Customer Experience: TOU Rate Coach Emails

Customers who participate in the TOU Coach email program receive one of the following email types each week:

  • Introduction emails
  • Weekly Coach emails
  • Peak Usage Summary emails or Post-Bill Report emails

Which combination of emails a customer receives depends on which TOU Coach email experience they are selected for:

Standard Time of Use Coach Email Experience: The standard Time of Use Coach email experience provides utility customers with a series of weekly emails designed to encourage customers on TOU rate plans to shift electricity to off-peak hours. The standard Time of Use Coach email experience includes:

  • Introduction Email

  • Weekly Coach Email

  • Peak Usage Summary Email

Time of Use Coach Email Peak Disaggregation Experience: The peak disaggregation experience includes several modules designed to educate customers about their energy use during the peak hours and which appliances were used most during peak hours. The peak disaggregation experience includes:

  • Introduction Email

  • Weekly Coach Email with Peak Period Dissaggregation

  • Post-Bill Report Email

Each email is comprised of individual modules. Some of these modules are used in both the TOU Rate Coach emails and the Demand Rate Coach emails. Additionally, the Easy Open module, which is included in the Proactive Alerts Cloud Service, can also be included in Behavioral Load Shaping emails.

Oracle recommends using the default order of the modules, as the emails were designed to be read from top to bottom, to provide the reader with an easy-to-understand message about their energy use. The default order of the modules for each email is listed in the following topics.

Introduction Emails

The Introduction email is the first weekly email customers receive as part of the program. This email is designed to welcome customers to the program, provide peak hour energy use insights, and offer tips on how to reduce energy use during peak hours. The email also encourages customers to use less during peak hours by including information about the average savings of other utility customers who have shifted their use to off-peak hours.

The Introduction email contains the following modules, in the order listed:

This image shows the TOU Rate Coach Introduction email.

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Weekly Coach Emails

The Weekly Coach email is delivered to customers at the end of each week. It provides peak hour energy use insights as well as a comparison between peak hour electricity spending during the current week and the previous week. Customers begin receiving the Weekly Coach email after they receive their Introduction email, and do not receive the Weekly Coach email in weeks when they receive the Peak Usage Summary email or Post-Bill Report Email.

The Weekly Coach email experience varies depending on whether or not the customer was selected for the peak disaggregation experience.

Weekly Coach Email: The Weekly Coach email provides peak hour energy use insights as well as a comparison between peak hour electricity spending during the current week and the previous week for customers without peak period disaggregation.

The Weekly Coach emails contain the following modules, in the order listed:

This image shows an example of the TOU Rate Coach Weekly email.

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Weekly Coach Email with Peak Period Disaggregation: The Weekly Coach email with peak period disaggregation is sent to customers selected for the peak disaggregation experience. The email provides peak hour energy use insights, a comparison between peak hour electricity spending during the current week and the previous week, and a breakdown of up to three appliances that were used during peak hours.

The Weekly Coach email with weekly peak period disaggregation contains these modules, in the order listed:

Image of a weekly coach email that includes peak period disaggregation

Peak Usage Summary Emails

The Peak Usage Summary email is delivered every four weeks to customers participating in the standard TOU Coach email experience. The Peak Usage Summary email includes details about how the customer's electricity costs during peak hours changed throughout the month. It also lists the week during which peak hour electricity costs were lowest, and highlights the cost difference between this week and the week during which peak hour electricity costs were highest.

Note: Customers selected for the peak disaggregation experience receive the Post-Bill Report email instead of a Peak Usage Summary email.

The Peak Usage Summary emails contain these modules:

This image shows an example of the TOU Rate Coach Peak Usage Summary email.

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Post-Bill Report Emails

The Post-Bill Report is delivered to customers selected for the peak disaggregation experience in place of the Peak Usage Summary email each month. The report helps customers understand which appliances they are using during peak hours, and how that usage contributes to their energy charges under a TOU rate plan. It includes a comparison of peak usage or costs between the customer's most recent bill and previous bill, a peak period disaggregation module, and a tip.

Image of a report outlining a customers on-peak electricity use for their most recent bill

By default, the Post-Bill Report emails contain these modules, in the order listed:

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