comparison to their neighbor
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Home Energy Report
– Challenges:
• Defining requirements and layout brought complexity :
– Average home comparison and if it should be regional, etc.
– Variables in customer data
– Bill adjustments and exceptions
– Multiple electric or gas meters at one location
– Weather normalization
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Home Energy Report
– Lessons Learned:
• Focus Group Feedback:
• Implementation options – potential opt-out process for
those not interested
• Customers would like to see more information about
incentives, other programs and rate options
• Comparison process must be done carefully - customers
stated that the term “neighbor” was problematic, however
the “average home” terminology was preferred
• Customers requested a checklist of items to complete
prior to the next heating/cooling season
• Report is required to be a 1st class mailing
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Google Powermeter
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Google PowerMeter
– Successes:
• ~67% of participants continued to use it at least once per week.
• Customer linked the PowerMeter to their iGoogle account
• Customers became more conscious of energy consumption
– Challenges:
• Initial enrollment labor intensive, customers were manually entered in
batches
• Data was 24 hours old once viewed by customers
• Comparison to other WPS tools, looks, etc.
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Google PowerMeter
– Lessons Learned:
• Customer Perspective
– Inability to make translation from energy usage to bill
savings
– Customers did not know what contributed to hourly
energy load “spikes”
– Would like to see information on natural gas usage
– Would like to see calculated dollars saved on current plan
vs. other rate plans
– Believability and accuracy of energy usage and
calculations
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Web Tools
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Web Tools
– Successes:
• Customers felt they were user friendly and easy to interpret
• Customers were able to measure historical changes
• Interview respondents used the graphs to understand usage patterns
– Challenges:
• Color-coding of TOU rates were initially misleading
• Throughout design of the graphs, actual cost data was considered,
but too costly
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Web Tools
– Lessons Learned:
• Receipt of bill triggered review of usage graphs
– Generally accessed every two weeks to once a month.
• Customers became accustomed to the 1-2 day lag
• Customers want to see usage along with cost
• Customer wanted to see energy usage as a whole for
their community
– average usage per day,
– household comparisons.
• Some suggested providing quarter-hour intervals in an
effort to identify appliance usage
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Smart Thermostat
– Successes:
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Provided the customer with remote access
User friendly control settings
Created awareness of temperature settings and schedules
Created awareness of energy usage and cost
Minimal installation issues
– Challenges:
• Internet connectivity issues caused lack of control
• Warranty returns and exchanges
• Some users thought display was problematic
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Smart Thermostat
– Customers also received:
• Live weather feeds and weather forecasts
• Temperature alerts
• Helpful conservation reminders
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Smart Thermostat
– Lessons Learned:
• Additional critical-peak pricing notification options:
– Customers were not always home to see the messages on the
thermostat.
– Email notification received after had started
• Customers were not aware of all thermostat features:
– Most controlled the thermostat locally, and not remotely
– Customers did not review home energy reports via the customer
portal.
• Easier enrollment and un-enrollment processes needed for expansion
• A customer notification, via email, to resolve their Internet connectivity
issues.
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Smart Thermostat
• Customers preferred use of touch screen versus for changes
• Most customers used the default control scheme for critical-peak price
events.
– Control summary:
» 43 customers – altered set point 4 degrees higher
(relative adjustment-default)
» 1 customer – altered set point 5 degrees higher
(relative adjustment)
» 1 customer – altered set point 7 degrees higher
(relative adjustment)
» 1 customer – altered set point to 80 degrees
(absolute adjustment)
» 4 customers – Turned system off
• Training the customer call center related to expanding territory wide
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Home Energy Management System (HEMS)
– Setups
• CT based Installations
– In-home current transformers installations
• Zigbee based communications
– Additional meter installed on home with communication capabilities
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Home Energy Management System (HEMS)
– Successes:
• In-home device communication was solid and reliable
• Smart meter-based HEMS reported no delays in real-time information
• Nearly all households, used the Home Base to understand appliance
impacts
– Challenges:
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Customer’s home router caused reliability issues
Proximity issues between the Home Base and the smart meter
Installation of the current transformer (CT) could be difficult
Dual socket adaptors were needed to keep the billing meter in tack
Customer was not able to select program billing dates
WPS managed rates on device, holidays, TOU periods
– Blocks were not supported.
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Home Energy Management System (HEMS)
– Lessons Learned:
• Immaturity of advanced meter technology used caused delays
• Package disbursement goals limited selection for some customers
• Over a 6 month period the frequency of use decreased
• The energy usage data updates needs to be as real-time as
possible
• Sockets and strips and time management were often reported to
be unused
• Preferred method of access was via the Home Base directly
– Mobile application was not highly adopted due to limited functionality.
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Direct Load Control
– Successes:
• Appearance of the DRU is similar to the legacy DLC devices.
• Indication lights on the DRU give status to customers
• DRU’s can perform shed and cycle functions in a similar manner as
legacy DLCs
– Challenges:
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• 50% cycling capabilities required manual recording of daily heat indexes
• To expand this weighting signal would be sent as part of an automated
process
• Installation challenges which could result in additional contractor
installation costs:
– Less space in DRU unit to connect A/C and Water Heater wires
– Extra compartment with 4 additional screws covering the high
voltage side access
– Protective barriers around relays
Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Direct Load Control
– Lessons Learned:
• Randomization differences in the DRU vs. legacy DLC:
• Still small percentage of area not covered , 3%
• Customer cycling program requires more attention to
daily heat and humidity metrics than the existing DLC
system
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Findings
• Smart Meters - Wi-Fi (Aclara)
– Successes:
• Constant communication
• Customer was able to view data with any web browsing device
– Challenges:
• Default web interface from factory
• Didn’t support the breadth of rates
• Cumbersome Wi-Fi setup
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Lessons Learned
• Smart Meters (Aclara)
– Lessons Learned:
• Wi-Fi firmware updates caused delays in the initial
deployment.
– Router support
• Meter security for pairing and password strengths
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Community Pilot
WPS Key Take-Aways
• EPRI Initiatives – SmartGrid
– Customer adoption of the technology has been low , likely early
adopters
– Focus should be on leveraging higher throughput / lower cost models
– Technology readiness
– DLC is still a very effective technology for lowering demand
– Not one communication is best at all customer densities, from rural to
urban
– Meter to In-home-Display communications can be a challenge
especially as it relates to larger dwellings and multi-tenet buildings
– customer education will continue to play a large role
• Increase adoption rates
• spend time on educating customer on rates, events and tools
• new tools alone will not gain mass market acceptance
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Questions ???
Cheri Salmon
(920) 433-1493
casalmon@wisconsinpublicservice.com
Brian Teddy
(920) 433-1051
bcteddy@wisconsinpublicservice.com
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