Design and Configuration: Time of Use Coach Emails

This section discusses the design, configuration options, and the user experience variations that are specific to the Time of Use (TOU) Coach emails.

TOU Coach emails are designed to encourage AMI customers on a TOU electricity rate plan to shift their electricity use to off-peak hours. TOU Coach emails include rate plan details, personalized energy use insights, and actionable load shifting tips to help customers save money on their electric bills.

Customers receive one of the following TOU Coach emails each week:

  • Introduction email
  • Weekly Coach email
  • Peak Usage Summary email

Each of these emails is comprised of a specified set of Behavioral Load Shaping modules that are intended to help customers understand their TOU rate plan, and educate them on how to save electricity and money.

Note: Each email is comprised of individual modules. It is strongly recommended that you use 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 appropriate section below.

Introduction Email

The first email customers receive as part of the TOU Coach program is the Introduction email. This email is designed to welcome customers with TOU rate plans to the program, provide peak hour electricity use insights, and offer tips on how to reduce electricity 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 following image shows an example of a standard TOU Introduction email:

This image displays the TOU Coach Introduction email.

By default, the Introduction email contain these modules, in the order listed:

  1. Email Header Module
  2. Welcome Message Module
  3. TOU 101 Module
  4. Hourly Usage Module
  5. Big Appliance Module
  6. Email Footer Module

Weekly Coach Email

The Weekly Coach email is delivered to customers at the end of each week as part of the TOU Coach email program. It provides peak hour electricity 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.

The following image shows an example of a standard Weekly Coach email:

This image shows the Weekly Coach email.

By default, the Weekly Coach email contains these modules, in the order listed:

  1. Email Header Module
  2. Season Transition Module (Included during seasonal transition periods only.)
  3. Weekly Comparison Module
  4. TOU 101 Module
  5. Hourly Usage Module
  6. Tips Module
  7. Email Footer Module

Peak Usage Summary Email

The Peak Usage Summary email is delivered to customers every four weeks. It 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.

The following image shows an example of a standard Peak Usage Summary email:

This image shows the Peak Summary TOU Coach email.

By default, the Peak Usage Summary email contains these modules, in the order listed:

  1. Email Header Module
  2. Season Transition Module (Included during seasonal transition periods only.)
  3. Peak Usage Summary Module
  4. TOU 101 Module
  5. Hourly Usage Module
  6. Tips Module
  7. Email Footer Module

The topics that follow discuss the specific design, configuration options, and user experience variations for each module.

In this section:

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