THE CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS WILL OPEN FEBRUARY 26, 2025.

Agenda Format for RMUE

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. The final format will be dependent on submissions received. Ideally, the agenda would include two workshops, the utility roundtable discussion, and several general sessions to be presented over four 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.

Selection Process

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 (expected topics and suggestions are listed below). All submitters will be notified of acceptance (or not) prior to agenda publication. Presenters will be required to attend an online coordination meeting/rehearsal, subsequent online coordination meetings and rehearsals with the facilitators and other presenters will be conducted on a session-by-session basis as needed. All presenters must register to attend RMUE in-person, discounts are not offered for presenters.

All presenters must agree to the Presenter Policy.

SESSION TOPIC SUGGESTIONS
When submitting a proposal and choosing a potential session topic, keep these items in mind:

  Federal / State Funding Resources & Partnerships

  • Inflation Reduction Act highlights
  • State & federal grants
  • New direct pay option for commercial projects
  • 179D tax deductions assignable to non-profits
  • Home electrification projects
  • Impact on existing programs
  • Partnership opportunities
  • Low income and medium income funding requirements
  • Customer experience and contractor experience, e.g. how many application forms, where can they go to get more information, etc.
  • Grant writing
  • Microgrid funding – state and federal
  • Federal funding webinars
  • Resources available to commercial and industrial customers to support DER projects
  • On Bill Tariff Repayment – rebate consolidation
  • Capturing Carbon Credits for BE funding
  • Partner Collaboration – “One Stop Shop” for rebates

 Silo-Busting Collaboration, Partnership, Innovation Development & Paradigm Shift

  • 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
  • Value proposition for trade allies and engagement strategies
  • Impact to contractor bidding practices
  • How can we learn from one another to build better programs across residential and commercial offerings?

 Distributed Energy Resources

  • Energy efficiency programs and technologies – residential
  • Energy efficiency programs and technologies – commercial
  • Electric vehicle offerings
  • Fleet electrification offerings
  • Distributed generation (i.e. solar)
  • Distributed storage (i.e. batteries)
  • Microgrids, Virtual Power Plants, DERMS, and Load Control
  • Opportunities in new construction (residential and commercial) 

Consumer Engagement with Communication Strategies and Tactics That Work

  • Best in class ways to communicate complex utility concepts from/to customers
  • Underserved customers and how to reach them
  • Reaching customers where they are: technology, marketing, and analytics that work
  • Rate design/communications and general consumer Energy Literacy
  • What does the changing utility-consumer relationship look like today?
  • Lessons learned, from EVs, solar, TOU rates or demand charge launches: What do consumers need to know in order to assess the value of program offerings and/or be accepting of new and sometimes strange rate options?
  • Smart meter communication tools
  • Communicating renewables: RECs vs new construction, etc.
  • Builders’/developer voices
  • Demand response engagement
  • Engaging trade allies in engagement strategies
  • Workforce development
  • Interconnections (residential and commercial): How to connect with customers for the “right solutions”
  • Is a “one stop shop” approach the best approach?
  • Cross-marketing TOU adoption with EV’s
  • Best practices to engage commercial and industrial customers on an ongoing basis

 

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
  • How to balance resources between the concentrated potential of commercial customers and the need to serve all customers regardless of their size (residential)?

 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
  • How to address equity and serving income-qualified customers in commercial programs (multifamily and non-profits)?

Trends

  • Large Loads / Data Centers
  • Bring Your Own Resource
  • Decrease in loads
  • Load projections/forecasts
  • EV charging (passenger and fleet) load impacts/management: Load building opportunity or grid system failure
  • Electrification

None of the Above: Now for Something Completely Different

Suggest a topic not mentioned above with a suggested theme

All presenters must agree to the Presenter Policy.