20230201Hydzik Direct.pdf

DAVID J. MEYER
VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COUNSEL FOR
REGULATORY & GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
AVISTA CORPORATION
P.O. BOX 3727
1411 EAST MISSION AVENUE
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 99220-3727
TELEPHONE: [phone]
[e-mail]

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION ) CASE NO. AVU-E-23-01
OF AVISTA CORPORATION FOR THE ) CASE NO. AVU-G-23-01
AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES )
AND CHARGES FOR ELECTRIC AND ) DIRECT TESTIMONY
NATURAL GAS SERVICE TO ELECTRI ) OF
AND NATURAL GAS CUSTOMERS IN THE ) NICOLE L. HYDZIK
STATE OF IDAHO )

FOR AVISTA CORPORATION

(ELECTRIC AND NATURAL GAS)

Hydzik, Di 1
Avista Corporation
I. INTRODUCTION 1
Q. Please state your name, business address and present position with Avista 2
Corporation. 3
A. My name is Nicole L. Hydzik and I am employed as the Director of Energy 4
Efficiency for Avista. My business address is 1411 East Mission Avenue, Spokane, 5
Washington. 6
Q. Would you briefly describe your educational background and professional 7
experience? 8
A. Yes. I graduated from Gonzaga University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in 9
political science and history. I joined the Company in 2012 as a Regional Account Executive 10
working with our commercial and industrial customers. In 2019 I was appointed the Manager 11
of Business Customer Services leading the Account Executive team. In 2020 I was appointed 12
to Manager of Energy Solutions and Efficiency, and in 2021 I was appointed as the Director of 13
Energy Efficiency. In December 2022, my role was expanded to include oversight of Avista’s 14
products and services and customer facing technology. 15
Prior to joining Avista I was employed by Purcell Systems from 2000 to 2012 serving 16
worldwide customers in the telecommunications industry. During my time at Purcell Systems, 17
I directly interfaced with numerous Fortune 500 telecom infrastructure providers. Before 18
joining Avista, I was the Director of Customer Operations from 2010 to 2012. I also served as 19
the Manager of Customer Service from 2005-2010, was a Sales Account Manager from 2002 20
to 2005, and was an Inside Sales Representative from 2001 to 2002. From 1999 to 2000 I was 21
employed by APIRA of Connecticut as a Program Manager. 22
Q. What is the scope of your testimony in this proceeding? 23
A. My testimony will provide an overview of customer trends and research, the 24

Hydzik, Di 2
Avista Corporation
Company’s “Customer at the Center” initiative and address the rationale for the projects that 1
we have included in this rate case over the Two-Year Rate Plan effective September 1, 2023 2
and ending August 31, 2025. 3
Q. Please summarize the key points of your testimony. 4
A. The key points of my testimony are as follows: 5
• Customer data and research shows that customers increasingly prefer 6
self-service. 7
• Lack of, or issues with, self-service channels result in a decrease of 8
customer satisfaction. 9
• Avista has taken steps in alignment with the strategy of delivering 10
services to customers that meet their expectations in an efficient and 11
cost-effective manner. 12
• Avista has implemented a pro-active Customer at the Center initiative. 13
• Avista is investing in building a Customer Experience system to meet 14
the needs of customers. 15
• Avista continues to invest in three Customer Technology programs to 16
deliver upon the objectives of its Customer Experience initiative. Those 17
programs are: 18
o Customer Facing Technology Program 19
o Customer Transactional Systems 20
o Customer Experience Platform 21
22
Q. Are you sponsoring any exhibits that accompany your testimony? 23
A. Yes. I am sponsoring Exhibit No. 12, Schedule 1 which includes the business 24
cases for Customer Technology projects, and Schedule 2 which is a copy of the July 13, 2022 25
workshop presentation related to Customer Experience & Technology. These schedules were 26
prepared prior to me taking my new role; however, I am very familiar with their contents. A 27
table of contents for my testimony is as follows: 28

Hydzik, Di 3
Avista Corporation
Description Page 1
I. Introduction 1 2
3
II. Customer Trends and Research Summary 3 4
5
III. Customer at the Center Initiative 11 6
a. Customer Transactional System (CTS) 21 7
b. Customer Facing Technology Program (CFTP) 23 8
c. Customer Experience Platform (CXP) 27 9
10
IV. Customer Technology Programs Capital Additions 32 11
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II. CUSTOMER TRENDS AND RESEARCH SUMMARY 14
Q. What trends does Avista observe related to customer preferences for 15
interaction and receiving information related to their electric and natural gas service? 16
A. Avista has been tracking customer contacts at least as far back as 2009. Since 17
that time, we’ve observed a significant increase in customer self-service contacts and industry 18
research for customer preferences aligns with that trend. A consumer survey study performed 19
by N.I.C.E, released in 2022, showed that 81% of respondents said they preferred self-service 20
over speaking to a representative.1 There is no doubt that number continues to increase and 21
Avista’s customer base is no different. Trends in our data show self-service as the preferred 22
customer approach. As shown in Figure No. 1, our self-service customer contacts have grown 23
steadily since 2009 and as of calendar year 2022, self-service contacts account for 24
approximately 94% of our customer interactions by volume. That equates to self-service 25
channels, such as myavista.com, supporting approximately 8 million customer contacts in 2022, 26
up from approximately 4.5 million just five years earlier in 2017. 27

1 https://www.nice.com/press-releases/nice-2022-digital-first-customer-experience-report-finds-81-percent-of-
consumers

Hydzik, Di 4
Avista Corporation
Figure No. 1: Self-Service vs Live Contact Customer Interaction Summary 1
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Looking specifically at how our customers want to report and receive information about 11
outages, one of our most urgent and during major weather events highest volume transactions, 12
the customer preference is also clear. According to a 2022 consumer survey by Chartwell, the 13
top 5 customer preferences for outage information are all digital and automated channels: 14
Figure No. 2: Customer Preferences Related to Receiving Electric Outage Information 15
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Hydzik, Di 5
Avista Corporation
Again, the data that Avista tracks related to outage reporting by channel supports the consumer 1
research executed by Chartwell. Figure No. 3 shows electric outage reporting by channel at 2
Avista during the period between March 2020 through June 2022. During that time, 69% of all 3
outages reported by the customer were performed via a digital self-service channel. This 4
demonstrates an overwhelming preference on the customer behalf to complete this transaction 5
as quickly and efficiently as possible. 6
Figure No. 3: Customer Initiated Electric Outage Reports by Channel 7
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Q. What happens to customer satisfaction if the self-service channels aren’t 19
available or if they aren’t able to complete their task via a self-service channel? 20
A. Given customers’ preference, and in many cases reliance on self-service 21
channels, our customers expect the Avista self-service channels will be available at all times 22
and to work effectively and efficiently. In demonstration of this, I will highlight one example 23
related to electric outage reporting. In January of 2021, Avista’s service territory in Eastern 24

Hydzik, Di 6
Avista Corporation
Washington and Northern Idaho experienced a major weather event in the form of snow and 1
wind that resulted in tens of thousands of customers experiencing electric outages. Those 2
electric outages greatly increased the amount of customer use of Avista’s website, mobile-app, 3
and Interactive Voice Response system (IVR). The spike in traffic to our website, as shown in 4
Figure No. 3 above, was so large that it resulted in a temporary failure of the site, resulting in a 5
measurable decrease in customer satisfaction as demonstrated in Figure No. 4 (Dec 2020 6
compared to Jan 2021). 7
Figure No. 4: Month over Month Myavista.com User Satisfaction Score 8
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Unavailable or under-performing self-service transactions not only reduce customer 18
satisfaction, but they also drive additional calls into our call center. Continuing on the example 19
above from January 2021, when the website was temporarily unavailable, it drove a substantial 20
increase in calls to our call center with customers attempting to report their electric outage. 21
Given that our call center plans for staffing levels with an expectation that our digital channels 22
are available for customers to use, this spike of calls led to a temporary reduction in our call 23
center Grade of Service (GOS), decreasing customer satisfaction due to longer wait times. 24

Hydzik, Di 7
Avista Corporation
Since 2017, Avista has been tracking monthly customer feedback on myavista.com via 1
surveys of website visitors. That survey includes a standard question related to ‘What will you 2
do next if the website isn’t able to meet your need?’ We’ve consistently seen between 30% and 3
40% of website visitors say they’ll call customer service if the website isn’t able to meet their 4
need (Figure No. 5). Given that the cost per interaction on a digital channel such as 5
myavista.com is substantially less than that of a live contact handled by a call center rep, it 6
reinforces the need to continue to make investments in self-service channels. 7
Figure No. 5: Myavista.com Visitor ‘Next Action’ Survey Results from Q1 2022 8
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Lastly, a 2022 consumer survey executed by Chartwell as depicted in Figure No. 6, 18
demonstrates that customers who regularly use digital self-service channels are more satisfied 19
than those who rely on live contact methods such as the phone. This is due to the fact that the 20
digital self-service channels that Avista continues to invest in offer customers convenient, easy, 21
and fast access to the information they need when they need it and on the device they choose. 22

Hydzik, Di 8
Avista Corporation
Figure No. 6: Digital Engagement versus live Contact Customer Satisfaction 1
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Q. What trends has Avista observed related to customer use of mobile devices 12
to access Avista information and services? 13
A. As shown in Figure No. 7 below, customers are increasingly choosing to interact 14
with Avista using their mobile devices as evidenced by the fact that the percent of visits to 15
myavista.com from a mobile device exceeded desktop and tablet combined starting in 2018. 16
We fully anticipate that this trend will continue and the percent of mobile visits, currently just 17
below 55%, will continue to increase. However, we also know that desktop usage will remain 18
for customers that choose that channel; therefore, we will need to continue to maintain and 19
operate our desktop channels as we do today. 20

Hydzik, Di 9
Avista Corporation
Figure No. 7: Myavista.com Visits by Device Type (%) 1
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Another example of increased customer adoption of mobile device use is the quickly 11
increasing usage of our mobile app. Our app was initially launched in 2016 with only the ability 12
to view, report and check the status of outages. Since 2016 we have added the ability for 13
customers to view their bill, make a payment, and manage alerts. As seen in Figure No. 8 and 14
9 below, usage of the mobile app continues to grow, and we intend to continue to add services 15
to the functionality included on our mobile app. We expect that this growth trend toward mobile 16
usage will continue or possibly even accelerate as customer preferences continue to shift toward 17
mobile use as a preferred channel. 18

Hydzik, Di 10
Avista Corporation
Figure No. 8: Monthly Mobile App Sessions Over Time (Count)2 1
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Figure No. 9: Monthly Mobile App Sessions Over Time (Count) 12
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2 Note the increase in mobile app sessions in January 2021 was directly related to the significant storm discussed
earlier in my testimony.

Hydzik, Di 11
Avista Corporation
Q. What has Avista done in response to the research in customer trends? 1
A. Avista has taken four explicit steps in alignment with the strategy of delivering 2
services to customers that meet their expectations and doing so in an efficient and cost-effective 3
manner. 4
1. Customer at the Center Initiative: An initiative designed to build a better 5
understanding of our customer and what expectations, services and 6
experience(s) Avista should offer to meet and exceed customer needs and 7
expectations. 8
2. Customer Facing Technology Program (CFTP): A program designed to deliver 9
information and self-service transactions to our customers, typically on 10
technology-based platforms such as myavista.com. 11
3. Customer Transactional Systems (CTS): A program designed to enhance 12
maintain and deliver functionality related to core business systems such as the 13
customer information systems (CIS), metered data systems and billing system. 14
4. Customer Experience Platform (CXP): A program designed to seamlessly 15
integrate a multitude of disparate specialty applications with the intent of 16
providing a more seamless customer experience when a customer calls or 17
utilizes one of our digital channels. 18
19
III. CUSTOMER AT THE CENTER INITIATIVE 20
Q. Would you please describe Avista’s Customer at the Center Initiative. 21
A. Yes. We are in a time where customers’ expectations of their product and service 22
providers have never been higher, and their needs and desires are changing rapidly. In order to 23
respond to and stay ahead of the needs of our customers in this changing landscape, it is 24

Hydzik, Di 12
Avista Corporation
imperative that we shift from a reactive, customer service system to a more proactive, customer-1
led framework where we intentionally design customer experiences and products and services 2
that can meet their changing needs and preferences. We want to make sure every touch point 3
with our customer is easy and effective for them to do business with us, with a desire to improve 4
the overall sentiment. By putting our customers at the center of our corporate strategy, we are 5
investing in building a Customer Experience (CX) system to meet the needs of our current and 6
future customers. 7
Q. What is CX? 8
A. CX is how customers perceive their interactions with an organization. A 9
customer’s perception starts the moment they become aware of our Company and is ultimately 10
the sum of all interactions they have with us. There are three dimensions to CX that are 11
components of an experience that increases customer satisfaction and ultimately creates 12
customer loyalty. These dimensions are as follows: 13
Effective: Effective interactions meet the needs of the customer. The product or service 14
must deliver value to customers, or the experience will fail fundamentally. Effectiveness 15
is critical even though it is less likely to drive customer loyalty than emotion. 16
17
Ease: Easy interactions let customers achieve their goals with minimal effort. When 18
alternative paths to value are harder, ease of doing business creates competitive 19
advantage. 20
21
Emotion: The best interactions evoke positive customer emotions and avoid provoking 22
negative emotions. Positive customer emotions can lead to customer retention, 23
enrichment, advocacy, and loyalty. 24
25
A positive CX creates customer loyalty and loyal customers mean more than retention. 26
Loyal customers become advocates, they are more likely to seek our advice as energy advisors 27
and follow safety messages. Loyal customers are more likely to be aware of and participate in 28
the variety of products and services we offer such as Comfort Level Billing, energy efficiency 29

Hydzik, Di 13
Avista Corporation
programs, or distributed energy programs, to name a few. We also believe that loyal customers 1
are beneficial for the utility in the long-term, as competitive forces take hold in our industry. 2
Q. What is the difference between Customer Service and CX? 3
A. Avista provides excellent customer service, whether customers interact with our 4
call centers or with our field personnel. Avista’s recent results from its Voice-of-the-Customer 5
survey resulted in 98% satisfied customers Year-to-date through October 2022, for example. 6
Customer Service focuses on responding to customer problems and finding a solution. CX is 7
more proactive and strives to identify and eliminate customer pain points before they happen. 8
This adds value for the customer and can reduce overall costs to serve as well. 9
CX focuses on the customer’s end-to-end journey or experience with a company and 10
brand. It is the full omni-channel experience, meaning all touchpoints the customer has, such 11
as mobile device, website, call center, pay station, in person at an office or at their home by 12
someone in the field. The customer experience covers all these touchpoints and customers judge 13
us based on perceptions, interactions, and memories of these end-to-end experiences. 14
Illustration No. 1 below provides a summary of the difference between CX and Customer 15
Service. 16
Illustration No. 1: Customer Experience vs. Customer Service 17
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Hydzik, Di 14
Avista Corporation
Q. Why is CX important? 1
A. The utility industry is changing due to changes in customer expectations, digital 2
disruptions, policy and regulation changes, and renewable energy options to name a few. We 3
believe that the arrogance of success is to think what we did yesterday will be sufficient for 4
tomorrow. We have a successful past, and perform well, but because of the changes all around 5
us our past work is not sufficient to meet future customer needs. Customers no longer compare 6
us to other utilities. They compare our website to Amazon or Chewy and they compare their 7
interactions with our employees with companies like Starbucks or Dutch Bros. The standards 8
by which our customers are judging their interactions with us have increased and it is essential 9
that we are diligent in how we continue to improve our CX and the channels with which our 10
customers interact with us to meet those increasing expectations. 11
We have a window of opportunity to be proactive and build customer retention and 12
loyalty before the industry reaches a tipping point where changes are forced upon us. Waiting 13
too long to modernize to meet customer needs and expectations has proven costly to many 14
companies and famous brands that we all know. By investing in customer experience now, we 15
have an opportunity to better understand our customers’ motivations and behaviors so we can 16
develop products, services, policies, and systems that meet their needs, making interactions 17
easy and effective and leaving them with positive emotions. 18
Additionally, customer complaints cost time and money, so by proactively focusing on 19
improving the customer’s overall experience by making things effective, easy, and creating a 20
positive emotion, CX has the potential to reduce our cost to serve. When frustrated customers 21
contact companies, it requires resources to resolve their complaints or problems. The total cost 22
to resolve a customer complaint can vary greatly depending on the subject and complexity of 23
the complaint itself, ranging from as low as $10 per complaint if resolved quickly by a Customer 24

Hydzik, Di 15
Avista Corporation
Service Representative (CSR) in the first interaction to several hundreds of dollars if it requires 1
the involvement of other departments, including natural gas or electric crews. 2
Q. Why should Avista focus on CX? 3
A. Due to the looming disruption3 in the utility sector, customers may face an 4
increasing array of energy choices. Industry disruptors we see happening across our industry 5
include: 6
• Customer demand for green energy, electric vehicles, etc. 7
• Renewables 8
• Legislation and regulations 9
• Digital Transformation 10
• Municipalization – cities taking over the energy distribution ownership 11
• Changing workforce makes it harder to retain talent (e.g. Millennials and Gen Z 12
make up increasing share of employees) 13
• Community Choice Aggregation 14
Although many of these disruptors have not currently impacted Avista and our 15
customers as much as in some other areas of the country and the world, our focus on CX is 16
timely to get ahead of these changes that we will likely see in the future. Changes of this 17
magnitude often take many years and we have an opportunity to take a proactive approach to 18
preparing for industry disruption before we reach the point of reactive responses where it may 19
be too late to respond. Waiting too long to begin puts Avista and our customers at risk where 20
resources may already be depleted, competitive position already weakened, credibility and trust 21
already damaged, and energy for new or creative thinking drained. Our customers deserve for 22
us to be thoughtful and proactive to understand industry and societal trends and be ahead of the 23
curve in our response and focus. 24
Q. Was Avista’s focus on CX (and the technology projects in support of CX) 25

3 Disruption or reference to industry disruptors is not intended to be disparaging, rather is simply a statement of
fact.

Hydzik, Di 16
Avista Corporation
an issue in Avista’s prior general rate case? 1
A. Yes, Avista’s work in this area was an area of discussion during settlement 2
discussions with the Parties of Avista’s last rate case, Case No. AVU-E-21-01 and AVU-G-21-3
01. As a part of the Settlement Stipulation approved by the Commission in the last rate case by 4
way of Order 35156, the Parties agreed to the following:4 5
Customer Service Metrics/Customer Facing Technologies – Avista 6
agrees to meet and confer with Commission Staff to discuss customer 7
satisfaction metrics, and how the Company’s investment in 8
customer-facing technologies affect those metrics and drive customer 9
experiences. 10
11
The referenced workshop attended by members of Avista and Commission Staff was held 12
virtually on July 13, 2022. A copy of the workshop presentation related to Customer 13
Experience & Technology has been included as Exhibit No. 12, Schedule 2. 14
Q. What work is being done to support CX? 15
A. The planning for this work began in earnest in 2019. We have continued to focus 16
on CX throughout 2020, 2021 and 2022, and plan to continue our work on improving CX for 17
our customers well into the future. We have focused our work on two primary types of work: 18
1. Defining, Building, and Maturing our CX System 19
Examples of this include the following: 20
A. Customer Discovery – understanding our customers (and their wants and needs) 21
is imperative to ensure we are investing in the right things. Our focus has been on 22
building a system to make customer research faster, easier, and more efficient. CX 23
tools like empathy mapping, journey mapping, and others help us to better 24
understand the pain points that our customers experience when interacting with our 25
organization so that we can proactively design better processes or systems that 26
better meet our customers’ expectations. 27

4 Case No. AVU-E/G-21-01, Stipulation at ¶19(f), p. 19.

Hydzik, Di 17
Avista Corporation
B. Prioritization – systematizing how we prioritize the work that needs to be done 1
and ensuring that we are considering the needs of our customers, the needs of our 2
business, as well as feasibility helps us to better plan, resource, and support the 3
right projects. 4
5
C. Employee Enablement & Technology – identifying roadblocks and enabling our 6
employees to be able to better serve our customers is a key element of building an 7
effective CX system. We are focused on creating a line of site between the daily 8
work of every employee and the impact their work has on the customers. We are 9
defining and socializing a system where every employee understands how and why 10
they contribute to CX and what’s expected of them. Technology is a key part of 11
employee enablement. We are working to deliver enhanced digital self-service 12
channels and other technology tools that meet the evolving needs of our customers. 13
14
D. Experience Design – we have worked to create a framework that systematizes 15
how we approach projects from a human–centered perspective. We are now using 16
that to improve our customer understanding, prioritizing the work to be done, and 17
then designing solutions to better meet the needs of our customers. 18
19
2. Application of the CX System 20
We are using the elements of the system that we’ve created to take a critical look at 21
some of higher priority customer journeys, like Major Unplanned Outage Events, 22
Billing & Payment, and Energy Assistance. In addition, we’ve looked at other areas like 23
our Gas Compliance work, Vegetation Management, Small & Medium Business 24
experience, and Avista Foundation. The framework and systems that we’ve built help 25
us to better understand our customers’ experiences with us during these journeys, taking 26
our customer discovery to define insights that help to better inform issues, areas of 27
frustration, and opportunities so that we can be sure we are solving the right problems 28

Hydzik, Di 18
Avista Corporation
for our customers to make the largest impact. 1
Although the focus areas and examples above play a role in establishing and implementing our 2
CX strategy, the remainder of this testimony will focus on Customer Technology work. 3
Q. Please describe Avista’s CX work as it relates to Customer Technology. 4
A. To deliver upon the objectives defined above within the CX Initiative, we have 5
organized our Customer Technology work into three programs whose work is separate yet 6
highly interdependent on each other to deliver the information our employees need and the 7
customer experiences required. These three programs build upon our previous historical 8
technology projects and as stated previously, the three Customer technology programs are the 9
following: 10
1. Customer Transactional System (CTS) 11
2. Customer Facing Technology Program (CFTP) 12
3. Customer Experience Platform (CXP) 13
14
Q. How do Avista’s customer technology programs (CTS, CFTP & CXP) build 15
upon historical technology projects? 16
A. Technology complexity and sophistication constantly advances, and our 17
technology strategy must continue to mature along with industry and societal advances. We 18
continue to evaluate trends and match our strategy to industry and technology best practices 19
and customer expectations. Therefore, our technology portfolio must integrate seamlessly with 20
historical projects and build upon capabilities as we move into the future. 21
The Customer Technology work performed by Avista generally has two main purposes 22
and both are required to maintain and achieve customer expectations. The first purpose is to 23
sustain foundational utility capabilities such as billing, payments, field activities, meter reading 24
systems, low-income energy assistance programs, and energy efficiency programs. The second 25

Hydzik, Di 19
Avista Corporation
purpose of the Customer Technology work is expanding new capabilities that our customers 1
and users need to both make their tasks easier and more efficient as well as to add new 2
functionality and services. 3
Q. How does technology support foundational utility capabilities? 4
A. In support of the first purpose, all technology systems require upgrades to keep 5
the systems up to date and supported by our software vendor partners. These upgrades ensure 6
that the users of these systems can perform their jobs in the most efficient and timely manner 7
and that our customers are able to access various tools and information to self-serve. This 8
foundational work, including software upgrades, is necessary to ensure customers data security 9
and internal users can continue to perform the required operational utility capabilities. Each 10
system upgrade also typically comes with new enhancements that need to be enabled and/or 11
configured for our users to take advantage of the system improvements. New capabilities can 12
drastically improve business processes and increase efficiencies for all users, employees, and 13
customers alike. As our industry and customers’ expectations continue to evolve and expand, 14
the addition of new functionality and self-service capabilities is of increasing importance. 15
Avista completed the implementation of Oracle’s Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) 16
and Meter Data Management (MDM) system in 2015. These systems provide the backbone for 17
our customer account management services. In addition, the myAvista.com website was 18
launched in 2017 with improved self-service transactions with the benefit of avoiding phone 19
calls (see Figure No. 1). 20
The initial launch of myavista.com included self-service tools that were limited in scope 21
and through continued customer feedback over the ensuing years, it has been determined that 22
the digital tools customers use require enhancements to be easier to use and new tools are also 23
needed to meet ever-changing customer expectations. This maintenance and expansion of self-24

Hydzik, Di 20
Avista Corporation
service tools is the work that has been included in our Customer Facing Technology Program. 1
When large systems are implemented and software vendors later update those systems, 2
we are required to perform upgrades in order to keep them supported and up to date. CC&B 3
has been continually maintained and enhanced to improve the experience for our CSRs and to 4
respond to regulatory and compliance requirements. The majority of this work is included in 5
the Customer Transactional Systems Program. 6
As customer expectations continue to evolve through their experiences with technology 7
in other industries, we recognized that new tools would be needed for our employees to provide 8
an optimal customer experience that brings together information from multiple sources. 9
Integrating a multitude of disparate specialty applications to bring customer information 10
together into one place is included in the Customer Experience Platform. 11
Figure No. 10: Program Overview 12
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Q. Do Avista’s Customer Technology Programs (CTS, CFTP & CXP) provide 20
any financial benefits? 21
A. Financial savings are not the primary purpose of the Customer Technology 22
Programs. The primary purpose is to deliver basic functionalities required to operate our 23
business while at the same time delivering on our overall CX strategy of ensuring that our 24

Hydzik, Di 21
Avista Corporation
customer’s evolving and growing expectations are being met. All businesses are experiencing 1
the digital transformation that is occurring in our world and our goal is to support our customers 2
in that transformation while operating the business and maintaining customer satisfaction. 3
Having said that, the Customer Technology Programs do provide financial benefits in terms of 4
avoided costs (as compared to distinct hard savings). 5
The Customer Technology Programs also drive efficiencies related to the automation of 6
manual tasks. One such example is related to the automation of the ‘Start Service Request.’ 7
Historically, a ‘Start Service Request’ has been processed manually by a CSR requiring each 8
request to be reviewed and manually entered into CC&B. By automating this process, 9
employees can be focused on other, value-added customer issues and reduce the amount of time 10
it takes for Avista to resolve a customer inquiry/request. 11
Customer Transactional Systems (CTS) 12
Q. What is the primary purposes of the Customer Transactional Systems 13
Program (CTS)? 14
A. The purpose of the CTS program is to enhance and maintain the systems used to 15
support the day-to-day operational needs of our customers, internal users, third party partners 16
and our regulators. Primarily this includes the maintenance, regular upgrades and 17
enhancements for the following business critical functionality: 18
• Collection and storage of meter reads and meter data (MDM) 19
• Customer Billing (CC&B) 20
• Service Order Management 21
• Head End Metering Systems 22
• Energy and Agency Assistance Programs 23
• Rate Design and Rate modeling Tools 24
• Customer Energy Efficiency (iEnergy) 25
These systems are the “system of record” for many of the foundational elements of our 26
business and are where information is stored, secured, and used for reporting internally and 27

Hydzik, Di 22
Avista Corporation
externally. This includes the tracking of customer information, meter and account data, meter 1
reads, historical billing, payment information and payment arrangements as well as the tracking 2
and storage of multiple other customer account features. 3
In addition to simply keeping these systems up to date and functional, these systems are 4
required to support new functionality requests such as: enhancements to billing and rate options 5
such as Time of Use (TOU), product and services offerings, tracking and scheduling 6
appointments, payment arrangements, payment plans and payment options and meter data 7
information. 8
Q. Why is this work required now? 9
A. This work is required to ensure that our customer’s data remains secure, and our 10
core business processes and technology maintain operational functionality. Without the CTS 11
program, the company’s ability to keep our major systems current and fully functional would 12
be severely impacted. These systems require regular updates from the software vendors and 13
frequent security updates to ensure our customer data is protected. Without this work our ability 14
to meet customer, third party partner and regulatory expectations would be diminished. 15
Q. What customer capabilities are enabled through this technology? 16
A. Customer bills are generated, and payments are accounted for in the Company’s 17
CC&B system. Meter information (meter reads) are stored in the MDM and used to generate 18
customer bills. Additionally, any type of activity that is needed at a customer’s premise 19
(Service Orders) are also tracked within these systems and sent to field personnel to execute. 20
The CTS program ensures these core utility customer capabilities are performed. 21
Q. What are the CTS upgrades completed in 2022 and expected to be 22
completed through 2025? 23
A. Regarding work completed in the 2022 calendar year and forecasted to be 24

Hydzik, Di 23
Avista Corporation
completed in 2023-2025, see the following list. This feature/functionality set is updated and 1
reprioritized regularly to align with evolving customer needs and organizational goals. 2
CTS Program 2022 Work Completed: 3
• Real time address validation implementation for premises 4
• Account closing bill generation enhancements 5
• Payment Plan and Payment Arrangement enhancements 6
• System performance (processing speed) enhancements 7
• CC&B application upgrade (Oracle version update) 8
• MDM application upgrade (Oracle version update) 9
• FCS Mobile Solution Upgrade 10
• Meter Data Extract Enhancements 11
• Field Activity & Service Order Management (SOM) processing improvements 12
CTS Program 2023-2025 Forecasted: 13
• CC&B Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2023 14
• CC&B Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2024 15
• CC&B Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2025 16
• MDM Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2023 17
• MDM Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2024 18
• MDM Application Upgrade (Oracle version update) in 2025 19
• Bill Image Generation - Architecture Revision to Improve Resiliency 20
• Metering Head End System Application Version Updates 21
• Comfort Level Billing (CLB) Enhancements 22
• Field Activity and SOM Enhancements 23
• Tivoli Server Replacement for Security and Performance Enhancements 24
• Net Metering Paper Bill Presentment 25
• Server Replacement to Redhat 8 OS 26
• DSM Residential Rebate Application Enhancements 27
• Net Aggregation Automation for First Month Billing 28
• Payment Processing Resiliency Enhancements 29
30
Customer Facing Technology Program (CFTP) 31
Q. What is the primary purposes of the Customer Facing Technology Program 32
(CFTP)? 33
A. The purpose of the CFTP is to deliver value, ease and transparency to all 34
customers through our various digital channels including but not limited to myAvista.com, 35

Hydzik, Di 24
Avista Corporation
text/SMS, inbound and outbound voice phone systems, and our mobile app. The CFTP builds 1
upon the systems discussed in the CTS program and enables Avista’s inbound and outbound 2
communication channels and systems that customers rely on to interact with Avista. 3
Customer expectations have changed in that companies are expected to deliver fast, 4
easy, personalized, and intuitive self-service. Customers want a consistent experience from 5
their first interaction to the resolution of their issue and they are comparing Avista to all the 6
brands with which they interact. In addition to existing customers desiring to work with Avista 7
in digital ways, new customers reach adulthood every year and the expectations for self-service 8
and digital engagement continue to increase as these new tech-savvy generations become our 9
customers. The CFTP work ensures that Avista can continue delivering value to our customers 10
and making it easier for them to interact with us. 11
Q. What customer capabilities are enabled through the CFTP technology? 12
A. Customer self-service capabilities supported by the program include but are not 13
limited to: 14
• Viewing bill and associated info (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app, 15
automated phone) 16
• Paying bill (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app, automated phone, payment 17
kiosk) 18
• Viewing meter data and usage info (desktop web, mobile web) 19
• Outage Reporting (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app, automated phone, 20
text/SMS) 21
• Viewing outage information (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app, automated 22
phone, text/SMS) 23
• Start Service (desktop web, mobile web, automated phone) 24
• Stop Service (desktop web, mobile web, automated phone) 25
• Transfer Service (desktop web, mobile web, automated phone) 26
• Apply for Energy Efficiency Rebates (desktop web, mobile web) 27
• Reporting an Issue or Concern (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app) 28
• Alerts and Notifications (desktop web, mobile web, mobile app, automated 29
phone, text/SMS) 30
• Enroll in Payment Arrangements (desktop web, mobile web) 31
• Update Personal Contact and Account Information (desktop web, mobile web) 32

Hydzik, Di 25
Avista Corporation
If the digital channels become stagnant and are not enhanced to accommodate adjusted 1
customer behavior, customer satisfaction will decline, resulting in increased calls to the call 2
center and increases in costs to serve our entire customer base. 3
Q. How is the CFTP providing benefits to customers? 4
A. Avista’s digital channels are the primary ways our customers choose to interact 5
with the Company (see Figure No. 1). These channels provide ways for our customers to self-6
serve and complete their transaction or request in a fast and convenient way. Self-service is a 7
common trend across all industries and continues to be a choice many customers are electing 8
to make for many interactions with any business, including utilities. As highlighted above, 9
customers are increasingly choosing self-service channels to gain information and complete 10
transactions and we anticipate that this trend will continue. Further, customers provide feedback 11
after using the digital channels and Avista utilizes this customer feedback to help inform 12
enhancements that are required to make the customers’ self-service tools easier to use and more 13
efficient to access and accomplish tasks. The investments made are having a positive impact 14
on the customers’ experience using the digital channels. 15
Q. Please describe the technology systems and associated technology included 16
in the CFTP. 17
A. In addition to supporting the customer facing components/features described 18
above, the CFTP includes the foundational and technical work to run the customer facing digital 19
channels. The underlying technology must be kept up to date to stay performant for our 20
customers. Upgrades and service packs are required to keep the channels, and thus our 21
customer’s data, secure. The primary technology platforms supported by the CFTP includes all 22
systems used by our customers through digital channels. Specifically, myAvista.com web site 23
(desktop and mobile), mobile app, text/SMS and IVR. Additionally, systems that are 24

Hydzik, Di 26
Avista Corporation
underlying the digital channels like the web content management system (Sitecore) and website 1
and mobile app authentication (LoginRadius) are included within the CFTP. 2
Q. What are the CFTP upgrades completed in 2022 and expected to be 3
completed through 2025? 4
A. Regarding work completed in the 2022 calendar year and forecasted to be 5
completed in 2023-2025, see the following list. This feature/functionality set is updated and 6
reprioritized regularly to align with evolving customer needs and organizational goals. 7
CFTP Program 2022 Work Completed: 8
• My Clean Energy Revisions 9
• Self Service Payment Arrangements Phase II Release 10
• Add Enhancements for CSR→Customer online Chat 11
• Enable ‘Web Alias’ on Multi Customer Manager Accounts 12
• ‘Always-on’ Calculator to Enable Customer Education on Energy Use 13
• Fiserv (payment) Enablement of Single Sign-On CSR Agent Portal 14
• Contact Us Page Redesign 15
• Outage Resiliency 2022 AWS Home Page 16
• Energy Efficiency Enhancements: Home Energy Audit Online Form 17
• Gas Outage Customer Notification Orange Banner 18
• Get vs Retrieve Application Architecture Updates 19
• Energy Manager Page Enhancements 20
• Residential Rebate Fulfillment DSM Enhancements 21
• Alerts Notifications Icon ADA enhancements 22
• CSV Meter Data Download Button 23
• Web Furnace Filter Program 24
• Increase Pay Velocity for Multi-person accounts 25
• Renewable Natural Gas Enablement for Idaho 26
• Mobile App Contact Us Form pre-population of customer info 27
• Deployment of new Non-Smart Meter Usage Chart 28
• Windows Server Refresh Supporting Security and Performance Enhancements 29
CFTP Program 2023-2025 Forecasted: 30
• Myavista.com account authentication and security enhancements 31
• Automation of Self-service ‘Transfer Service’ on myavista.com 32
• ‘Prior Notification’ Enhancements 33
• Sitecore (content management system) Version upgrades as applicable 34
• Myavista.com Performance, Reliability and Resiliency Enhancements 35
• Enable Alert on Web to update Personal Account Information 36
• Fiserv (payment processor) “SOAP to REST” Update 37

Hydzik, Di 27
Avista Corporation
• Website Navigation and ‘Findability’ enhancements 1
• Enable Alerts and Notifications enrollment within Automated Start Service 2
• Account and Contact Preferences Updates and Enhancements 3
• Business Customer Portal Design, Build and Deploy 4
• Online Construction Estimation Tool – Design, Build and Deploy 5
• Enable Project Share One Time Donations 6
• Natural Gas Outage Map – Design, build and Deploy 7
• Storm Center (Electric Outage Map) version upgrade 8
• Add ‘View Usage’ functionality to Mobile App 9
• Mobile App - Add ability to take a picture when reporting an outage 10
• Mobile App – Add ability to check outage status 11
• Mobile App – Enable ‘Talk to text’ when reporting an outage 12
• Mobile App – Enable real time chat with CSR 13
• Mobile App – Enable street light outage reporting 14
• Landlord Customer Portal Design, Build and Deploy 15
• Windows Server Refreshes (as applicable) 16
Customer Experience Platform (CXP) 17
Q. What is the primary purposes of the Customer Experience Platform 18
(CXP)? 19
A. The purpose of the CXP is to bring together a multitude of disparate specialty 20
systems to enable a more seamless and improved customer experience across all of Avista’s 21
supported channels. This is important because our customers expect the Company to have a 22
complete understanding of all historical interactions, service requests and phone calls they’ve 23
had with us and the CXP program is delivering on that expectation. For example, our customers 24
want a seamless transition and consistent information when switching between channels of 25
interaction. A customer may start on myavista.com to report an electric outage, then call in a 26
few hours later to request additional information. In that scenario, our customers expect CSRs 27
to know that the customer reported an outage online and expects the CSR to have additional 28
information from internal systems to share. 29

Hydzik, Di 28
Avista Corporation
Figure No. 11: CXP Program Definition Overview 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Our systems, and how our employees transact with those systems are somewhat siloed 10
in nature. More specifically, different roles with the organization use systems that are 11
completely separate and specialized to the job that role/department are performing, and relevant 12
information may not be visible to CSRs or others who might need it due to data access or 13
licensing cost restrictions. 14
Prior to CXP, we did not have one single interface that can provide consistent 15
information and a single source of truth about our customers. Having this type of holistic 16
interface reduces confusion across departments, allows our employees to handle an entire 17
situation and answer customer questions without having to transfer a call or tell the customer 18
we will need to get back to them. This also allows our customers to no longer have to repeat 19
information with various employees of the Company about a single situation because all 20
interactions are logged and made available to the employees who need that information. This 21
platform brings our employees and our customers together by providing a single lens into all 22
customer interactions. 23
Q. What capabilities are enabled through the CXP program? 24

Hydzik, Di 29
Avista Corporation
A. The CXP program implements the technology necessary to support the emphasis 1
on CX at Avista. This program enables the creation of transformative tools for our employees, 2
enabling them to better support customers. Over time, every employee that works with a 3
customer will have more complete information at their fingertips that enables a personalized 4
experience for that customer. This will empower all departments and employees to work as 5
one in support of customers. 6
Recently, the CXP created a single interface that provides a consistent and 7
comprehensive view of each customer, their preferences, past interactions, communications, 8
and site visit history with Avista. Ultimately, this will enable Avista to better support each 9
customer as an individual while understanding their unique situation, history, and preferences 10
which will allow us to provide the personalized and proactive service that customers deserve 11
and have come to expect. 12
The CXP will provide a full omni-channel experience for our customers. The goal is to 13
create a better CX and drive better relationships with our customers across multiple points of 14
contact. Rather than working in parallel, communication channels and their supporting 15
resources will be designed and orchestrated to cooperate. For example, if a customer had a 16
question after logging into myavista.com and looking at their bill, and they pick up the phone 17
to call a CSR, the CSR will know that they were just browsing the billing section on the website. 18
By knowing this, the system can predict what the customer will be asking and can lessen the 19
amount of time on the phone with the customer while at the same time providing a better 20
customer experience. 21
Another capability recently released was visibility into customer communication 22
history. Historically, customer communications like email, outbound phone calls, and text 23
alerts were very difficult for CSRs and field personnel to see and know what was sent to the 24

Hydzik, Di 30
Avista Corporation
customer. This is information that is of tremendous value during a customer interaction. For 1
example: customers regularly receive spam and scam contacts from Avista impersonators. Due 2
to this, many customers will call Avista to verify if a recent communication they received was 3
actually sent by Avista. Prior to the implementation of the CXP, the CSR had to rely on memory 4
or internal email communication summaries sent by management. Now, all a CSR has to do is 5
pull that specific customer’s communication (email, text, phone) history to verify if the 6
communication was sent from our system. This is of tremendous value to the Company’s 7
employees because we can definitively answer the customers questions, and this is of 8
tremendous value to the customer because we can avoid or reduce the stress associated with 9
utility scams. 10
In summary, CXP brings disparate and distinct customer information together to 11
provide a more holistic or 360-degree view of the customer. Table No. 1 below provides a 12
summary of the CXP benefits enabled by the program. 13
Table No. 1: CXP Program Benefit Summary 14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Q. Why is the CXP work required now? 23
A. Our customers and our employees expect seamless and efficient interactions and 24

Hydzik, Di 31
Avista Corporation
the CXP program is working to deliver on that expectation. The tools we’ve deployed and the 1
tools we’re working towards enable employees and customers alike to lessen the amount of 2
time they are spending tracking down and dealing with an issue they need resolved. 3
Additionally, Avista’s strategy is increasingly focused on putting our customer at the center of 4
everything we do. Part of this strategy is preparing for a future where customers will have more 5
choice for energy service and adjacent products and services. In that future state, a great CX is 6
imperative to financial and organizational health. It takes many years to build the capabilities 7
described within this testimony and if we defer this work, we risk being far behind the curve 8
and not meeting expectations that our customers have. 9
This investment will also create internal efficiencies for our employees that interact 10
directly with our customers and those who are behind the scenes accomplishing tasks and work 11
on behalf of our customers. The transactions we will be providing in the customer experience 12
platform will be streamlined and take less time to complete. The CXP will also require less 13
training time for new employees and for new features. 14
Q. What are the CXP features completed in 2022 and expected to be completed 15
through 2025? 16
A. Regarding work completed in the 2022 calendar year and forecasted to be 17
completed in 2023-2025, see the following list. This feature/functionality set is updated and 18
reprioritized regularly to align with evolving customer needs and organizational goals. 19
CXP Program 2022 Work Completed: 20
• Customer 360 Dashboard (C360) Production Deployment 21
• Inbound Voice Channel Architecture Definition 22
• Energy Assistance Discovery 23
• CSR Email Communication Automation 24
• CSR Transactions Processing Automation 25
• Questline Email Campaign transition (furnace filter program communications) 26
• EVSE Commercial Application Process 27

Hydzik, Di 32
Avista Corporation
• Mobile Enablement for Employees in the field 1
• DSM residential rebate status display 2
• Social Care integration (enable ability to respond and track customer inquiries via 3
social media) 4
CXP Program 2023-2025 Forecasted: 5
• Implementation of improved Inbound Voice Technology systems designed to 6
decrease average call handle times and improve phone system reliability and 7
resiliency 8
• Automated Call Center Transaction Processing for Payment Arrangements and 9
Payment Plans 10
• Continued ‘C360’ enhancements to offer employees who interact with customers 11
more visibility into customer information and historical interactions. 12
• Migration of automated customer communications off legacy platforms (expense 13
savings), including but not limited to: 14
o One-way Text notifications for electric outage, bill ready and bill due 15
o Two-way text communications for outage reporting, outage status and 16
pay bill. 17
o Planned Outage customer communications 18
o All other automated emails currently sent by 3rd party vendors or other 19
disparate company systems. 20
o Vegetation Management customer communications. 21
• ‘Safe Tree’ Customer Communication Program in support of wildfire resiliency. 22
• Implementation of CRM functionality for Account management for large customers 23
• Provide mobile tools for employees in the field to have the full view of the customer 24
at their fingertips 25
• Electronic signature enablement for contracts being signed with customer 26
• Net Metering Application Workflow Automation 27
• Implement customer communications for field service work order completion. 28
• Claims Processing System Migration and addition of automated customer 29
communications. 30
• Implementation of new ‘knowledge management’ tools for use by CSRs. 31
32
IV. CUSTOMER TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS CAPITAL ADDITIONS 33
Q. With regards to the Customer Technology Programs (CTS, CFTP & CXP) 34
summarized within this testimony, what capital additions were completed (transferred to 35
plant) in 2022, and are expected to be completed through 2025? 36
A. Table No. 2 below provides the pro forma capital additions included in the 37
Company’s direct filed case over the Two-Year Rate Plan related to the Customer Technology 38

Hydzik, Di 33
Avista Corporation
Programs, as pro formed and discussed by Company witness Ms. Schultz.5 1
Table No. 2: Customer Technology Programs Capital Projects 2022-2025 2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Q. How does the Company govern work priority within the three Customer 11
Technology Programs summarized within this testimony? 12
A. The governance of what work is executed and prioritized within the three 13
programs is managed via a formal governance committee that includes representation from 14
across the organization. This governance committee meets monthly and is tasked with 15
prioritizing work within a defined budget and providing directional and functional oversight of 16
the teams executing the work within the programs. Specifically, as of December 2022, the 17
number of business requests the governance committee is tracking is over 150 unique 18
projects/work items that could potentially be pursued in the coming years. The currently 19
allocated capital budgets do not allow for the company to complete all known work in that 20
backlog, so a prioritization process is leveraged to ensure that the most beneficial and cost-21

5 As discussed by Ms. Schultz, the total Idaho electric and natural gas revenue requirement included in this filing
associated with pro formed Customer at the Center capital additions included in Table No. 2 above, for Rate Year
1, is approximately $1.6 million and $314,000, respectively; and $848,000 and $200,000, respectively, for Rate
Year 2. This estimate does not include the impact of retirements.

Hydzik, Di 34
Avista Corporation
effective work is executed on to fit within the budgets allocated. 1
Q. Does this conclude your pre-filed, direct testimony? 2
A. Yes, it does. 3