Welcome to the latest episode of APPA's Public Power Now Podcast.
Our guests on this episode are Brianna Bennett, Sustainability Coordinator at Massachusetts Public Power Utility, Hingham Municipal Light Plant, and Chris Kelly, Vice President at Beam Reach Consulting Group.
They're here to discuss a recently completed case study that shows how HMLP achieves savings through a strategic demand response effort.
The utility partnered with Connected Homes, a demand response program administered by Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company's Next Zero team and powered by a virtual peakers technology platform that communicates with enrolled devices.
When customers enroll eligible smart devices, such as thermostats, mini-split controllers, EV chargers, batteries, and water heaters, the utility gains the ability to automatically ship those devices' energy consumption away from costly peak demand periods.
Brianna and Chris, thanks for joining us.
Brianna, I wanted to start our conversation with you and give you the opportunity to describe the utility's Demand Response Program and also what is Connected Homes and what is the relationship with MMWEC and Virtual Peaker?
Brianna Bennett
HMLP's Demand Response Program is an opportunity for us and our customers to take advantage of the smart Wi-Fi devices that we all have in our homes, put them to use, and shift energy use away from peak hours to create savings for both the utility and the customer.
Customers can earn bill credits for enrolling, like you mentioned before, eligible thermostats, mini-split controllers, EV chargers, EVs, batteries, and water heaters. When we have soaring electricity demand, we can communicate with those devices and reduce our demand, and that allows us to avoid the times when electricity costs the most and when it generates the most emissions.
The program is called Connected Homes, and it's administered by MMWEC’s NextZero team. So MMWEC is the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. They're one of two prominent joint action agencies for public power utilities in Massachusetts that provide support on power purchases and other energy services, the other agency being Energy New England.
MMWEC started their NextZero team as a way to work with MLPs on their energy programs like Demand Response.
So HMLP works with NextZero on what we want the program to look like, how to engage customers, and who's actually earning bill credits. NextZero works with Virtual Peaker, the software platform provider that enables demand response. So Virtual Peaker is the company that's sending all the signals and helping us actually control devices.
Paul Ciampoli
Now, the case study, as you know, shows how joining an established demand response program can deliver immediate value.
Specifically, and this is something that jumped out at me as I was preparing for this interview, within one year of joining the Connected Homes program, HMLP achieved over $70,000 in net avoided transmission and capacity costs after accounting for program expenses.
So what's been the key in terms of the utility achieving the success?
Brianna Bennett
I think there are two factors I can point to. First, NextZero was already running Connected Homes as an established program with other public power utilities in Massachusetts.
NextZero and those utilities are the ones who really paved the way through the initial learning curve of setting up a demand response program.
We didn't have to build the program from scratch or negotiate the deal with Virtual Peaker ourselves, and that really allowed us to hit the ground running so we could just focus on tweaking things where we needed to and marketing the program to our customers.
The second factor was definitely the way we got the word out. We recognized from the start that the only way for us to see savings was to get our customers to actually care and then join the program.
We started by sending letters and emails to all the customers who previously participated in our behavioral EV program to get them enrolled.
That was pretty low-hanging fruit where we leveraged an existing list of customers we knew would be interested so that we could get decent participation right off the bat.
The NextZero team also provides free marketing resources to participants, which allowed us to regularly post about the program on social media, and then we've given out flyers with QR codes to the website and had NextZero talk at our events like the EV Ride and Drive and open house, a heat pump forum, and our board meetings.
So we've had them in the community talking to customers in addition to the standard marketing material.
Paul Ciampoli
Okay, so Chris, what role did Beam Reach Consulting play with respect to this effort?
Chris Kelly
Well, we were involved in helping to kind of capture and crystallize everything that Brianna was talking about here, saw just great value in what HMLP was doing. And so our role really was to just tell the story in a case study that's now been published on Public Power's website.
Paul Ciampoli
Brianna, what have you seen as the most effective ways to engage customers in terms of demand response programs, especially when asking for some level of device control?
Brianna Bennett
When we first launched the program, I got a lot of calls from customers with questions about data privacy, eligible devices, and just how the program works.
Every call and question I got went towards my question of whether customers understand what we're doing and how can we make this easier for them. As we went along, we added things to the webpage and tweaked the marketing and guidelines to try to make the program as engaging as possible.
A lot of customers who were on the fence felt more comfortable once they were able to call us up at the utility and talk through their questions. It is always nice to get a real human on the other end of the phone who will actually listen to you and try to address your issue. I think it was very important that NextZero was available to talk to people and also that HMLP was trained on the program and available.
I was often assuring customers when they called that they have full control over their devices. So we call an event, they can opt out anytime. And if we call a couple of events every month, we're not going to take somebody's credit away if they have to skip one or two. If you need to charge your EV for a big trip and we call an event, you can opt out of that. And that removed a big fear factor for customers. I think they need to know they can trust us, and to that end, we always try to be fully transparent.
It's also just nice that customers don't have to do anything once they sign up. The program's automated, so unless they need to opt out, they just let the devices do their thing and earn credits. And one last point I'll make on engaging customers who reach out but aren't eligible for the program yet based on their device. In our program, certain device brands are listed because the manufacturer -- they have to be willing to participate.
So some customers don't have an eligible thermostat or EV because that manufacturer hasn't opted in yet. And we don't just say sorry and turn those customers away.
In those situations, when the customer reaches out, I take down their information and I keep a list so that if that brand ever joins the program, I know which customers I can reach out to.
And NextZero has been great about working with manufacturers and expanding the program. So I've already had a few customers that I've been able to call back and say, Okay, your device is now in the program. Let's get you enrolled.
And we've recently started a peak alert notification system with NextZero so that even if a customer doesn't have an eligible device, they can still sign up for those alerts on when to reduce their energy consumption.
And then they get text messages or emails. And this is a great way to keep those customers actively engaged and aware of the program until they do end up purchasing an eligible device that will automatically shift that energy load for them.
Paul Ciampoli
And just a quick follow up. I assume you have some sense of in terms of the universe of customers, are there a fair amount of customers that could still be engaged in terms of this effort?
Brianna Bennett
Absolutely. We have a long way to go before we get all of our customers involved with it. The peak alert notification system is going to do a lot of work on that front.
We just started it a couple months ago this year, and I'm still working on how we're going to market that out to people in addition to Connected Homes. But I think that's going to be a great opportunity for all the people who maybe saw it initially and thought, I don't have a smart device in my home, because not everybody does yet.
Paul Ciampoli
Brianna, I wanted to start the next question with you and Chris, once Brianna is done answering, feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
But my question is what strategies help align utility teams and external partners like technology vendors so everyone stays coordinated on demand response programs, you know, and in the case of the utility specifically, what criteria are most important in terms of selecting a vendor?
Brianna Bennett
Well, we looked at a lot of things. For us, we wanted to see that they had a proven record of actually hitting the peaks that are called, flexibility to adjust the program when we need to without extra fees, reports that would clearly show us the participation levels and the avoided costs or value of customer participation to us as the utility, and then responsive customer service and assistance with marketing and events. I think that's the gist of all the factors that I remember us looking at specifically.
Chris, I'm sure you have more you can add.
Chris Kelly
Yeah, thanks, Brianna. From our perspective, you know, working with a number of different utilities, it seems like what works really well is just establishing a shared understanding of the program's purpose and what success looks like. So just as you did with HMLP, really kind of beginning with that end in mind is important.
And what we see is utilities that do this well are explicit about whether their primary objective is reliability or peak reduction, customer engagement, or a combination of these items.
In terms of ongoing alignment, once you're getting rolling with the vendor, we feel that it really is maintained through a predictable operating cadence and a no surprises communication culture.
So as is the case with many utility technology projects, staying on top of communication, regular check-ins that are focused on readiness, enrollments, technology performance, and upcoming decisions help keep everyone coordinated.
And then post-event or post-season reviews are a good way to work with the vendors to make sure that collectively between the utility and the vendor, you're learning and adapting together. We feel that utilities that treat demand response as an operational capability, not just a customer program, and anchor vendor relationships to a clear program roadmap, they're the ones that tend to see a stronger coordination and a better performance.
Paul Ciampoli
So for my last question, again, I'll give both of you the opportunity to weigh in on this question.
Brianna, I'll start with you. For other public power utilities considering a similar program, what's one piece of practical advice that often gets overlooked?
Brianna Bennett
I think as utilities, it's very easy for us to accidentally overcomplicate our energy programs, especially demand response.
I would say don't overcomplicate it. You know, find your partners, make a plan, and then go for it, and be ready to adjust as you go. If you have a program that nobody's using, there's probably a reason for that. So run surveys to figure out whether people have heard of it or not, whether there are specific reasons they're not participating.
Maybe the forms are too hard to fill out, or there aren't enough devices offered, or there's another barrier to entry that you aren't aware of.
So don't give up and don't settle for a program that's not working for your customers because that would be an opportunity missed.
I think as a public power utility, we're owned by our community, so being able to save both the utility and the customer money is just a huge win-win scenario.
And I'm really hopeful that we can keep the momentum going here in Hingham so that more customers can learn about the program and feel like they can take advantage of it too.
Chris Kelly
I echo a lot of those sentiments. I'd say while technology in coordination with the vendor, like we talked about before, needs to work absolutely seamlessly, just like any technology program, stakeholder communication engagement are critical to the success of the project.
A perfect demand response solution provides limited benefit if customers just don't participate.
So we've seen a lot of successes with programs that demonstrate comparative load between customers, like showing your performance during an event, how that compares with your neighbors without providing exact usage details.
But also as a utility, you know, don't be afraid to get creative with your customer outreach, like the folks at HMLP and others that we've seen, and consider resources that provide immediate feedback to customers on their savings or positive environmental impacts, or even how they're helping their neighbors by participating in the program.
Paul Ciampoli
I guess the key takeaway from what both of you said is really launching this program, just the first step, and that it's not static, but rather, you know, a dynamic or flexible process once it's launched, that you've got to stay engaged.
Brianna Bennett
Absolutely.
Paul Ciampoli
Okay. All right, great. Well, thanks again, Brianna and Chris. I really appreciate your taking the time to participate in this episode.
I know our listeners are going to gain a lot of valuable knowledge from what we talked about today. So thanks again.
Brianna Bennett
Of course. Thank you so much, Paul.
Chris Kelly
Paul, it was a pleasure.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero, Graphic and Digital Designer at APPA.
