Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative

“Secc membership is open to all smart grid stakeholders including consumer and environmental advocacy organizations, technology providers, academic and research labs, and electric utilities for sharing in research, best practices, and the collaborative effort of the group.”

“Prior to the annual meeting of the members, each founding member shall have the right to designate one member of the board of directors, to remove the director designated by that founding member, and in the event such director is removed (by that founding member or by the board), resigns, or otherwise ceases to be a director, to designate a successor director, as set forth in the by-laws.”

“The organization conducts a review session for the form 990 that includes the finance committee, president/ceo, cfo and interested board members.”

“The organization monitors and enforces compliance with the conflict of interest policy through annual board questionnaires and reviews.”

“Independent board members review and approve compensation for the president/ceo and top management to ensure that no more than the fair market value is paid for such services.”

“The irs determination letter, articles of incorporation, bylaws, 990 filing and financial records are available to any member of the public upon request.”

“Smart energy consumer collaborative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to serve as a trusted source of information on consumer's views of grid modernization, energy delivery and usage, and to help consumers understand the benefits of smart energy.”

“Research: in 2018, secc released five pieces of research seeking to better understand smart energy consumers - their perceptions, attitudes and needs - and then leverage this understanding to formulate actions that utilities and other energy service providers can take to better serve and engage with their customers in addition to five additional customer engagement case studies. Through a volunteer-based research committee, members helped shape secc's research agenda, reviewed detailed findings and discussed the implications and presentation of those findings. Secc released the most current version of its annual 2018 state of the consumer report, a synthesis of our 2017 research that provides six key takeaways for electricity providers and other industry stakeholders on the state of the utility-customer relationship today. Secc released its consumer platform of the future report, a groundbreaking examination of emerging energy technologies primarily focused on consumer interest in digital energy platforms. The report, developed from three research inputs: four consumer focus groups, 16 in-depth interviews with high-level energy industry executives and an online consumer survey with about 1,300 respondents, also included a companion consumer platform of the future: industry insider perspectives white paper, co-authored by secc and the smart electric power alliance, which looked at the current state of digital platforms for energy, including online marketplaces and energy usage data tools. Secc released its understanding your smb customers: a segmentation approach report, which unveils a multitude of opportunities for electricity providers to engage small and medium-sized business (smb) customers in energy efficiency programs and smart energy products and services. Secc released its spotlight on low-income consumers: revisiting their needs and wants report, which unveils key characteristics of low-income residential energy customers and provides recommended steps for customer engagement and program design. Secc released its data analytics: unlocking the consumer benefits report, which reveals residential energy consumers' interests and attitudes regarding their energy data and provides recommendations for electric utilities and other stakeholders on how to utilize these findings to improve program design and maximize consumer engagement. Finally, secc released five new smart grid customer engagement success stories covering colorado springs utilities, ameren illinois, commonwealth edison, direct energy and oklahoma gas & electric company. Each case study spotlights how smart meters or smart grid deployments by these utilities have engaged consumers to enable them to match the energy they use with their needs and lifestyles. Colorado springs utilities developed a comprehensive customer engagement campaign to unite the city's unique community - including both local businesses and residential customers - around the wise use of energy and water. They are a consistent top-performer in customer service according to j.d. Power and are national leaders in reliability, with power on an average 99.991 percent of the time. Ameren illinois developed one of the nation's first utility-scale microgrids at its technology applications center, a testbed facility adjacent to the university of illinois campus in champaign, illinois, to prepare for changes coming to the energy ecosystem. Commonwealth edison developed a targeted campaign geared toward increasing the awareness and adoption of smart thermostats. The campaign also drove customers to a dedicated website where customers could access rebates and purchase smart appliances, smart thermostats and more to help improve customer engagement in energy efficiency. Direct energy updated and digitized its neighbor-to-neighbor bill assistance program with the help of austin, texas-based gridmates, to help address energy poverty in the state of texas. The company aims to give customers choice, simplici”

“Education: in 2018, secc continued to produce educational resources and deliverables. Through a volunteer-based education and outreach committee, members worked together to improve consumer awareness and understanding of modernized electrical systems by recognizing smart energy success, expanding available resources to stakeholders and amplifying the smart energy benefits message to consumers nationwide. Secc launched a new best practices awards program, as a successor to the clear awards, that identified leadership from energy providers shifting toward a more consumer-focused energy ecosystem. The first five winners of the new awards - ameren illinois, centerpoint energy, commonwealth edison, direct energy and colorado springs utilities - were recognized at the 2018 consumer symposium in san antonio, texas. The awards program focuses on real-life examples of customer engagement and education success and provides a blueprint for other electricity providers (and their industry partners) to follow. Secc also hosted a series of five free peer connect webinars concerning topics ranging from 2018 best practices awards, distributed energy's effect on consumers and the grid, a roadmap for a clean, modern electric grid, how dynamic rate design affects consumers and 2018 consumer trends: maximizing engagement. Each webinar covered smart energy and consumer related topics featuring speakers from stakeholders with expertise in that specific subject. Additionally, speakers answered questions and engaged in discussion about each topic. Utilizing the six themes from the 2018 state of the consumer report, secc published an in-depth maximizing consumer benefits white paper that provided real-life examples of customer engagement success from electricity providers across the country of who is getting customer engagement right. Secc created a toolkit of consumer-facing fact sheets pared with a video covering the evolving world of energy, which aimed to educate consumers on innovations - both near-term and forward-looking - on how we get, pay for and use energy. The how we get energy fact sheet covered the more flexible, sustainable ways that consumers will receive energy in the coming years, the how we pay for energy fact sheet focused on the new ways that consumers are monitoring and paying for the energy they use and the how we use energy covered new ways that consumers will manage and use energy in their daily lives. The video utilized a professor energy narrator and engaging animations to cover the topics from each of the fact sheets. Secc also created a longer form, fact-based electric vehicles: how much do you know? Guide for consumers that deepened the education and learning opportunity on electric vehicles. The guidebook explored and dispelled common misconceptions with electric vehicles while illustrating benefits and new opportunities with electric vehicles. Secc continued enhancing materials on its consumer-facing website, www.whatissmartgrid.org by adding 12 featured articles on timely topics relevant to consumers including three things you may not know about electric vehicles, three ways to be smarter about energy this holiday season and 5 tips for making your house an energy saving smart home. These articles educated the consumer on energy efficient opportunities while avoiding industry jargon and keeping in mind the needs of the consumer. Secc also engaged with consumers on a variety of platforms daily; largely through facebook with multiple postings a day including both original content from the blogs or pertinent news articles about the shifting world of energy.”

“Collaboration: during 2018, secc membership continued to grow, from 143 at the end of 2017 to 148 at the end of 2018, including technology vendors and consultants, energy providers and affiliates indicating the value in the research and educational materials produced as well as the collaboration facilitated. Secc presented at 23 conferences and workshops across the country. To further the reach of secc's research and educational materials, secc released 10 media centered press releases. In addition, secc was featured in over 51 articles in trade media. Secc continued to collaborate among stakeholders including issuing a monthly e-newsletter and five additional president's post blog posts from secc's president & ceo patty durand on topics like where do smbs fit into the smart energy future? Secc continued a consistent social media presence on twitter, facebook, linkedin and youtube. Throughout 2018, secc also continued the weekly smart grid: above the fold, a newsletter that kept members and non-members abreast of smart energy and consumer industry news and trends. Secc also hosted two in-person events in 2018 including an eight annual consumer symposium: transforming the customer relationship open to the public and the seventh annual members meeting and fall workshop where members focused on discussing the most pertinent issues in smart energy today and planning future secc initiatives for 2019. Both events featured a diverse group of stakeholders and many engaging panels. In support of secc's research releases, secc provided five publically available research brief webinars covering each study including consumer platform of the future, 2018 state of the consumer, understanding your smb customers, spotlight on low-income consumers and data analytics: unlocking the consumer benefits. Each webinar provided topic-oriented experts speaking to the findings of research and its implications as well as action steps for opportunities within the industry. Additionally, speakers answered questions and engaged in discussion about each topic.”