SAN DIEGO, Feb. 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SGCC Annual Consumer Symposium - Comverge Inc., the leading provider of demand management solutions for electric utilities, is proud to announce that its client Pepco Holdings Inc. (PHI) has won a 2015 CLEAR Consumer Education Award for its energy management programs. Presented by the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC), the annual award recognizes the utility that best serves as a role model within the industry in the development and implementation of consumer energy management programs and energy efficiency advancement.
"We hold our partnership with Pepco Holdings Inc. in high regard, and are excited they are being recognized with this award for the impressive success they've achieved over the past five years with the Energy Wise Rewards demand response program and their many other energy management programs," said Gregory J. Dukat, Comverge chairman, president and CEO. "We look forward to continuing to help PHI optimize its demand response program so that it can consistently achieve the best possible results."
One of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, PHI serves approximately two million customers through its subsidiaries: Pepco, Delmarva Power & Light, and Atlantic City Electric. PHI selected Comverge in 2009 to implement a demand response program that would enhance the customer experience and enable it to meet energy savings goals. As a result, PHI launched the Energy Wise Rewards program. Key elements of this program include customer choice in load control devices; multiple curtail cycling levels; Web-programmability in the thermostats to improve customer convenience and satisfaction; and upgradable devices. To successfully deploy the program, Comverge provided demand response software and hardware, as well as installation and marketing services.
PHI has enrolled more than 360,000 customers into its Energy Wise Rewards program throughout the past five years. The program has helped PHI provide more than 300 megawatts of peak demand reduction capacity to its service areas, resulting in reducing energy use and costs.
"We are honored to receive this award from the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative," said Karen Lefkowitz, vice president, Business Transformation, Pepco Holdings Inc. "We are pleased that our customer service and customer education efforts for our customers and energy management programs are being recognized. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Comverge and providing our customers with beneficial energy management choices that help us achieve our demand management goals."
The CLEAR award recipients were judged on the following behavior:
Consumers first: Organization has demonstrated a true, consumer-centric approach in the development and implementation of consumer education and awareness programs;
Leadership: Organization has exhibited initiative in the area of consumer education and is recognized as a consumer advocate and thought leader in the industry;
Excellence: Organization has demonstrated innovation and imagination in the creation of consumer-facing initiatives and programs;
Authenticity: Organization has demonstrated a high level of integrity in engaging with consumers and other key stakeholders in the industry; and
Results: Organization has been able to demonstrate, in a quantifiable way, a direct impact on consumer awareness and behavior.
In 2013, Comverge won a CLEAR Consumer Education Award for the Comverge IntelliMARKET service, which helps utilities market complex demand response and energy efficiency programs through segmented customer education and enrollment strategies.
This award was presented at the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative Annual Consumer Symposium, a leading industry event that comes at a time when consumer engagement around the smart grid is more important than ever. The conference took place at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA on February 2.
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.