Offer customers rate options that are future proof and easy to understand.
The goal was to offer PSEG Long Island customers rate options that are simple to understand, easy to compare, and that meet the utility’s current and future needs. They began with a TOU opt-in pilot with the target of enrolling 6,500 customers over the following year.
Research reaffirmed the need for customers to understand “how does this impact me,” leading to the deployment of a rate comparison tool for MyAccount, personalized savings included in direct customer communications, and a “1-Click” no log-in solution to easily select their best rate plan option. Bill designs were enhanced to provide clear and concise information on time of use energy usage and costs. The engagement campaign strategically targeted customers through owned channels such as email, website, direct mail, and video marketing tactics.
Prior to the rate modernization pilot there were few meaningful rate options for customers. Satisfaction with PSEG Long Island’s rates and pricing was low, a significant gap in the customer experience. Full deployment of AMI Smart Meters was concurrently approved to enable the functionality required to modernize rates.
The project team knew that delivering a successful TOU transition requires a significant effort across many departments, and had to meet the specific needs of its customers, which include:
Motivating customers to enroll in and succeed on the new rates required engaging and educating them about what the new rates mean. Significant education and awareness was required to be developed across a wide variety of channels to help customers understand how their usage patterns will affect their bills post-enrollment.
Leveraging design thinking, PSEG Long Island created multiple rate options that met the needs of different customer’s lifestyles, were easy to understand and compare, and helped customers feel comfortable in selecting the right plan for them. They iterated on communications content, worked with GridX to leverage a rate comparison tool to show customers exactly what they could be saving and employed a multi-faceted marketing approach including website and video content, and email awareness, enrollment and nurture campaigns.
PSEG Long Island also integrated their on-premise CIS with the GridX cloud-based billing and rate modeling tool to implement the new rates. Doing so allowed them to deliver a positive customer experience for those that enrolled in the new TOU rate and receive insights into customer bill impacts of the rate designs across their whole population.
Increased Enrollment: Successfully converted nearly 14,000 customers to TOU, more than double the original target
Shifted Load: Customers shifted load, 90% saying they were successful to very successful in doing so.
Bill Savings: Customers saved on average 10% on their bills
Created Digital Resiliency: Marketing effort consistently outperformed benchmark and industry standard engagement metrics.
View all of the results and take a deeper dive into the GridX SCE partnership.