Customer Engagement

Results-Based Regulation

A more dynamic approach to grid modernization.

The utility’s role is changing, and regulation must change along with it – to spur innovation and respond to evolving customer needs. Modernizing the industry will require a dynamic approach.
Byline: 

David Malkin and Paul A. Centolella

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Reinventing the Grid

How to find a future that works.

The traditional central-station grid is evolving toward a more distributed architecture, accommodating a variety of resources spread out across the network. An open and thoughtful planning approach will allow an orderly transition to an integrated system – while fostering innovation among a wider range of industry players.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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Don't Get Netflixed

The tide is turning. Are we planning for it – or hoping to stop it?

The central station system is the most cost-effective way to provide utility service, but that's beside the point. Customers don't care about 'utility service.'
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

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The Innovator's Dilemma

Assessing the risks and rewards of distributed energy strategies.

To embrace change or fight it? The choice to either act or wait and see is fraught with complexity.
Byline: 

Hugo van Nispen

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Beyond the Meter

Protecting your base – while keeping options open.

The coming years will bring policy wrangling over distributed resources – what’s economic and what’s not.
Byline: 

By Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

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Mobile Mindset

Meeting customers’ service expectations in the smart phone era.

Mobile data services play a vital role for utilities to better engage customers and provide vital information during outage situations.
Byline: 

Carin van Vuuren

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Turning Toward Customers

Utility transformation guided by improved customer insight.

Improved customer insight can help utilities transform their business models, to strengthen engagement with consumers and remain competitive as the energy sector evolves.
Byline: 

Osvald Bjelland

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Energy Efficiency Unknowns

Making efficiency programs work requires understanding real-world behavior.

Efficiency programs often fall short because they don’t account for human behavior. Systematic studies with randomized trials can bring better results.
Byline: 

Veronica Irastorza

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Tweet, Like, and Follow

Utilities get serious about social media.

Social networks offer substantial communications value, and utilities can no longer ignore them. A successful strategy, however, requires careful management.
Byline: 

Todd Black

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Big Data, Big Change

Analytics chart a path for industry transformation.

“Without integrating operational data with traditional IT data, I don’t think the industry would be any further along than it was five or 10 years ago.” ~Steve Ehrlich, Space Time Insight
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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