Texas public power utility Austin Energy has been honored with the Consumer Education Award for overhauling the Solar 101 education course to be more user-friendly and to combat solar misinformation, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) announced on Feb. 2.
SECC is a nonprofit organization that studies consumer behaviors, interests and concerns in the energy transition.
SECC’s Best Practices Awards -- now in their ninth year -- recognize leadership from electricity providers in the United States and Canada in the transition to a smarter, more consumer-focused energy ecosystem. The awards highlight programs that have proven to deliver considerable benefits to residential or small and medium-sized business (SMB) utility customers.
"Austin Energy is proud to provide next level consumer education to our customers," said Tim Harvey, Austin Energy Director of Customer Renewable Solutions. "Our new content and platform is streamlined, more accessible and user friendly. We are committed to continual improvement in service to our community, and this effort helps our customers stay informed, leading to better experiences."
The other award recipients were:
• Evergy has been honored with the Smart Energy Innovation Award for moving beyond traditional demand response and meeting grid challenges with the Grid Resiliency program.
• PSEG Long Island has been recognized with the Consumer Engagement Award for successfully transitioning nearly a million residential customers to the Time-of-Day rate.
• SaskPower has been honored with the Energy Equity Award for helping First Nations communities address energy affordability challenges and improve home comfort with the Northern First Nations Home Retrofit Program.
• NB Power has been recognized with the SMB Engagement Award for helping businesses navigate economic uncertainty and save money on their energy expenses through a hands-on walkthrough and rebate program.
The winners will be featured throughout the year in webinars, case studies and other content at smartenergycc.org.
Nominations for the 10th annual awards will open in the summer of 2026.
Past winners of SECC’s Best Practices Awards include a wide variety of providers in the United States and Canada, including Xcel Energy, SMUD, CPS Energy, Con Edison, Consumers Energy, London Hydro and Puget Sound Energy. For the first time, four recipients – Austin Energy, Evergy, NB Power and PSEG Long Island – are repeat winners of the Best Practices Awards.
