NORCROSS, Ga., June 12, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Comverge Inc., the leading provider of demand management solutions for electric utilities, congratulates its client Gulf Power Company for being selected as a winner of the 2015 Smart Grid Customer Education Awards. The awards are presented annually by SmartEnergy IP™ to utilities that demonstrate excellence in smart grid education and make a positive impact on the industry. Gulf Power was recognized for its Energy Select program, the first fully-automated critical-peak pricing program in the country, which is part of the utility's EarthCents initiative to help customers save money and reduce energy. The program offers Gulf Power customers the ability to program their central cooling and heating system, electric water heater and pool pump to automatically respond to four different electricity prices depending upon the time of day, day of the week and season.
Since it was introduced in 2000, the Energy Select program has become one of the most successful automated dynamic pricing programs in the country, recognized by the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, POWERGRID International, Platts, and the National Society of Professional Engineers. The program has resulted in customer satisfaction rates as high as 95 percent and allowed the thousands of program participants to lower their energy bills.
"We are thrilled that Gulf Power received yet another industry award for its innovative Energy Select automated pricing program," said Gregory J. Dukat, Comverge chairman, president and CEO. "Pricing programs are often seen as difficult to implement due to the amount of education required of consumers. As indicated by this latest recognition, Gulf Power has demonstrated that tremendous results can be achieved when utilities educate and engage with their customers."
About Comverge
Comverge is the industry's leading provider of integrated demand response, energy efficiency and customer engagement solutions that enable electric utilities to ensure grid reliability, lower energy costs, meet regulatory demands and enhance the customer experience. Through its combination of software, hardware and services, Comverge helps utilities optimize every aspect of a demand management program, from participant recruitment and device installation to call center support, control events and measurement and verification. Comverge has worked with hundreds of electric utilities to deploy nearly six million energy management devices and enroll more than 1.6 million residential customers into mass-market demand management programs. For more information, visit www.comverge.com and follow us on Twitter at @Comverge.