A spark goes off in me when I hear companies say, “That’s not an energy problem.” I would suggest the best innovators and thriving businesses have a simple formula: They recognize a problem, use their distinctive competencies as strengths, and leverage those to find a way to creatively solve a market problem that brings customers back to their product offerings. This is part of the challenge we face in energy efficiency and demand response: A number of companies saturate the market, and yet customers aren’t connecting to the menu of options. In the last decade, energy efficiency and demand side management programs have come a long way in utilities and tech companies, and that progress should be celebrated. Yet simultaneously, I also believe customer trust and an ongoing relationship are built only when the meaning of the product offering is closely linked to customer values. There is a gap in meaningfulness.
What’s the key to creating meaningfulness in a saturated market? What I propose for innovation in energy is not extreme in terms of new solutions or new technology. It’s a push to build compassion and empathy for customers, their struggles, and then think differently about how to solve for them. Things on the surface may not seem like an energy related problem, yet we should ask, “How might we solve this with an energy solution?”
Let’s take a college student – one who works 20-40 hours per week and goes to school either on loans or perhaps a small scholarship. They’re broke, tired, determined, and learning what it’s like to pay their own bills. Each month the student dreads their utility bill, because they feel little control over the outcome, and still the bill comes month after month. Meanwhile, their credit card company easily and digestibly breaks down exactly how they spend their money on a daily, weekly and monthly basis so they know where they’re overspending and how to save. Today this is a real problem for customers in energy use that equates to spend; real-time the students can’t see how they spend their energy at a detailed enough level to be actionable, leaving them feeling a lack of control and inability to budget their spend (energy use). If they’re lucky they have a little savings, or parents who will help financially. If not, perhaps they live on ramen noodles for a week. What if energy products could help solve this problem? What if the landlord took on paying the bill instead, set goals for the student occupant, taught the student to manage their energy use, and split the energy savings with the student at the end of the year? The landlord in theory could keep their costs down, retain responsible student renters, perhaps increase their margin, and the student not only learns how to better manage energy use for their future, but has a stable bill they can count on with perhaps an incentive they can earn.
Let’s take another, less obvious energy example; a single parent saving for holiday presents, a child’s birthday party, or another life event. A problem to solve may be the ability to budget for some customers, and one of their largest bills today may be their energy bill. Though, saving up for a gift is clearly not an energy problem, right? Perhaps. What if it could be solved with an energy solution and simultaneously drove participation in DSM products? What if a customer could sign up for a DSM program that helped them optimize their usage, as well as influence their behavior by seeing where they spend energy, set energy goals, and track if they’re meeting a budget? What if they could pay a budgeted amount and anything under that amount was saved and returned to them in a form of a rebate or gift card? What feels like a program that only benefits the energy company can be turned into a program which feels personal to the customer, and everyone wins – the community with cleaner energy use, the utility in clean energy progress, and most importantly the child and mother who got to celebrate with a gift. An energy solution solved a non-energy problem.
As a financially broke college student, and a child who grew up in a home where money was tight, I’m driven to reach customers like me, and like never before. I understand the stress that comes with life events or celebrations, and also the implications of financial strain on students, parents and children. I’m passionate that if we want to reach populations of customers with cleaner energy solutions for the future, we must make products actionable and meaningful. Selling cleaner, more efficient energy must go beyond the electron and reach the heart.