Comverge Introduces Residential Customer Engagement Solution

SAN DIEGO -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- DistribuTECH -- Comverge, Inc., the leading provider of Intelligent Energy Management solutions for Residential and Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers, today announced Comverge SmartConsumer™. A comprehensive customer engagement solution, SmartConsumer is an integrated suite of software and services that helps utilities reduce base load by educating and inspiring residential customers to become more energy aware. With the launch of SmartConsumer, Comverge is the first company within the U.S. energy management industry to offer a fully integrated solution that combines the proven demand-side management capabilities of direct load control and dynamic pricing with a customer engagement solution.

“To address complex demand-side management challenges, utilities are increasingly looking for a fully integrated demand response and customer engagement solution,” said R. Blake Young, CEO and President, Comverge. “Customer engagement programs can provide a great starting point for residential energy users looking to focus more on their energy management needs. By adding SmartConsumer to our comprehensive suite of intelligent energy management solutions, Comverge can now deliver an escalating path of customer engagement, starting with tools for behavior modification, which can lead to increased customer participation in proven, long-term load management and conservation programs.”

SmartConsumer is an integrated suite of software and services that help utilities implement energy efficiency programs, increase customer satisfaction and meet regulatory mandates. Comverge has already engaged and recruited 1.2 million customers into direct load control and dynamic pricing programs, via targeted marketing and portal technologies. Comverge’s enhanced SmartConsumer solution provides residential energy customers with a full set of tools to educate and inspire them to lower their energy consumption and also lead them to participate in additional demand-side management programs that appeal to their individual preferences.

SmartConsumer includes the new IntelliSOURCE PowerStory Portal. The Portal helps educate customers about their energy consumption through commonly used consumer devices such as personal computers, smartphones and tablets. Further enhancing the customer experience, SmartConsumer includes services that help optimize customer interactions at key touch points such as bill pay, move in/move out, customer service calls and prior to or during load control events. This is complemented by a real-time measurement and verification system that uses data analysis to better help customers reduce energy use via the delivery of smarter, more meaningful and more accurate tips.

Added Young, “SmartConsumer leverages the knowledge Comverge has developed during the last 30 years helping utilities recruit over a million customers into demand response programs. By combining direct load control, dynamic pricing and customer engagement, SmartConsumer helps utilities of all sizes optimize the cost savings, efficiencies and customer satisfaction benefits of demand-side management programs.”

To support the launch of SmartConsumer, Comverge conducted a consumer survey of more than 1,000 adults from across the U.S. in early January 2013. Among a range of insights into how people want to interact with energy providers, the survey showed consumers increasingly want a single location to manage their energy efficiency and demand response efforts. A full breakdown of the results is available on the Comverge blog at http://intelligentenergytoday.com

Integrated Demand-Side Management Maximizes Impact of Customer Engagement Programs

• Comverge SmartConsumer is fully integrated with the Comverge IntelliSOURCE Demand Response Management System, a comprehensive software platform that enables utilities, grid operators, and commercial and industrial organizations to manage load, optimize distribution system operations and maintain economic control.
• By combining direct load control, dynamic pricing and customer engagement on the IntelliSOURCE platform, Comverge helps utilities enhance customer communications by providing a single view of customers participating in both demand response and customer engagement programs. SmartConsumer is an integrated set of software and services that includes:
  • Comverge IntelliSOURCE PowerStory Portal – Designed with the mobile device in mind, PowerStory Portal is optimized to educate customers about their energy consumption through smartphones and tablets. PowerStory Portal helps utilities empower residential customers to manage energy much more efficiently by providing:
    • Insight into current and historical usage and bills
    • Tailored energy-saving tips, including proactive notifications
    • Usage comparisons against similar customers
    • Goal-setting and tracking applications
    • Device/appliance management
    • Easy options to program thermostats
    • Capabilities to opt out of control events
    • A real-time view into the status of control events
• Comverge IntelliMARKET Service – By analyzing all available customer data, IntelliMARKET enables utilities to increase the impact of customer communications by determining the most appropriate customers to target and the best way to engage them. This insight helps utilities deliver the best possible customer experience by optimizing customer interactions at key touch points such as bill pay, move in/out and customer service calls.

• Comverge IntelliMEASURE Service – A real-time monitoring and verification system, IntelliMEASURE uses data analysis to give customers unique insights into their energy usage, especially at peak times when their load shed contributions are most valuable.

• To learn more about how SmartConsumer can increase energy engagement among utility residential customers and inspire them to use electricity more efficiency, please visit www.comverge.com/SmartConsumer

About Comverge

Comverge delivers a comprehensive suite of intelligent energy management solutions that enable utilities, grid operators, and commercial and industrial organizations to optimize their energy usage in order to reduce costs, meet regulatory requirements, and support sustainability initiatives. With 30 years of experience helping customers implement innovative Demand-Side Management programs, Comverge has deployed more than five and a half million energy management devices, recruited over one million residential customers into mass market demand response programs, and served thousands of commercial & industrial customers. For more information, visit www.comverge.com and follow us on Twitter at @Comverge.

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