20150818AVU to Staff 89.doc

AVISTA CORPORATION
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

JURISDICTION: IDAHO DATE PREPARED: 08/14/2015
CASE NO.: AVU-E-15-05/AVU-G-15-01 WITNESS: Jim Kensok
REQUESTER: IPUC RESPONDER: Kelly Conley
TYPE: Production Request DEPARTMENT: Customer Solutions
REQUEST NO.: Staff - 089 TELEPHONE: [phone]

REQUEST:

Page 11 of Mr. Kensok’s testimony states: “With automated outbound event processing and preference management for customers, Notifi pushes information to Avista customers, over the channel they want to receive it, including mobile text, email, social media and voice natively on iPhone and Android smart phone devices.” Please describe what percentage of the customer base is expected to adopt the Notifi system capability. Of the expected adoption rate, have all customer profiles been updated to include a Notifi preference? If not, why not? Also, please describe how the Company will manage customer communications for customers that do not utilize the Notifi system.

RESPONSE:

While it is difficult to predict how many customers will enroll in the Notifi service, other utilities surveyed have indicated ranges of 18% to 30% in the first year alone.

All customers will have the ability to sign up for preferences, and e-mail addresses on file will be pre-loaded for convenience, but customers will have to turn the preference on to ensure we have permission. In addition, because of TCPA laws, customers will need to enter their mobile phone and agree to terms and conditions, to ensure we have permission to contact them on their mobile phones. We will conduct outreach to promote these options to our customers.

For customers that have not had the opportunity to enroll in communication preferences, we will continue to use traditional means to make them aware of this option and of the various programs we offer, such as the Connections newsletter, bill inserts, email communications, media outreach (if appropriate) and social media.

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