Nancy Bui-Thompson, President of Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD), gave an insightful presentation about her utility from the perspective of an elected official.* I think that Nancy is one of the first examples of an elected official presenting at DistribuTECH.* SMUD is and has been for some time one of the most forward-looking utilities in North America.* It was the first California utility to reach 20% renewable power and the first to commit to 33% renewables.* It is also one of the most energy efficient utiltiies in California.
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It is governed by an elected board of directors, who are responsible for policy and strategy, and perhaps this is the reason*it is very customer focussed and has consistently maintained high customer satisfaction ratings.**For example during the rollout of the smart meter program it*maintained an impressive*95% customer satisfaction rating.* The major customer drivers are green, renewable and reliable, and the need for choice.** Nancy emphasized that SMUDs unique governance model reserving policy for the board of directors allows SMUDs management and employees freedom to implement without interference.
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SMUD is moving from a centralized utility with a business model based on selling electricity to a distributed utility providing localized grid services.* This means SMUD is getting out of the business of selling electricity, and into the business of selling grid services.**
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At the policy level the focus areas are customer analytics,*changing the rate structure and grid analytics.
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Customer analytics includes collecting operational data on customer behaviour to help identify and provide new services.* For example, these statistics*helps identify early adopters, customers who are interested in renewable energy or energy efficiency in the home and who help drive programs focussed on theses areas.* Customer data and analytics also helps with segmentation, defining the different market segments that require different types and levels of grid services.
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Grid analytics is helping SMUD better manage outages.* Collecing operational data and analyzing it to be able to predict outages has reduced the number of outages by 20% and the average durating of outages by 28%.
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One of the most interesting innovations at SMUD is in the area of rate structure.* SMUD and other utilities are in the interesting position for a retailer of trying to sell less of its product, in this case electricity.* People are using less electricity as a result of personal interest as well as SMUD's own energy efficiency programs.* But the money has to come from somewhere.* SMUD has introduced a flat infrastructure fee.* Currently every customer pays $18/month for the grid, independent from how much power they consume.** SMUD has determined that $28 is the breakeven point, where the cost of maintaining the grid would be covered by infrastructure fees, and is moving towards that monthly change.
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Another interesting innovation at SMUD (which I have seen elsewhere) is their solar power program.* Customers can buy into solar power without the bother of having to install solar panels on their roofs.* The first solar program was a 1 MW solar PV program designed for residential customers.* The next will be a an 11 MW program for commercial customers.
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It is governed by an elected board of directors, who are responsible for policy and strategy, and perhaps this is the reason*it is very customer focussed and has consistently maintained high customer satisfaction ratings.**For example during the rollout of the smart meter program it*maintained an impressive*95% customer satisfaction rating.* The major customer drivers are green, renewable and reliable, and the need for choice.** Nancy emphasized that SMUDs unique governance model reserving policy for the board of directors allows SMUDs management and employees freedom to implement without interference.
*
SMUD is moving from a centralized utility with a business model based on selling electricity to a distributed utility providing localized grid services.* This means SMUD is getting out of the business of selling electricity, and into the business of selling grid services.**
*
*
Customer analytics includes collecting operational data on customer behaviour to help identify and provide new services.* For example, these statistics*helps identify early adopters, customers who are interested in renewable energy or energy efficiency in the home and who help drive programs focussed on theses areas.* Customer data and analytics also helps with segmentation, defining the different market segments that require different types and levels of grid services.
*
Grid analytics is helping SMUD better manage outages.* Collecing operational data and analyzing it to be able to predict outages has reduced the number of outages by 20% and the average durating of outages by 28%.
*
One of the most interesting innovations at SMUD is in the area of rate structure.* SMUD and other utilities are in the interesting position for a retailer of trying to sell less of its product, in this case electricity.* People are using less electricity as a result of personal interest as well as SMUD's own energy efficiency programs.* But the money has to come from somewhere.* SMUD has introduced a flat infrastructure fee.* Currently every customer pays $18/month for the grid, independent from how much power they consume.** SMUD has determined that $28 is the breakeven point, where the cost of maintaining the grid would be covered by infrastructure fees, and is moving towards that monthly change.
*
Another interesting innovation at SMUD (which I have seen elsewhere) is their solar power program.* Customers can buy into solar power without the bother of having to install solar panels on their roofs.* The first solar program was a 1 MW solar PV program designed for residential customers.* The next will be a an 11 MW program for commercial customers.
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