Creating the energy experience of the future – today

How we live, work, and interact with energy is constantly changing at an ever-increasing pace. The majority of this change is coming in the form of societal demands to deal with non-renewable energy sources, global warming, and continued energy demand growth with simultaneously tightening supplies. If we break things down on a macro level, the five most critical issues facing the energy industry today are increasingly complex regulations, the environment, aging infrastructure, finance, and workforce management.

The day-to-day expectations of your customers – and how you can deliver on them

These issues are forcing providers to update their long-term strategies and seek out innovative ideas to reinvent their businesses and the offerings they can bring customers. But where do you even start in addressing these larger macro trends? A good place might be a breakdown on a micro level – the day-to-day behavior and touchpoints of your customers. So, let’s look at a day in the life of your future customer, their expectations, and how you can deliver on them.

If we put ourselves in the shoes of utility customer Lucy, what does her experience look like – and what does she want from her utility provider on a daily basis?

It’s been a relatively typical day for Lucy so far. However, as she’s driving home after a long day, she’s a bit concerned about the blackening sky filling with thunder clouds. This morning, she glanced at the gloomy forecast push notification from her utility provider’s app and knew it could be an interesting ride back. The air is getting humid as winds are picking up speed and light showers are falling on her windshield. So, she immediately opens the monitoring tool in the same app to check up on the conditions at home. Indeed, everyone is in the house safe and sound, but the home temperature has decreased, and the entertainment system power outlet has automatically been shut off by the utility provider. This is a precaution taken when the barometer plunges – just in case power surges from lightning strikes penetrate the premises and damage any sensitive electronics.

Your applications function as a window into how your customers work, live, and interact with your energy services as a whole

The utility’s home automation system is what she depends on to monitor and control power flow and energy consumption from her appliances, lighting, entertainment, and security systems. This is based on pre-set conditions she’s programmed on the smart home web portal. While behind the scenes, Lucy’s smart meter monitors energy usage and broadcasts it periodically over an encrypted, wireless mesh network to her utility provider’s nearest hub.

As she’s about to get off the highway, she sees a wind turbine farm in the distance and notices their long blades turning at a high rate of speed. Winds are now increasing to gust velocity. Just a few miles from home, she sees a lightning bolt hit a tree in the distance. Lucy watches as the top half of a large tree falls toward the road and slices through overhead power lines. The resulting flashes of light and sparks immediately cause a power outage. Fortunately, no one was in the path of the tree as it lies harmlessly across the road, blocking her way.

Pulling over on the shoulder for safety, she contacts the hydro company contact center via the chat function within the app and reports what she witnessed, providing exact GPS coordinates from her in-car navigation system. Her next call is home to her husband to check if all is well. He reports that they lost power briefly and it came back on within a matter of minutes – albeit with the air conditioning completely turned off. Lucy then checks the in-home display, which shows that the power was out for only four minutes and that the utility provider turned off the air conditioning unit to conserve power and redeploy it to another affected neighborhood. Fortunately, the stored energy from the rooftop solar panels powered the battery backup emergency lights in the house during the outage.

Feeling comforted that everyone is safe; Lucy waits in her hybrid car until the deluge of rain subsides and turns around to head down an alternate road. Just as she’s turning left, a hydro company repair truck and lineman crew travel in the direction of the fallen tree to deal with the danger.

Introducing ADMnext for Electric Utilities: Enhancing of how we work, live, and interact with energy as a whole

This day is only a glimpse of the future possibilities for an advanced power transmission and distribution network. A comprehensive offer like ADMnext for Electric Utilities can help the energy providers of the future make each of the above smooth touchpoints a reality with the integration of Smart Grid, Smart Metering and Smart Home (Smart Energy). Our mission is to enable the enhancement and progress of how we work, live, and interact with energy as a whole – and deliver the following benefits to your business:

• Reliable electricity services at affordable prices in a world of increasing grid complexity
• Improved process efficiency with up to 90% faster billing execution time
• Increased customer satisfaction ratings from 70% to 90%
• Full cybersecurity and data breach defense
• Cutting-edge smart grid transitions
• 30-50% reductions in total cost of ownership
• Strategic, proactive regulatory compliance.

So, if you think it’s time to bring this potential to your customers – and solidify your place as an energy leader in the future – contact me here to get started. And in the meantime, to learn more about ADMnext for Utilities and what we can do for your business, visit us here.

Charles Cote

Expert in Architecture Capability Development, Strategy and Visioning

I lead business-driven enterprise transformation programs using structured methods and frameworks that deliver proven results through use of creative, innovative techniques and solutions.