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Utility products & services: Energy efficiency efforts receiving most emphasis

Utility products & services: Energy efficiency efforts receiving most emphasis

ATLANTA - Programs that help customers save money or feel good about helping the environment are most likely to be reported by utilities as having more enrollments than any other utility-offered product or service. For example, load management, such as air conditioner cycling – mentioned most often as having the most enrollments – can have participation rates as high as 48%, with the average participation rate of the 24 utilities reporting data being 8.7%. Other popular products and services for residential customers include energy audits, energy efficiency rebates and financing. These are among Chartwell’s many findings in its latest products and services study, based on interviews with 76 investor-owned, government-owned and cooperative electricity and gas providers.

Also reported in Residential Products & Services Data Summary & Report 2006, some of the products and services that utilities describe as being most profitable – such as surge protection and warranty programs – also are said to have the most enrollments.

In addition to discussing the rates at which utilities offer, are planning to offer or have discontinued 20 different products/services, the report examines customer participation rates, prices and other issues surrounding select products like green energy, flat bill, maintenance agreements, and broadband over power lines.

Chartwell has been conducting utility surveys regarding products, services and programs since 1997, allowing Chartwell analysts to report on trends in the growth or decline of various products and services. For example, the rate at which utilities offer green power at a premium – that is, for a fee over and above the regular charge – has grown each year until now, when it remains flat. However, with 12% of utilities reporting that they are considering green power, growth potential still exists, states Residential Products & Services Data Summary & Report 2006.

The report includes both analysis of the data and the raw survey results from each of the 76 survey respondents. Also available is a fully sortable Excel database including all survey responses.

Residential Products & Services Data Summary & Report 2006 and the accompanying Excel database is available only to Chartwell’s Premier Members or members of Chartwell’s Products, Services and Programs Research Series. Membership also includes a data summary and report outlining the findings of Chartwell’s utility survey regarding products, services and programs for commercial and industrial customers, as well as regularly released topical reports on issues such as new home construction programs, sales of or rebates on green energy technologies like photovoltaics, and utility marketing and product development efforts.

For information regarding membership, contact Bill Grist at (404) 237-9099, (800) 432-5879 or bgrist@chartwellinc.com. A free table of contents and summary of the report can be obtained from Senior Research Analyst Jennifer Allen at jallen@chartwellinc.com.