PLMA: Load Management Dialogues

It has been a wild and wooly year for managing residential demand response programs. In addition to normal program management we have had the additional challenges of our customers and ourselves having to shelter-in-place, as well as the difficulty predicting changes in customer behavior this new normal brings. 

Join the Customer Engagement Interest Group to learn more about challenges your utility peers have faced and some of the approaches they have taken to keep their programs fully subscribed and delivering results while customers’ homes are more fully occupied. Length: 59:11.

A 2025 PLMA Award of Excellence winner, BGE has also emerged as a national leader in EV load management with its Smart Charge Management program (SCM), demonstrating significant results through innovative managed charging techniques. As the first managed charging program of its kind to be scaled into a permanent offering, BGE’s SCM serves as a model for distribution-integrated EV load management for utilities nationwide. With high customer satisfaction rates and well-established cost-effectiveness, BGE secured approval from the Maryland Public Utilities Commission to expand its SCM to a permanent program with a target of 30,000 participants by 2027.

In 2023, Apex Analytics conducted research for the Regional Technical Forum (RTF) to characterize the electric vehicle (EV) market. The study’s goal was to assess the EV market, determine “competition” groups, testing methods, data availability, energy efficiency and DR opportunities, with the end goal to determine the potential for the RTF to develop a new efficiency savings measure. The study was focused on personal, light-duty battery EVs. The study identified two approaches to determining EV efficiency but found significant issues with each thereby limiting the potential for developing a measure.

Industry expert, Doug Houseman, joins PLMA for a deep dive into the critical role to be played in the energy industry by Distribution Systems Operators (DSOs). We’ll explore how DSOs enable DERs, and how DSO business models differ from traditional distribution utility models and why, plus we’ll discuss examples of successful DSOs and how they coordinate DER activity via programs and markets. And, we’ll answer your questions, including why it’s critical we increase flexibility on distribution and transmission systems now, as a path to transitioning the U.S. to a DSO model.

Industry experts, Olivia Patterson and Peter Kelly-Detwiler,  joined PLMA to look out over 2025's potential opportunities and challenges ahead, including:
1. A review of our 2024 predictions and what actually happened
2. All about 2025's Growth in Demand driven by AI, data centers, EVs, + + + 
3. 2025's expected regional energy issues and opportunities
4. Planning ahead for new capacity, innovations, and pricing constructs
5. The role of Flexible Load Management – short-term buffer or long-term solution?
6. Where and how will all the new money flow?

Learn how Evergy created and implemented a strategic plan to transition 550,000 Missouri residential customers to time-based plans in less than one year's time. Evergy had just six months to develop, test, and implement a highly technical, highly complex, multi-channel digital education initiative and ten months overall to begin converting customers. Partnering with Oracle, their plan, implementation, and results were recognized by the Missouri PSC for setting a new standard for utility time-based plan transitions. Join us to learn how they accomplished this transition, and what lessons and best practices were learned by all, as a result.

In October 2022, the government of Ontario in Canada issued a directive to its Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to increase investments in energy efficiency and demand management; the lowest-cost ways of meeting system needs. These increased investments enabled additional demand-side management programming, including the "Save on Energy Peak Perks" program. Close coordination between the IESO, service provider EnergyHub, and partners including ecobee and Renew Home (formerly Google Nest) was essential to delivering rapid scale for the Peak Perks program.

The result? Ontario IESO built Canada’s largest VPP in just six months with the capacity to deliver a peak demand reduction of up to 90 MW, equivalent to taking a mid-sized Canadian city off the grid during peak times. Join us to learn more about how this program was developed and launched so quickly and effectively, as well as its lessons learned.

Avista used Bidgely’s UtilityAI Platform to validate expectations about their EV customers, helping to drive equitable electrification for all, including low income communities. Join us to learn more about how Bidgely helped Avista reduce high-bill-investigation truck rolls by 27% in the first year; improve customer engagement/satisfaction; enhance EV grid planning; and save hundreds of hours of employee workload. The platform also helped Avista’s grid planning teams as they evaluated the impact of EV adoption over time. We'll explore Avista's implementation, results, and lessons learned. 

Keynote presentation by Energy Expert and Author Peter Kelly-Detwiler addressing today's EV managed charging EV challenges and opportunities.

This panel will explore the intricacies of orchestrating electric vehicle managed charging programs and how automakers, electric vehicle supply equipment manufacturers, software providers, and utilities interact and promote effective programs. Drawing from lessons learned and experiences to date, the discussion will focus on managing EV charging to mitigate transformer overloading, avoid feeder upgrades, and improve energy usage across the grid.