How to Grow Subscribership in Your Utility Green Pricing Program: Lessons Learned From Top U.S. Programs

Data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory show that the top four utility green pricing programs resulted in the lion’s share of 2018 residential and small business voluntary purchasing in the U.S. What are the specifics of program design, marketing and communications, and employee engagement that have driven renewable energy subscribership at those few utilities skyward (accounting for over 10% of eligible households in some locations)? Learn by example what it takes to grow the size and impact of your green power programs.

Panelists: Rachael Terada, CRS (Moderator), Josh Halley, Portland General Electric, Berit Kling, PacifiCorp, David McDougall, 3Degrees

Transcript

1. How to Grow
   Subscribership in
   Your Utility Green
   Pricing Program
   Lessons Learned From Top
   U.S. Programs
   

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2. Speakers
   RACHAEL TERADA- CRS
   DAVID MCDOUGALL - 3DEGREES
   JOSH HALLEY - PGE
   BERIT KLING - PACIFICORP
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   2
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   

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3. Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) creating policy and
   market solutions to advance sustainable energy since 1997.
   • Expert assistance
   • Renewable energy and climate policy
   • Renewable Energy Markets annual conference
   • Green-e® certification for suppliers and users of renewable energy and carbon
   offsets in the voluntary market
   About Center for Resource Solutions
   PAGE
   3
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   

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4. Background
   Information
   UTILITY GREEN PRICING
   PROGRAM 101
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   4
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   

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5. What is a “green pricing program”? According to the EPA
   Green Power Partnership:
   • Offered by a customer’s default utility supplier
   • Electricity bundled with a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)
   • Structured either in blocks of KWh or MWh, or sold as a percentage of use
   • RECs are usually “retired” by the utility on behalf of the customer in proportion
   to the amount of electricity purchased
   • Generally, subscription can be started or cancelled at any time
   • Often sourced from local or regional resources (required by Green-e®)
   • Green-e® also requires that emission rates per KWh for underlying electricity
   must be at or below the customer’s average utility emissions rate and may not
   include differentiated nuclear power (no nukes).
   Background Information
   PAGE
   5
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   

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6. Utility Green
   Pricing Programs
   in Green-e®
   FACTS, FIGURES, AND
   RESOURCES
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   6
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   

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7. Top Green Pricing Programs by Sales
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   7
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   Source: NREL
   

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8. Top Green Pricing Programs by Customers
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   8
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   Source: NREL
   

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9. Top Green Pricing Programs,
   Participation Rate
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   9
   © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
   Source: NREL
   

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10. Green-e® Energy Certified Sales of
    Green Pricing Programs, 1998 – 2018 (In
    MWH)
    PAGE
    10
    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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11. Retail Customers Purchasing Green-e®
    Energy Certified Green Pricing
    Programs, 1998 – 2018(In MWH)
    PAGE
    11
    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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12. PAGE
    12
    Utility green pricing programs certified by Green-
    e® Energy consistently make up the majority of
    NREL’s Top Ten rankings in terms of customer
    participation rate, total number of subscribers,
    total MWh sold, and green power sales as a
    percentage of total retail electricity sales.
    Green-e® Energy
    Certified Sales in
    Green Pricing
    Programs by
    Customer Type
    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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13. A thriving program will have:
    • Resource types and locations valued by customers
    • Relatively new generators providing supply (Green-e® Energy New Date)
    • Support from utility staff
    • A clear strategy on program implementation and easy to explain plan for
    covering costs
    Factors that Influence Success
    PAGE
    13
    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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14. Upcoming
    Events.
    www.resource-solutions.org/events
    11/20 – RY2018 Green-e® Verification Report Webinar
    PAGE
    14
    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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15. © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    Contact.
    Rachael Terada
    DIRECTOR TECHNICAL PROJECTS
    rachael.terada@resource-solutions.org
    415.561.2135
    www.resource-solutions.org
    

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16. View Slide

17. NREL TOP 10 UTILITY
    PARTNERS
    PacifiCorp
    Puget Sound Energy
    Portland General Electric
    Dominion Energy Virginia
    Tennessee Valley Authority
    Silicon Valley Power
    ABOUT 3DEGREES
    GREEN
    TARIFFS
    RENEWABLE ENERGY
    CERTIFICATES
    (RECS)
    CARBON
    OFFSETS
    COMMUNITY
    SOLAR
    GREEN POWER
    PROGRAMS
    RENEWABLE NATURAL GAS
    

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18. Why grow your Green Power Program?
    CRS WEBINAR | 3DEGREES
    + Huge opportunity for utilities
    + Address climate change/
    decarbonize
    + Meet customers’ needs
    + Prevent attrition
    + New engagement channel
    

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19. Best Practices: Program Design
    CRS WEBINAR | 3DEGREES
    + Start with a great design
    + Customer research/insights
    + Supply strategy
    + Stakeholder engagement
    + Pricing
    + Marketing investment
    

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20. KNOW YOUR
    AUDIENCE
    Identify top
    prospects,
    understand their
    motivations/
    needs.
    Raise awareness
    and educate
    customers.
    INCREASE
    AWARENESS ENROLL ENGAGE
    OPTIMIZE
    Provide ample
    opportunities
    for customers to
    enroll.
    Keep customers
    informed and
    excited about the
    program.
    Test messaging,
    test segments,
    test conversion
    paths. Test
    everything.
    Measure results
    and refine plans.
    Marketing and Implementation Strategy
    CRS WEBINAR | 3DEGREES
    

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21. Best Practices: Marketing and Outreach
    CRS WEBINAR | 3DEGREES
    + Multi-channel engagement is
    critical to program success
    + “Build it, SELL it, and they will
    come”
    + Meet customers where they are...
    + Existing utility channels (lower cost)
    + Digital platforms
    + In-person outreach
    + …..and deliver the right message
    + Well-funded programs can afford a
    diverse set of tactics
    

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22. 3degreesinc.com
    Thank You
    DAVE MCDOUGALL
    Sr. Business Development Manager
    dmcdougall@3degrees.com
    617.500.1995
    

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23. Green Future Program
    Josh Halley, Product Manager
    Portland General Electric
    November 13, 2019
    

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24. 24 | Confidential and Proprietary
    

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25. Green Future at a Glance
    • Established in 1999
    • More than 225,000 (25%) of customers enrolled
    • Sourced regionally
    • Ranked #1 in US for
    • Total customers (10 years)
    • Total MWh Sold
    • % of customers enrolled
    • Sales Rate
    25 | Confidential and
    Proprietary
    

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26. 26 | Confidential and Proprietary
    Product Content Price Customers
    Green Source Matches 100% of customer's monthly usage with RECs
    70% Wind, 24% Solar,4% Biomass, 1% Geothermal, 1% Low Impact Hydro
    OR, WA, ID, MT, UT
    0.8 Cents/kWh 199,013
    Clean Wind Block Customers purchase blocks of 100% wind power for fixed amount/month, includes a
    fixed contribution to RDF.
    100% Wind
    OR, WA, ID, MT, UT
    $2.50/200 kWh
    block
    7,620
    Green Future Solar Customers purchase RECs produced by 1kW blocks of local solar facility
    100% Solar
    OR, in service territory
    $5.00/1kW
    block
    2,760
    Habitat Support Customers fund Oregon-sited fish habitat restoration projects with a focus on rivers
    and streams in PGE service territory and on which PGE has operations. 350 miles
    restored to date.
    $2.50/month 10,878
    Renewable
    Development Fund
    Green Future customer funds for purpose of granting out to qualified renewable
    energy development projects in PGE service territory via competitive annual RFP
    process. 58 projects, $13M, 12.8MW installed
    

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27. 27 | Confidential and Proprietary
    Customer Growth
    69,110 72,663 77,751
    80,058
    87,841
    99,660
    106,477
    126,389
    147,962
    170,747
    205,016
    40,000
    60,000
    80,000
    100,000
    120,000
    140,000
    160,000
    180,000
    200,000
    220,000
    2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
    

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28. Channels of Engagement
    28 | Confidential and Proprietary
    Call Center
    Web
    Face to Face
    Storefronts
    ▪ 75+ StorefrontPartners
    ▪ Distributed across entire PGE service territory
    Events
    ▪ 225+ Events annually
    ▪ Range in size from small farmers markets to large trade shows
    Courtesy Knock Program
    ▪ Highest performing channel
    ▪ Allows greater reach
    ▪ Can generate customer feedback & inquiries
    

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29. Enrollments By Channel
    29 | Confidential and Proprietary
    0
    5,000
    10,000
    15,000
    20,000
    25,000
    30,000
    35,000
    2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
    Store Front / Events
    Courtesy Knock
    TCC
    Web
    Sch. 32
    Clean Wind
    

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30. Fostering
    Community
    Regular communication with our
    Green future community helps to
    reinforce their role in our vision for
    a decarbonized future
    • Welcome letter packet (PCL)
    • Annual Coupon Book
    • Window decals
    • Personalized annual CO2 report
    • Website
    

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31. Business Customers
    Products:
    ▪ Clean Wind – Wind RECs
    ▪ Green Tariff – local, bundled, additional
    Different Values, Price sensitive, Green-e
    matters
    Municipalities
    31 | Confidential and
    Proprietary
    

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32. Lessons Learned
    • In-person engagement is worth
    it
    • Accessibility: price
    • Local, local, local
    • Residential vs. Business
    • Synergies & Differences
    • Cross Promotion
    • Green-e
    32 |
    Confident
    ial and
    Proprieta
    ry
    

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33. Thank You!
    Josh Halley | Product Manager
    Portland General Electric
    503-464-8089
    renewables@pgn.com
    www.portlandgeneral.com/renewables
    

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34. How to Grow Subscribership
    in Your Utility Green Pricing
    Program
    Lessons Learned From Top U.S.
    Programs
    

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35. • Pacific Power - Oregon,
    Washington and
    California
    • Rocky Mountain Power
    - Utah, Wyomingand
    Idaho
    • Serving 1.8million
    electric customers
    Who isPacifiCorp?
    3
    5
    

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36. • Launched in 2000
    • More than 130,000participants or ~7%
    of our customers systemwide
    • More than a dozen communities have
    participation rates above20%
    • Helped fund more than 300community-
    based projects since 2006
    • Supported more than 8billion
    megawatt-hours of renewableenergy
    • Ranked on the NREL top ten list for 17
    years
    Blue Sky Renewable Energy
    3
    6
    

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37. Program Growth Continues
    -
    200,000
    400,000
    600,000
    800,000
    2000
    2001
    2002
    2003
    2004
    2005
    2006
    2007
    2008
    2009
    2010
    2011
    2012
    2013
    2014
    2015
    2016
    2017
    2018
    0
    40,000
    80,000
    120,000
    160,000
    MWhs
    Participants
    MWh Supported Participants
    3
    7
    

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38. Bill inserts,1%
    3
    8
    Outreach,36%
    NewConnects,
    38%
    Direct
    Mail/Email,3%
    Advertising, Web,
    Misc.,12%
    CourtesyCalls,
    10%
    Finding the RightTactics
    • 86% enroll through person-to-
    person channels
    • Courtesy Calls (outbound calls)
    • Outreach (courtesy knock andevents
    & tabling
    • New connects (inbound calls to utility
    customer carecenter)
    

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39. • Leverage low-cost utility channels
    • Utilize high touch(people-to-people)
    channels
    • Connect at a local level (even acrossa
    diverse service area)
    • Test and iterate to find the best,
    sometimes evolving, mix of marketing
    tactics
    3
    9
    Finding the RightTactics
    

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40. Case Study: Oregon Coast
    Program participants
    along the coast have
    grown at 184% the rateas
    the rest of the state
    thanks to focusedefforts:
    • County-wide
    CommunityChallenge
    (Clatsop Co)
    • Residential +
    Commercial“Power
    Teams”
    • Targetedoutbound
    calling campaigns
    • Targeted Direct Mail
    4
    0
    

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41. Case Study: Business Outreach
    4
    1
    

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42. Case Study: Customer Care Center
    (Inbound Calls)
    • New Hire & refresher classtrainings
    • Monthly communications (visibility)
    • Prizes and incentives designed to motivate
    staff
    • Job aids and intranet resources
    • Integrate program prompt on callingscreens
    • Ease of technical enrollment process
    • Manager engagement (expectation setting,
    support)
    4
    2
    

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43. Thanks for yourtime
    Contact:
    Berit Kling
    berit.kling@pacificorp.com
    

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44. PAGE
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    © 2019 Center for Resource Solutions. All rights reserved.
    

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