http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/05/as-100-percent-renewables-become-the-new-norm-a-new-role-for-utilities-emerges.html
As 100 Percent Renewables Become the New Norm, a New Role for Utilities
Emerges
May 22, 2017
By Indran Ratnathicam
Vice President, Marketing & Strategy, FirstFuel
Portland, Ore., is one of the most recent municipalities to join dozens
of cities and states across the U.S. in pledges to run on 100 percent
renewable energy in the coming decades. Portland is taking a two-step
approach toward its goal: first, the city and county in which it’s
located have committed to work with energy utilities Portland General
Electric (PGE) and Pacific Power to shift the electricity portfolio to
renewable sources by 2035; second, it will eliminate all direct fossil
fuel use, such as vehicle fuels, natural gas and home heating oil.
While Portland prides itself on being environmentally conscious, more
and more government leaders across the country are introducing similarly
aggressive measures — from Midwestern cities such as Chicago and
Madison, Wis., to San Diego and the state of Hawaii.
A similar movement is happening at the corporate level. Leaders of some
of the nation’s biggest companies are adopting 100 percent renewable
purchasing initiatives. Leaders include Walmart, Nike, Nestle,
Salesforce, Microsoft and Facebook, among many others, and are all part
of the global Renewable Energy 100 Initiative. Per RE100’s 2016 annual
report, the 90 companies in the program were, on average, already
halfway to reaching their goal. Salesforce even accomplished its aim to
achieve net zero carbon emissions across its global footprint by 2050, a
whopping 33 years earlier than anticipated. Now that’s some serious
momentum.
Wind and solar are among the most popular renewable energy sources, and
companies are putting significant dollars behind adopting and expanding
these programs. Wind has blown its way to the top of the list of
renewables with record growth in 2016, according to the American Wind
Energy Association (AWEA). The growth is due in part to large-scale
corporate initiatives such as General Motor’s (GM) wind-powered
Arlington, TX assembly plant and 7-Eleven’s plan to power most of its
Texas stores with wind energy beginning in 2018. Joining the likes of GM
and 7-Eleven, as well as Facebook and Home Depot in wind energy
investments, Apple recently announced that a soon-to-be-built wind farm
in Oregon will power one of its data centers, which is located about 130
miles away. This is Apple’s largest renewable energy investment to date.
Given government organizations and corporations make up most of a
utility’s customer base — business customers make up more than 50
percent of typical utility revenues — the shift to renewable energy
sources has prompted utilities to expand the services they offer their
business customers. In order to meet evolving customer needs, such as
helping business customers procure large amounts of renewable energy to
replace fossil energy from the grid, utilities need to adapt to become
trusted energy advisers and partners. Their knowledge of electricity
purchasing makes them the best positioned — and in some cases, the only
suitable partner — to take on this new challenge.
Customers don’t just appreciate personalized and custom energy services;
they expect them. Accenture recently found that 92 percent of energy
consumers would be more satisfied with their energy provider if they
personalized their communications and engagement. As more energy
sourcing options become available, business customers need expert
guidance in order to cut through the clutter of what’s the current trend
to what’s best for their individual business.
With customers making their demands heard loud and clear, utilities are
being forced into new territory — and, in some cases, are being pushed
back onto their heels. According to a recent Navigant study, 52 percent
of utility executives name increasing customer satisfaction and Net
Promoter scores (NPS) as their top customer service business goal, but
confidence in their own ability to deliver on this goal is low, ranging
from six percent to 24 percent. While utilities may still be working on
solutions for emerging customer needs, the reality is that existing
tools, put to work more effectively, could put them closer than they think.
Utilities have a tremendous tool in the form of years of energy use
data. Together with deep data analytics — correlated with data on
temperature, sun and wind patterns — these are tools utilities can use
to help customers better understand their energy options, and identify
which solutions are the best fit for their specific needs.
This data-driven capability can be especially valuable, for instance, as
utilities field more and more questions from customers about clean and
renewable energy options. With demand increasing for new solutions,
utilities have an opportunity to take a proactive role in their
customers’ energy planning by providing a full portfolio of options
tailored to specific and well-understood historical energy usage.
The result can be a win-win for both customer and utility. With guidance
from utilities, the customer can end up with a better portfolio of
energy resources than it would select on its own. The utility, in turn,
can limit customer defections and increase satisfaction, while gaining
greater insight into decisions that directly affect system resource
planning and reliability.
Taking a cue from PGE, Pacific Power and the City of Portland, utilities
should seize the opportunity to work closely with their customers and
use data to ease the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.
They can do this by leveraging their deep understanding of customers’
energy use to recommend the best and most cost-efficient ways to reach
their sustainability goals.
Existing data and relationships with local businesses and governments
puts utilities in prime position to deliver insights, educate and
advise. If they commit to a deep level of customer engagement, they will
cement their position as key partners for their customers as the energy
landscape changes in the years and decades ahead.
