Call for Presenters is Open through March 27, 2022 Closed

The Advisory Committee is now accepting session proposals for the 16^th Rocky Mountain Utility Exchange to be presented September 26-29, 2022, at Westin Riverfront in Avon, Colorado. The Rocky Mountain Utility Exchange is a networking and professional development forum for utility and government organization staff as well as industry allies who provide products and services to support utility customer programs.

CLICK HERE to Propose a Presentation

The agenda will explore best practices and lessons learned about initiatives related to energy (gas and electricity) efficiency, water conservation, strategy, issues, and integration with renewable energy, flexible load management, strategic load growth, and other customer-facing initiatives. Share with us how your organization is collaborating with utilities and/or other allies to take a customer-oriented approach to achieve greater impacts in residential, commercial, municipal, and industrial end-use applications.

The agenda format will include 90-minute workshops and sessions, with ample time provided for audience discussion. Current plans are for the agenda to include two workshops, the Roundtable, and seven general sessions to be presented over 4 days. Each session will be facilitated by an Advisory Committee member. The preferred submission is a 20-minute general session presentation followed by 10 minutes of audience Q&A. In-depth, interactive workshop submissions up to 90 minutes may also be proposed. Panel discussion submissions are encouraged.

Preference in the selection process will be given to submissions by Rocky Mountain region utility staff who present case studies that focus on the challenges of designing and implementing comprehensive utility/customer solutions/experiences in ways that demonstrate utility-ally collaboration. Presentations from and about utilities in other geographical regions will be considered if relevant to/replicable in the Rocky Mountain region.

During the agenda development process, the Advisory Committee will rank all submissions and group them by topic. All submitters will be notified of acceptance (or not) prior to agenda publication. Presenters will be required to attend an online orientation and must register to attend the Exchange in-person to confirm their acceptance. Subsequent online coordination meetings and rehearsals with the Facilitators and other presenters will be conducted on a session-by-session basis.

Presentation submitters are asked to choose the best fit for their submission from the broad topics listed below. When choosing a topic, consider some of these potential themes for how the session Facilitator may relate your presentation with the others that will be included in your session for discussion.

Session topics and themes of primary interest to the Advisory Committee are:

Silo-Busting Collaboration, Partnership, and Innovation Development

• Breaking down internal (as well as external) silos: Planning, Program, and Operations
• Coordinating with multiple departments for future DER needs: Embrace or be afraid of all the different opinions
• When and how to share the lessons learned of energy efficiency programs
• Bundling residential products with a bonus rebate
• Whole home solutions re-imagined

Beneficial Electrification as a Paradigm Shift

• Value proposition for customers and marketing Beneficial Electrification
• Value proposition for trade allies and engagement strategies
• Impact to contractor bidding practices

Consumer Engagement with Communication Strategies and Tactics That Work

• Best in class ways to communicate complex utility concepts from/to customers
• Innovative ways utilities are engaging with hard-to-reach customers
• Reaching customers where they are: technology, marketing, and analytics that work
• Rate design/communications and general consumer Energy Literacy
• What does a utility-consumer relationship look like today? We are way past the days of 'keep the lights on and rates low'.
• Lessons learned from TOU rates or demand charge launches: What do consumers need to know in order to assess value of program offerings and/or be accepting of new and sometimes strange rate options?
• Carbon explained so customers care
• Smart meter communication tools
• Communicating Renewables: RECs vs new construction, etc.
• Builders'/developer voices
• Demand response engagement

Evolution of Utility Leadership in Business Models/Markets

• Utility business models that incorporate partnerships with new technologies and the customer as a generator
• Ways that utilities can create programming to boost satisfaction and provide sufficient consumer choices with the prospect of potential CCA competition
• Markets: What can they do for utilities
• Capacity/Consumption considerations and Transmission needs – HVDC, East/West/ERCOT intertie upgrades, large scale storage placement, etc.
• Carbon benefits and the value proposition for 2030 and beyond
• Marginal gas price management and communication

Equity and Income-Qualified Program Considerations

• What does it mean to program design and portfolio mix? Is a shift needed from higher income potential free riders to those who can't make the investment or lack the information to make informed decisions - often both (i.e. more funding toward LMI consumers)?
• Income-qualified program evolution and engagement
• Equity as a consideration in new infrastructure proposals for unprecedented focus on frontline or underserved communities
• Rural areas facing just transition issues as well as overall economic concerns for small communities

Electric Vehicles

• EV charging load impacts/management: Load building opportunity or grid system failure
• To EV or not to EV
• Flexibility or Control
• Cross-marketing TOU adoption with EV's

Energy Efficiency

• EE as an enabler of utility goals in a brave new world
• Does Energy Efficiency belong in the mix?
• The need to build customer relationships for the utility of the future.
• New buildings, new homes

Distributed Energy Resources

• Interconnections: How to connect with customers for the "right solutions"
• Is a "one stop shop" approach the best approach?
• Distributed energy resource management systems and controls
• Storage's role – ahead of and behind the meter, utility scale, and site specific
• Impacts on both EE and PV (and increasing storage) program considerations, both from a participation lens but also a rate perspective

None of the Above: Now for Something Completely Different
Suggest a topic not mentioned above with a proposed theme for 3 presentations about this topic

CLICK HERE to Propose a Presentation

Submissions are now closed