Through a group purchasing program for joint action agencies, Apogee Interactive’s acclaimed Energy Advisor online energy audit and digital engagement platform is now available to public power utilities of all sizes and budgets.
Group Discount Program for Joint Action Agencies
Apogee is the exclusive Customer Engagement partner of Hometown Connections, Inc., public power’s national utility services organization.
Customer Engagement, Education and Satisfaction
Featuring award-winning consumer education tools and marketing resources, Apogee’s Energy Advisor platform lets customers profile their home in a matter of minutes then see a detailed analysis of its energy use with dollarized savings recommendations. Customers can then drill down into specific home systems to learn more, make comparisons, and ultimately make better decisions about their lighting, heating, cooling, water heating, electric vehicle and appliance options.
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Benefits Include
- Fewer billing inquiries as customers better understand their energy bills
- Call center staff use the applications to quickly and confidently answer callers’ questions
- Use by energy auditors streamlines onsite time and builds credibility
- Improved customer satisfaction from customers seeing the utility helping them
- Lower cost from targeted program promotion producing higher participation
- Increased customer appreciation for being served by a community-owned utility
- And imaging: For utilities surrounded by larger investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, or municipal systems that offer customers the Energy Advisor platform, smaller cities too can now offer the highest rated energy analysis applications to customers.
Utility Program Promotion
While boosting satisfaction by helping customers lower their bills and better manage their energy use, the Energy Advisor platform also provides an ongoing communication channel for promoting revenue enhancing programs like EVs, heat pumps, and alternate rates.
Options with Utility Branding
Energy Advisor is a software platform that is easy for utilities to deploy. Featuring the logo and branding of each participating utility, Energy Advisor presents a package of solutions for engaging customers with consistent messaging and information.
Package Includes
Energy Advisor Online Home Audit
- Customers take a few minutes to answer roughly 10 multiple-choice questions profiling their home, then click Submit.
- The analysis engine runs combining the home profile information with billing rates and local weather computing where energy is being used monthly and annually in the home.
- Multiple scenarios are run to determine the best money saving options and results are presented on a Recommendations page that explains what to do and how much that action will save.
- Utility field personnel can use this same online audit when visiting customer homes.
- Utility customer service representatives view the same audit information on screen, making customer interactions more efficient and effective.
Online Special Purpose Calculators
The Joint Action Agency can choose up to four online calculators:
- Appliance
- Clothes Dryer
- Cooking
- Electric Vehicle
- Lighting
- Phantom Load
- Space Heater
- Television
- Water Heater
Customers click through and evaluate specific brands/models for purchase, e.g., Tesla Model 3 versus Chevrolet Volt.
Online Videos
Joint Action Agency selection of four high-quality video messages that can be posted on the website and shared through social media, email, and/or text on these topics:
- Electric Vehicle
- Heating Comparison
- Lighting
- Energy Advisor
- Holiday Lights
- Clothes Dryer
Marketing Resources
Apogee works with utility staff to provide a variety of marketing materials:
- Camera-ready brochures, flyers, and bill inserts
- Website banners and ads
- Social media content
- Email promotions
- Press releases
- Blog posts
Personal Contact
An Apogee Account Manager is assigned to oversee project set-up, refine campaigns throughout the year, review quarterly use analytics, and provide training.
Engagement Platform Delivers for Small Cities
Apogee CEO, Susan Gilbert shared, “We have long recognized the challenge of serving small cities where staffing and technical resources are in short supply. With the help of our business partner, Hometown Connections, we have constructed a compelling offering that puts participating public power companies on the same footings as the nearby investor-owned utilities with sophisticated energy analysis applications and marketing resources at their finger tips.”
According to Tim Blodgett, President and CEO of Hometown Connections, “Because 75% of public power serves fewer than 5,000 meters, Hometown Connections is eager to help our vendor partners scale their innovative offerings to meet the needs and match the resources of smaller utilities. We selected Apogee as our exclusive Customer Engagement Partner due to the creativity and ingenuity of their consumer energy products, their responsiveness to the needs of utilities of all sizes, and their eagerness to serve public power organizations.”
An Apogee user for more than 5 years, Phil Bisesi, Supervisor of Residential Energy Services for ElectriCities of North Carolina, said, “We have been pleased with both Apogee’s product offering, Energy Advisor, and appreciate their strong customer service ethic. Their product presents well to our membership and their customers, and their staff proactively reaches out to make sure we satisfied.”
Another longtime Apogee client, Connie Ford, Deputy Vice President of Member Services for the Missouri Public Utility Alliance shared, “Smaller utilities don’t often get volume pricing discounts, so many customer service tools are not an option. Our Apogee subscribing member utilities can provide better customer service by educating their customers about energy efficiency. The outreach materials provided by Apogee are an invaluable tool in marketing the product.”
Early Adopter Pricing Available through June 30, 2020
For a demonstration of the JAA Energy Advisor offering and more information, contact:
Jim Hunter, jhunter@apogee.net , 404-702-4001.
About Apogee
Apogee Interactive, Inc. is a woman-owned business and one of the nation’s leading full-service provider of proactive customer engagement SaaS services for utilities. As an industry partner since 1993, Apogee’s digital engagement platform delivers proactive, targeted, relevant, and personalized communication for hundreds of North American utilities, including some of the largest and most progressive, such as Southern Company, ConEd, LADWP, and Jackson EMC. For more information visit www.apogee.net or on LinkedIn.
About Hometown Connections, Inc.
Hometown Connections, Inc. is a national, non-profit utility services organization specializing in the unique challenges facing community-owned utilities. For more than 20 years, our expert team has helped over 900 utilities to modernize their processes and systems. Hometown Connections works with utilities of all sizes, facilitating access to technology and services from industry-leading companies and consultants. Hometown offers solutions to develop each area of the utility business: operations, cybersecurity, business strategy, customer care, finance, and workforce. Visit www.hometownconnections.com.