Date: November 2025

In the high-stakes world of grid reliability, two utilities are proving that bold, multi-channel Behavioral Demand Response (BDR) strategies can deliver big – no matter how high or low the temperature is.


Austin Energy partnered with Oracle in summer 2024 to expand BDR outreach beyond email, adding SMS and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to reach customers when it mattered most. While many utilities hesitated due to TCPA concerns, Austin bet early on multi-channel engagement – and it paid off. Targeting 60,000 high-usage homes, they saw a 60% increase in peak-hour savings despite soaring temperatures, compared to email-only campaigns. IVR alone delivered 1.15% average savings at scale, driving 1.9 MW savings across 15 events and surpassing their 2,002 kW goal by 101%.

As a dual-peaking utility, PSE launched its program in summer 2023 with modest results, but winter 2023-24 was the breakthrough. Adding IVR nearly doubled average savings to 1.1% across six events. Winter 2024-25 delivered 1.06% average savings, peaking at 16 MW and engaging over 540,000 households.


Together, Austin and PSE show how multi-channel BDR – layering email, SMS, and IVR – can reliably shift load in any season. Their pioneering approaches offer a blueprint for utilities facing extreme weather, rising electrification demand, and the urgent need to keep the grid resilient year-round.

Speaker:
Vanessa Richter, Oracle Opower