20121120Outreach Program 2013.pdf

RE CE ¶ V ED
Avista Corp.
1411 East Mission P.O. Box 3727
Spokane. Washington 99220-0500
Telephone [phone]
Toll Free 800-727-9170
701?NOV20 AMIO:20A
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November 19, 2012
Jean D. Jewell, Secretary
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
Statehouse Mail
W. 472 Washington Street
Boise, Idaho 83720
RE: AVU-E-12-07
Dear Ms. Jewell:
In compliance with Commission Order No. 32652, Avista Corporation, doing business as
Avista Utilities (hereinafter Avista or Company), at 1411 East Mission Avenue, Spokane,
Washington, respectfully files an original and seven copies the following report advising the
Commission about opportunities to increase customer awareness about energy efficiency issues and
Avista's energy efficiency programs. The following is the Company's Demand Side Management
(DSM) Outreach Program plan as described in its 2013 Business Plan:
Avista DSM Outreach Program
In September of 2007, Avista increased its promotion of energy efficiency through the
EveryLittleBit campaign. Prior to launching the campaign, market research was conducted in an
attempt to gauge customer awareness and willingness to participate. Through this research,
perceptual barriers were identified which supported the creation of the outreach effort. It is believed
that the overall campaign outreach has contributed significantly to residential program participation
Key Market Research Findings
The EveryLittleBit campaign was built on a foundation of broad reach, multi-media outreach
designed to inform customers about general energy efficiency program availability while providing
educational energy efficiency messages with the intent of driving increased participation. The
genesis of this campaign came from market research in which customers indicated their concerns
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about energy efficiency practices were generally: "it costs too much," "I've done all I can," "It
doesn't make much difference."
Since the inception of this campaign, there has been research done regionally that suggest the
same issues and perceptions are present and that customers need to have a reason to participate based
on values they have about waste. While the Company has driven increased participation in
programs, as well as general awareness of our programs, the continued effort is needed in helping
the customer understand where waste may be occurring. With eight out of ten of our customers
saying they are familiar with Avista's energy efficiency programs, the next step is to motivate them
towards taking action.
Driving Customers to Program Participation through General Awareness Building
Built as a broad reach, multi-media campaign, the EveryLittleBit outreach effort has used
multiple channels, including website, web banners, print and broadcast outreach (radio and
television), print material (brochures, signage, etc.), outdoor billboards, social media, participation in
community events and other methods to reach customers. The intent is to educate and encourage
customers to install energy efficient measures and practice energy-conserving behaviors with the
"call to action" being a visit to the Company's website (www.everylittlebit.com ) to get more
information or download a rebate form.
Including Targeted Program Participation in General Awareness
During the second and subsequent years the program was designed to become progressively
more specific. Decisions regarding target programs are based partly upon the measure and program
cost effectiveness calculations as well as the ability to drive additional participation through outreach
investments.
Social Media Channels
Avista continues to use Facebook as both a viable and cost effective advertising channel. The
latest awareness research conducted at the end of 2010 shows awareness of energy efficiency and
Avista' s programs high among audiences aged 45+, while the 18-44 audience remains difficult to
reach, giving social media opportunities. With this in mind, Avista continues to use Facebook to
house energy efficiency promotions and activities, like the programmable thermostat, and weekly
messages on low-cost no-cost ways to be more efficient. The EveryLittleBit Facebook page has
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3,137 "Likes." When the Company sent the t-stat eblast out to the fans, 34% of recipients opened the
email and 17% of the 34 clicked on the link to access the t-stat.
Commercial and Industrial Outreach
Since 2009, Avista has offered the webpage "Efficiency Avenue," an online tool which
guides business customers to its commercial and industrial rebate programs The website also
maintains a number of low-cost / no-cost efficiency measures that customers can implement to
manage their energy use, as well as the ability to sign up for Avista's online energy efficiency
business newsletter, called Energy Solutions for non-residential customers. Since its launch, the
Company has had more than 150 inquiries from customers through the online contact form
For 2011, the Company developed a comprehensive print campaign designed to educate
business customers about the many prescriptive and site-specific programs available. The focus of
the campaign profiles business customers within Avista' s service territory and features the measures
they have implemented and the savings they have achieved This campaign targets the business
community and shares the value of energy efficiency and Avista's energy efficiency incentives from
a customer perspective. This campaign launched in late 2011 and continued into 2012. The
advertising schedule delivered over 1,300,000 gross impressions. As well as generated multiple calls
from customers requesting Avista's assistance in helping them become more energy efficient. And
the Web traffic also increased significantly with the visits up 20% over last year.
Rebate Processing and Automation
Avista launched the automated rebate processing on the web and promoted directly to
customers through bill inserts and web page banners, and will continue to encourage customer
participation.
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Aclara Upgrade and Launch
Avista launched the updated home energy advisor product for our customers to use. This
product has been promoted through Connections, the customer newsletter and the website to drive
traffic towards the programs contained within the 2013 portfolio.
Media Partnerships
The Company continued with a third year of partnership with KREM TV and Toyota to
increase awareness of Avista's energy conservation measures and rebate programs. This program
drove a 312% increase year over year to the EveryLittleBit website. The goal of this program is to
promote a general awareness of efficiency and Avista programs, to increase traffic to
www.everylittlebit.com and to increase traffic and "Likes" to the EveryLittleBit Facebook Page.
Success in achieving these goals is expected to yield a significant increase in program participation.
TV and WEB-Pre-Roll
Avista will continue to use shorter 0:15 second spots in key programming that has high reach
in the target areas the Company is trying to reach.
Multi-Department Collaboration
The outreach effort is coordinated with ongoing updates to sub-total resource cost (TRC)
analysis by Avista's Policy, Planning and Analysis (PPA) team. It is integrated into, and directly
supports the long-term program management planning process. Efficiency messages that are not
associated with individual programs come out of an internal collaborative process incorporating
input from DSM engineering staff, program managers, program outreach specialists and the PPA
team. The intent is to maintain a fresh and informative appeal to the overall outreach effort.
The additional throughput that can be obtained from our outreach investments also takes into
consideration the opportunity to leverage the growing efficiency messaging in the general media and
partnerships with utility and non-utility organizations. The EveryLittleBit campaign is also
integrated into earned media opportunities through Avista's Corporate Communications Department.
Energy Efficiency messaging will continue into 2013 as a primary means to reach customers
with low-cost/no-cost opportunities for saving energy, to increase customer participation in our
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energy efficiency programs and to underscore the value of saving energy. Broad reach media will be
evaluated and adjusted as more directly targeted campaigns are developed.
Natural Gas Suspension
Avista will continue to be available to provide customers with information on natural gas
efficiency when that information can be provided with little or no incremental cost. The Company's
electric DSM portfolio will continue to deliver messages regarding electric-efficiency and will fund
an ongoing DSM infrastructure. Avista will maintain its outreach program. The program will focus
upon the most cost-effective efficiency measures (which will be highly disproportionately electric)
but will sustain a general customer awareness in regards to efficiency. Additionally, there are many
measures and messages which are dual-fuel in nature (e.g. shell measures).
The Company continues to reiterate its pledge to return the natural gas DSM portfolio to
operational status if and when it can be done in a TRC cost-effective manner. Towards that end,
Avista will monitor trends in technology and implementation strategies as well as avoided costs (or
weighted average cost of gas or "WACOG" as a proxy for avoided cost). Our analysis will not be
limited to annual business planning or periodic integrated resource planning (IRP) cycles. This is
the same commitment that the Company made in 1997 and was able to successfully respond to
market changes by returning the natural gas portfolio to active status without significant loss in our
capability to deliver on cost-effective resource acquisition.
Please direct any questions on this matter to Bruce Folsom at [phone] or myself at
[phone].
Sincerely,
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Linda Gervais
Manager, Regulatory Policy
State and Federal Regulation
Avista Utilities
509-495-4975
[e-mail]