Requirements and Limitations
The following data requirements and limitations apply to all utilities and customers in the Peak Time Rebates Cloud Service.
Channel Fees
Utilities may purchase a channel fee if they are using any printed peak time rebate communications as part of the Oracle Utilities Opower program. Channels fees are used to add on report generation, printing, mailing, and postage services to a cloud service. There are two types of options: General Availability and Controlled Availability channel fees. The type that is relevant depends on the individual Oracle Utilities Opower program setup. Coordinate with your sales representative if you need help determining which type applies.
A summary of the fees is shown below. For more details about what each channel fee includes and the requirements for using them, see the Oracle Utilities Opower Channel Fees Cloud Services guide.
General Availability Channel Fees
The General Availability channel fees are applicable if the utility has a version of the cloud service that includes report generation. These channel fees can be purchased for different regions.
- Report Printing and Mailing: The Report Printing and Mailing channel fee includes the printing of generated report communications through an approved third-party print vendor, as well as services for the proper mailing of the reports. It does not include postage for mailing the reports to customers.
- Postage for Print and Mail: The Postage for Print and Mail channel fee includes postage for the delivery of print communications. Note: The postage channel fee cannot be purchased alone. It must be purchased in combination with the printing and mailing channel.
Controlled Availability
The Controlled Availability channel fees are applicable if the utility has a version of the cloud service that does not include report generation. A utility may only choose one of the channel fees listed below.
- Report Generation: The Report Generation channel fee includes generating a digital version of print communications. It does not include the printing and mailing of print communications.
- Report Generation and Print: The Report Generation and Print channel fee includes the generation and printing of print communications. It does not include the mailing of print communications.
- Report Generation, Print, and Mail: The Report Generation, Print and Mail channel fee includes the generation, printing, and mailing of print communications.
Utility Data Requirements and Limitations
- Number of Events: Up to five events are included per 12-month service period. Events generally occur during the June 1 - September 30 window. Unused events from one window cannot be carried over into the following window. Additional evens can be purchased.
- Message Delivery Window: Specific rules govern when communications can and cannot be sent. See Delivery for additional information.
- Scale: Limited to 1,000,000 households per utility. The actual number of communications sent may be affected by attrition, opt-outs, customer eligibility, and data availability.
- Languages: English only.
- Data Integration: Utilities must provide customer baseline usage, customer rebate amounts, and peak event definitions (including date, day, and time) to Oracle Utilities in a specified format to trigger communication delivery. This data must be sent in the right format according to the Oracle Utilities Opower data transfer standards. Your Delivery Team will work with you to identify which data standards are applicable to your situation.
- Customer Enrollment: Customers are not able to control their communication preferences using the Energy Efficiency Web Portal - Classic. Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are unable to control enrollment using the Customer Service Interface (CSI). However, these preferences are available through APIs, and the customer can opt themselves out of the email, text, and voice channels.
- Minimum Number of Rebate Recipients: By default, at least 10,000 customers must have received rebates during an event for post-event communications to be sent out. This threshold is configurable. Post-event communications expire seven days after an event, and pre-event communications expire at the end of the event window.
- Mobile Push Alert Requirements: To use mobile push alerts to communication peak day information, the utility must have a mobile application, and use a vendor to handle push notifications.
Customer Data Requirements and Limitations
- Interval Data: Interval data reads are used to provide certain Peak Time Rebate features, including web presentment, measurement, and verification. Interval data requires a smart meter, and indicates how much energy was consumed over an interval of time. For more information, see Oracle UtilitiesOpower Interval Data Transfer Standards.
- Customer Contact and Preference Data: Delivered to Oracle Utilities through the Customer Notification Contact and Customer Notification Contact Preference Endpoints in the Oracle UtilitiesOpower API Specification. Oracle Utilities requires each Designated Customer’s contact information and Peak Time Rebate notification preference to indicate which channels Oracle Utilities should use to alert the customer of the peak event and any earned rebates. An initial one-time transfer of existing customer Peak Time Rebate contacts and channel preferences may be required.
- Non-Negative Baseline Usage: Customers must not have negative usage for the period covered by the communication.
- Delivery Address Validity: Customers must have valid email addresses, mailing addresses, and/or phone numbers to receive communications through these channels. Customers who have not double-opt-in confirmed their SMS number are not able to receive SMS alerts.
- Program Enrollment: Customers must be enrolled in a rate plan that includes a Peak Time Rebates component.
- Post-Event Communications: To receive post-event communications, customers must have both baseline usage and rebates for that event.
- Module-level Data Requirements: If a module is included in a communication, but the customer does not meet the requirements for the module to render, the communication does not generate for that customer.
- Days of the Week: Peak events are generally called Monday through Friday. Only a single event may be called in a day.
- Mobile Push Alert Requirements: To receive mobile push alerts from the utility, utility customers must install and sign into the utility's mobile application on their mobile device.
- Web Component Data Requirements: Customers must have the following AMI data available to see rebate information in the Costs view of the Energy Efficiency Web Portal - Classic. See Web-Based Insights for more information.
- Customers must have daily AMI data to see a peak event callout and/or a rebate icon for a given day in the Costs view and By bill filter of the Data Browser in the Energy Efficiency Web Portal - Classic.
- Customers must have hourly AMI data to see their energy use per hour and Credits Earned callout in the Costs view and By day filter of the Data Browser in the Energy Efficiency Web Portal - Classic