Ad Index

Ad Index

PG#. . . . . . . . . . . .Adindex name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Webaddress

5, 39...........ACLARA ............................... www.AclaraTech.com 53. . . . . . . . . . . . . Alliance Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www. AllianeData.com/Utility 29.............American Superconductor..................... www.amsc.com 34. . . . . . . . . . . . . Asset Acceptance,LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.assetacceptance.com 25. . . . . . . . . . . . .Autodesk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.autodesk.com 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Black & Veatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.bv.com/consult 43.............CalAmp Datacom.......................... www.calamp.com C2. . . . . . . . . . . . . Cannon Technologies - Cooper Power . . . . . . . www.cooperpower.com 21. . . . . . . . . . . . . Cross Country Home Services. . . . . www.CROSSCOUNTRY-HOME.com 63.............CSWeek ................................. www.csweek.org 13. . . . . . . . . . . . .Day & Zimmerman NPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.dayzim.com 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . Dickstein Shapiro LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.dicksteinshapiro.com 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribu TECH 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.distributech.com 35. . . . . . . . . . . . . EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WWW.EEI.ORG/2008 55. . . . . . . . . . . . .Electric Light & Power Online. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.elp.com 11. . . . . . . . . . . . .Elster Electricity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.elster-eis.com

PG#. . . . . . . . . . . .Ad index name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Web address

52.............Enspiria Solutions......................... www.enspiria.com C4. . . . . . . . . . . . . Exstream Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.extream.com/EL&P 49. . . . . . . . . . . . .ImageNow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.imagenow.com/Utilities 27. . . . . . . . . . . . .Jacada, Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.jacada.com 23.............KEMA, Inc.................................. www.kema.com 45. . . . . . . . . . . . . Mid America Engine . . . . . . . keith@maegen.com or art@maegen.com 37. . . . . . . . . . . . .OpCon Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . opcontech.com 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oracle Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oracle.com/industries/utilities 41.............Proxix ......................... www.proxix.com/pxpoint.php 33.............SAP.................................. sap.com/ForUtilities 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.selinc.com 14-15 . . . . . . . . . . Seimens Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . siemens.com/us-sppa C3. . . . . . . . . . . . .SmartSynch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SMARTSYNCH.COM 45.............The C Three Group........................... www.cthree.net 47. . . . . . . . . . . . . Twenty First Century Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.tfcci.com 31.............UtilX ...................................... www.utilx.com

BRAND continued from 51 in advance for their needs.

Increased customer satisfaction

Aquila found that automated communications, in conjunction with traditional call center operations, helped the utility engage customers in an ongoing dialogue and meet its business objectives at the same time. The company has improved its revenue recovery rate, reduced its total number of disconnections and write-offs, and, perhaps most important in the long run, found the right approach to increased customer satisfaction, better brand recognition and enhanced goodwill among its customers.

 

Customer service for commercial customers: curtailment

Whether due to weather conditions, power plant problems or a transmission line overload, successfully managing unpredictable peaks in energy demand requires quick and efficient communication with customers, the key being that when a curtailment event becomes necessary, utilities can reach a large number of customers at a moment’s notice.

Alliant Energy serves more than 1.4 million customers in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. As part of its load management program, the utility offers reduced rates to commercial and industrial customers that agree to curtail their energy usage during peak periods.

When the program was originally introduced, Alliant used its sales systems support group along with proprietary light panel technology to alert customers of imminent interruptions. In states without panels, this manual process took up to four hours and offered no guarantee that customers were being reached in a timely fashion, which led to unnecessary fines and a perception of

poor service.

Recognizing the need to collapse the cycle, ensure message delivery and improve customer satisfaction, Alliant Energy automated its communications approach to more rapidly deliver curtailment notifications to its commercial customers, gauge their ability to reduce consumption, and provide a complete audit trail of activity to ensure regulatory compliance.

Alliant has enabled its customers to indicate how, when and where they were to receive load curtailment notifications, selecting from a variety of contact methods—phone, e-mail, pager, SMS or fax. Recipients are even able to adjust their notification preferences based on their schedule, selecting different contact methods for different periods or times of day.

The goals for the system were ambitious and met within a short timeframe:

■ Whenever possible, provide customers with at least an hour’s notice of an impending interruption

■ Shorten the notification cycle from hours to minutes

■ Eliminate the dependency on staff resources for manual calling

■ Track customer response to ensure compliance with load management agreements

Since Alliant introduced the automated communications system, customer feedback has been decidedly positive, convincing Alliant to roll out a similar program for its natural gas customers.

While the unfortunate reality is that power plants can’t be built as fast as communities grow and businesses move in, load management programs and rapid curtailment notification systems enable today’s utilities to better manage the energy they are already generating and keep the lights on for their customers. (Visit www.elp.com for more articles on customer care.)