Date: May 2024

PG&E’s Customer Engagement Platform demonstration project leveraged residential voice-assistant technology (i.e., Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker) as well as mobile telephone app functionality to engage with and educate residential customers on energy usage, PSPS, bill forecasts, and time-of-use (TOU) rates. Pilot objectives included: deployment and refining of the Energy Expert Alexa smart speaker skills and mobile phone application; understanding the effectiveness of the platform to provide information to residential customers; and providing notifications of events of immediate impact to their safety and lives. The evaluation focused on studying participant energy usage changes following usage-related notifications and understanding customer perceptions, interactions, and feedback on usability and features. Participants generally reported that the information they received from the pilot was accurate, useable, and easy to understand. Customers who received High Price notifications exhibited hourly peak-period load reductions that ranged from 3% to 5% that were incremental to impacts attributable to their TOU rate.

Speakers:
Albert Chiu, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Orly Hasidim, Universal Devices
Eric Bell, PhD., Apex Analytics