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HomeBreaking Down the Barriers

The Home Energy Efficiency Survey Program

Client: Southern California Edison
Location: SCE territory

Challenge/Business Need

CSG client Southern California Edison (SCE) wished to deliver energy efficiency to hard-to-reach customers. These customers were often unaware of or lacked access to the available energy efficiency programs due to language and economic barriers.

CSG’s ROLE

SCE asked CSG to craft a long-term program to effectively reach these customers. To meet this challenge, CSG designed the Home Energy Efficiency Survey (HEES) program which included:

  • Creating a simple, yet effective telephone survey that would resonate with this target audience
  • Conducting in-home energy surveys in specific neighborhoods with hard-to-reach customers
  • Providing support to broaden the program to two additional utility company territories

COMMUNITY BENEFITS:

  • Raised the energy awareness of thousands of customers
  • Brought residential efficiency programs to hard to reach customers
  • Provided important transitional program support

RESULTS:

  • 90% of the program participants took action to reduce energy use
  • HEES program eventually expanded to include customers of two other utilities

Strategy & goals

CSG developed a plan for telephone and in-home survey delivery for single- and multifamily residences in SCE territory. This included a:

  • Strong delivery system with a compelling promotion and outreach component
  • Customer Contact Center based in Victorville, CA with multilingual staff
  • Detailed timeline for achieving specific SCE performance goals

CSG’s plan addressed specific market barriers such as language, lack of awareness or disinterest. Each customer received individual attention and information on how their bill translates into actual energy usage, as well as key recommendations for ways to conserve energy. Additionally, customers received information on other relevant SCE programs.

Impact

CSG shared many quick and easy ways for the targeted group to reduce energy consumption. These recommendations ranged broadly from installing energy efficient shower heads to replacing or cleaning AC filters. The positive results included:

  • Tens of thousands of customers were reached over a 10 year period, including two years of in-home surveys
  • 90 percent of program participants took action to reduce their energy use, compared with 68 percent of the general population
  • 92 percent of HEES participants were satisfied with the process

CSG Contacts

Joan Medeiros, National Contact Center Manager
Aubrey Dayton, Victorville, CA Contact Center Supervisor

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