Customer Acquisition Support
Description
New York State utilities are partnering with distributed energy resource (DER) providers to leverage the relationships utilities have with their customers to help these companies target and sell their solutions. REV Connect is facilitating innovative ideas and business models that focus on this form of partnership to reduce acquisition costs for DER providers, share profits between utilities and vendors, and offer new products and services to utility customers.
Possible utility partnership opportunities could include:
- Leveraging utilities’ distribution and communication channels to market third-party DER solutions such as solar, residential and small business-scale energy storage, and renewable electricity supply from energy service companies (ESCOs)
- Brokering customer information to effectively target DER solutions on behalf of third parties including demand response (DR) programs, energy load curtailment, and other targeted products and services
Utility-Specific Interests
| Utility | Propose Ideas Via | Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Central Hudson | REV Connect | Interested in ways to help CDG developers and ESCOs identify and acquire customers via the CenHub customer marketplace (see Utility Profiles for more information) |
| Con Edison | REV Connect | Interested in ideas that help Con Edison monetize this channel to customers to help adoption of DER |
| NYSEG and RG&E | REV Connect | NYSEG has a community-based project connecting customers in the Ithaca area to solar providers as part of its NYSEG Smart Solutions project (see Utility Profiles for more information) |
| National Grid | N/A | Not currently seeking partners for customer acquisition support |
| O&R | REV Connect | Interested in ideas that help O&R monetize this channel to customers, including the potential to help community DG providers identify and inform low-to-moderate (LMI) customers about programs and solutions |
REV Context
New York is broadly seeking to increase the adoption of DER. In many cases, the largest barrier and highest cost component for DER providers are the acquisition costs they incur from identifying, pursuing, and signing up customers. The evolving distributed system platforms (DSPs) created through REV will capture the type of data DER providers need to more effectively identify and acquire customers who value their solutions.
The New York utilities deployed several programs and partnerships to test this customer acquisition model as part of their REV demonstration projects, particularly in their energy marketplaces. Examples of REV demonstrations focused on customer acquisition include:
- Con Edison’s Building Energy Efficiency Marketplace
- National Grid’s Demand Reduction Project in Clifton Park
- NYSEG and RG&E’s Community Energy Coordination demonstration
New York utilities have the opportunity to earn new revenue—known as platform service revenues (PSRs)—because customer acquisition support is a value-added service. Utilities can also propose and earn shareholder performance incentives—known as earnings adjustment mechanisms (EAMs)—for increasing customer engagement, energy efficiency achievement, and DER adoption.
Resources
For more information, see:
- REV Connect Utility Profiles: Provide summaries of existing REV demonstrations with customer acquisition components, including:
- Con Edison
- National Grid
- NYSEG and RG&E