Gain key insights from a 17th PLMA Award-winning initiative for Program Pacesetter.

Arizona Public Service (APS) has implemented programs that reimagine the relationship between a utility and distributed energy resources (DERs) and that will be instrumental in its commitment to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050. APS uses EnergyHub’s Mercury DERMS platform to dynamically manage a portfolio of grid-edge assets including thermostats, batteries, water heaters, and solar inverters for an array of grid services. APS leverages DERs for peak demand reduction, load shifting and renewables matching, solar management, and advanced load and capacity forecasting. Services are available year round, multiple times a day, unlike event-based calls for DR. They have implemented these programs with both bring-your-own and direct install models. APS has evolved from a DERMS early-adopter to a pioneer of a customer-centric approach to managing the grid.

Speakers:
Tom Hines, APS
Renée Guillory, APS
Ben Bunker, EnergyHub
Brett Feldman, Guidehouse Insights, PLMA Award Co-Chair

For decades, there has been the promise of time-differentiated and dynamic pricing for electricity consumers, yet we are still far from reaching that elusive goal. This disconnect between price signals and marginal costs has complicated efforts to modulate system peaks and fill the duck curve’s belly. At the same time, customers do not tend to desire more complex rates, being comfortable with their traditional flat rate despite the fact they don’t know what a kilowatt hour is. But now, with smart meters and technologies to help customers manage energy use like never before, how can we greatly boost pricing success in the decade to come?

Come hear two energy experts,  Ahmad Faruqui of The Brattle Group, and Bill LeBlanc of E Source,discuss how some utilities are succeeding with TOU, Demand, and even dynamic pricing, where the barriers are today, and how to design pricing options that customers actually understand and want.

Join our guests Julie Michals of E4TheFuture and Michael Brown of NV Energy.  Learn how E4TheFuture is partnering with DOE to offer guidance on how cost effectiveness testing can include the impacts of flexible load management, to include demand response and distributed energy resources. Julie will offer insights from “The National Standard Practice Manual (NSPM)” published in 2017 with a focus on cost-effectiveness assessment of energy efficiency, and which is actively being expanded to address a range of DERs including Demand Response. She will also share experience with the state use of the NSPM to date, and early learnings from the draft NSPM for DERs, a project co-funded by US DOE and forthcoming in summer 2020.

Please join our presenters:

• David Nemtzow, DOE
• Mary Ann Piette, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Teja Kuruganti, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Allison Hamilton, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

Discover how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Building Technologies Office is expanding its research to validate grid-interactive efficient buildings as a grid resource. Gain insights regarding key findings on grid-interactive efficient buildings research and future opportunities.

The dialogue will focus on a significant investment planned by DOE in Connected Communities. As used here, the term Connected Community is a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings with diverse, flexible end use equipment that collectively work to maximize building and grid efficiency without compromising occupant needs and comfort. The goal of a proposed Funding Opportunity Announcement is to demonstrate the ability of groups of efficient buildings to provide additive benefits to the electricity system and building owners including energy savings, peak demand reduction, reduced capacity needs, and cost savings. DOE intends to expand its initial set of smart community testbeds into a larger cohort of regional pilot projects to study a variety of building types, technologies, and business models in varied utility regulatory environments, climates, and locations.

Join the Customer Engagement Interest group as we explore residential behavioral DR techniques currently employed across various utilities. We’ll have Baltimore Gas and Electric speaking about their large scale Peak-Time Rebate program, Arizona Public Service giving us insights on their award-winning Smart Thermostat program, and discover how CPS Energy engages over 300,000 customers in Behavioral Demand Response through friendly competition.

In a large missed opportunity to boost power grid flexibility and benefit customers, relatively few US utilities have programs that fully integrate energy efficiency and demand response, according to ACEEE’s recently published review of 44 utility portfolios. Program administrators typically have approached and implemented energy efficiency (EE) and demand response (DR) programs separately. While the benefits and value of integrated EE/DR programs have long been recognized, ACEEE’s recent research shows that most customer programs still are not integrated. In this presentation Dan York will present results from ACEEE’s review, which characterizes the landscape of integrated EE/DR programs in the US. York also will provide examples of successful programs and discuss how they have overcome challenges to integration.

Join this discussion about implications for load management practitioners from Utility Dive's Annual Industry Survey.

This webcast presents industry insights, buzz from the recent Consumer Electronics Show and new consumer and industry research from Parks Associates, including adoption of smart home products, new partnerships, and deployment of new programs by utilities.

Join us to learn more about the exciting and unique opportunities utilities have to provide their customers with products and services while meeting program goals and deepening customer relations.

A growing number of utilities have launched or are considering online marketplaces aiming to engage customers effectively in an era of increasing online service offerings. Marketplaces offer customers a unique opportunity to purchase products or select services from their trusted energy advisor through a utility branded website. These marketplaces can be dynamic platforms that offer instant rebates, coupons, or promotional code-based discounts, while integrating with utility back end systems to verify customer program eligibility. In addition, the utility can introduce customers to new, innovative, and emerging products or services that customers won’t see in traditional retail outlets, and provide easy enrollment at the same time.

Women in Demand Management Interest Group Survey & Discussion
The Group Co-chairs want your input about the PLMA Women in Demand Management Interest Group, even if you are not a member or a woman. The survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Women-in-DM-2019-Survey will take less than 3 minutes to complete. Individual responses are confidential. Please encourage your fellow PLMA members to respond to this survey. The survey results will be shared during the October 23 webcast.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, women constitute only 21.4% of the utilities workforce. Join this Women in Demand Management Group Discussion to hear the results of our 2019 survey and discuss our priorities for 2020. All are welcome - we want your questions and suggestions, and are seeking volunteers to work with us on an expanded schedule of activities. This is the perfect time to get in on the action: our next session will be at the 40th PLMA Fall Conference in St. Petersburg.