Why You Didn't Get a High Price Alert this Year

One of the most common questions and complaints we received on our customer survey was about not receiving a high price alert. For example:

I have not received any notices of high prices so I'm not sure how I am suppose to know when prices are high besides knowing that the afternoons are expensive.

The short answer about why you did not receive a high price alert is that there wasn't any. We set our high price alert at 13 cents and there was not an hour that reached this price in 2010. We didn't have any in 2009, either. However, in 2008 there were 122 hours over 13 cents spread across 28 days. In our materials, we made a conscious effort to put more emphasis on the fact that the highest price of each individual summer day will occur somewhere between 2pm and 5pm. We felt this was the best way to help people save because most days will not have a High Price Alert, but it still important to shift your usage away from those weekday afternoon hours. However, since we have not had a High Price Alert over the past two summers we are considering the following changes:

1. Lowering the High Price Alert trigger
2. Giving customers the option to set their own price
3. Sending out Test Alerts to reassure customers that their contact information is correct and that if there is an alert they will receive it.

We are seriously looking into lowering the trigger. In the past, we have been afraid that if they happened too often, people would begin to tune them out. Or, they would think that prices must be so high that they couldn't possibly be saving with the program. Since it has been two consecutive summers of low prices, we think that there is a better solution to what we have now without running into these potential issues.

Right now our current system is not too flexible for having different customers being notified with different price points. It just wasn't designed that way. However, since we have received a considerable desire from customers for this option, we are researching this possibility. We will have more on this as we get a better idea of how we could make it work.

We will be sending a Test Alert this year around the 1st of June. This was a serious oversight on our part last summer and we apologizing for creating some confusion when there didn't have to be. It will help us and our customers be assured that if an alert would go out that they have received it correctly.

This, of course, is all a work in progress. We are looking to continually improve the customer experience. Keep an eye on on the blog for me ways we're gonna make 2011 the best year for Power Smart Pricing. Thanks again, for all your input.

Congratulations to our Survey Winners!!

We have randomly selected the two winners of our survey response drawing to win the $100 prize. Hopefully your holidays will be a little brighter this coming season. Congratulations:

Kelly Taylor of Forsyth, IL - participant since May 2008. She has saved 19% off her bills for a total of $570.

Michael Kingery of Henry, IL - participant since November 2008. He has saved 35% off his bills for a total of $580.

Congratulations on saving another $100!

To all responders, we apologize for the late arrival of your 2010 Customer Survey. All surveys postmarked by November 15th were considered in the drawing of two $100 prizes. Thank you for your ongoing participation in the Power Smart Pricing program.

Some Customer Survey Responses

One of the questions on our customer survey asked "How could Power Smart Pricing be improved to make it work better for you?" We received about 1500 responses to this question, and the PSP blog felt that it was important to anonymously highlight some of the types of comments we received.

The Good
"It sure seems to work really well for me and i have suggested many others look into the service also as I feel that by saving 27% last year with PSP I did pretty darn well!! Thanks for offering me the opportunity to use PSP. Hopefully many others will also join the bandwagon. My son just signed up for the program after my rave reviews. I told him to use it as suggested and it will save him some of his hard earned money to be used somewhere else."

"It is just such an incredible program. Such an environmentally-responsible option that gives the customer control and makes us think about our energy use. We could not be happier with this program and how it is administered and how much money we have saved."

"I really don't use the computer to check my pricing. I don't have my computer on most of the time. If I'm not using it, I turn it off. Doesn't that save energy? I post the little grid that you mail to remind me of the high price times. I like things that are simple and not very high tech."

Great Suggestions
"Let me set the trigger for price alerts and change it via the web."

"A consumer blog where we can hear others ideas for saving on electricity." (working on it...)

"Have a plug in device that would show the hourly rate at a glance. It would alert you when the hourly rate is higher than the non- power smart rate."

Things For us to Work On
"Being able to check usage on-line and recieve a useage graph by mail each month, instead of having to choose one or the other."

"Daily email updates with hourly pricing."

"Easy access to pricing trends at the thermostat."

Why We're Passionate About This Program
"i realy don't know right now, i am just thrilled that my bill is smaller. in todays economy it is becoming impossible to live alone if you are making 12dollars to 14 dollars and hr.. your utilities and housing takes up over half of your income. with that we are always needing ways to save.. i have a limited income and cannot afford a lot of expensive gadgets, however , i am willing to try and do what i can . thank you for powers smart pricing,, please alert me by mail on any suggestions you might have regarding how i can save more."

So as you can see, we received comments of all different kinds. People want more information, they want less  information or they want to have a better way to customize how much information they are receiving. These suggestions and comments are the best way for us make sure Power Smart Pricing continues to improve for everybody.

One of things we have to work on, is to better communicate some of the tools we offer to our participants. A lot of the comments we have are customers asking for things that we already provide. So as a first step in the process, the PSP blog will be writing up a series highlighting tools that are available that people may not be taking advantage of.

Having passionate and active customers is the most valuable resource this program has. Thanks so much for all your input!

[Video] 'Tis the Season for LEDs

Now that everyone is digging up and dusting off their holiday lights, you might find that those old lights just aren't cutting it anymore. So if you're gonna be rushing out to the store to make sure you have the most festive house on the block, it might be wise to look at LED lights this year. Compared to the old incandescent holiday lights, LEDs are brighter, they last longer and (shh.. don't tell anyone) they'll cost you a whole let less on your electric bill. Whether you want to be big and festive or save an extra few dollars, LED's are your best bet. Check out the video below from the NBC affiliate from the Tri-State area. In the video, when Tafi Walker from Ameren Illinois gets on, I am pretty sure she is saying that each individual light bulb could save you up $3 over the month. That's a lot of extra lottery ticket stocking stuffers...