Apogee Newsletter November 2021

November 16, 2021 | Newsletter

A Time For Thankfulness

Susan Gilbert, CEO, Apogee Interactive

 November is the time of the year when our thoughts turn to thankfulness, so we thought we’d use this issue to share what comes to mind here at Apogee as we approach the Thanksgiving holidays and reflect on our whirlwind year.  We pour out our thanks to our:

Energy Utility Clients.

With hundreds of long-time utility clients, many that have been with us for the entirety of our 28-years in business we appreciate their loyalty.  This year, like every year, we added quite a few new ones including utilities representing every utility segment we serve.   We are proud to welcome a variety of new investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, municipals, and Joint Action Agencies to our client base this year. This combination of new clients highlights our ability to provide impactful solutions to every segment of the energy industry.  We appreciate them all and work diligently to ensure we deliver tremendous value for the dollars invested in our services.  Besides welcoming new utilities, many of our long-time clients expanded their suite of Apogee services to include the exceptionally popular Personalized Video Messaging and added new variations to our online self-service and field energy audit applications.

Partners & Business Allies

We have been delighted to deliver webinars or projects and have partnered with many leading companies.  These include Eversource, Siemens, The Brattle Group, Apex Analytics, Rolling Energy Resources, ODEC, Fiserv, JD Power, Guidehouse, DNV-GL, the National Resource Defense Council, Hometown Connections, and Frost & Sullivan.  We give thanks too for the contributions to our APOGEE Institute Webinars by Dan Violette, Ahmad Faruqui, Scott Dimetrosky, Chris King, Amanda Levin, and of course our team of Apogee professionals who co-presented and conducted the events.  

Billing System Partners

We appreciate all the cooperation we receive from SEDC, NISC, Harris, and all the major billing systems including, Oracle to SAP that we work closely with to transfer customer information.  Apogee is often the “Intel Inside” that these companies use to bring cutting-edge energy analytics and bill explanations to their residential utility customers.

 Awards Providers.

The year started with a bang back in May as Apogee “rocketed up the Guidehouse Insights’ Leaderboard” that placed us among the top three performers in a field of fifteen Home Energy Management providers. We are especially proud to have received the highest scores in the critical categories of Technology, Production Strategy, Product Quality & Reliability, and Go-To-Market Strategy for our powerful, expansive customer engagement platform.

We are exceptionally proud that in September, our Public Power partner, Hometown Connections, named Apogee “Partner of the Year for Customer Engagement” for adapting our platform to serve the smaller municipals through agreements with Joint Action Agencies. 

Topping all that off was the notification in September that we were winners of the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2021 North American Technology Innovation Leadership Award.  The respected award recognizes companies that “shape the future of technology, altering the industry or business landscape.” 

Apogee winner of the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2021
North American Technology Innovation Leadership Award

But wait, there’s more!  Public Utilities Fortnightly just announced in their October special issue on Innovation the “2021 Top Innovators” publication that our client, Steve Goodson, of Jones Onslow EMC, was named one of the “Inspiring Individual and Teams of Innovators” for his work with Apogee on a creative new way of personally welcoming new customers using videos.  

As we all now prepare for some holiday time with friends, family, and loved ones, everyone here at Apogee wishes you the best for a joyful time of Thanksgiving.  

Read More Apogee Apogee’s Awards:

Public Utilities Fortnightly Top Innovators Award

Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Leadership Award  – Frost & Sullivan Report

Guidehouse Home Energy Management Leaderboard   – Guidehouse Report

Hometown Connections

 

Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Provides Clean Energy Opportunities

Sydney G. Roberts, Ph.D., Apogee Interactive

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal includes large and impactful initiatives to “deliver a more equitable clean energy future.” The U.S. Department of Energy1 will be allocated more than $62 billion for programs addressing nearly every aspect of the energy business. No doubt, it will take some time for DOE, industry, and stakeholders to develop implementation plans for all of these opportunities. Apogee remains engaged with DOE and industry associations to ensure that we are partners in this critical conversation with specific focus on bringing value to our customers through energy efficiency, demand flexibility, energy data, workforce development, and energy equity initiatives.

Funding is focused on the following areas:

Investing in American Manufacturing and Workers 

Invest in clean energy technology, advanced manufacturing, supply chains, and workforce development.

Expanding Access to Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy for Families, Communities and Businesses

Increase funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program, invest in cleaner schools, and provide funding to states to develop and implement clean energy programs.

Delivering Reliable, Clean, and Affordable Power to More Americans

Enhance electric grid resilience and expand the Smart Grid Investment Matching Grant Program. Support existing nuclear and hydropower generation facilities.

Building the Technologies of Tomorrow through Clean Energy Demonstrations – Fund clean energy demonstrations and research hubs focused on next generation technologies including, clean hydrogen, carbon capture, and advanced nuclear.

DOE Fact Sheet: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Will Deliver for American Workers, Families, and Usher in the Clean Energy Future

Banning Natural Gas…Now?

Joel Gilbert, P.E., CSA Apogee Interactive

 It is alarming to see areas in the United States ban natural gas in new construction now while electricity is incrementally using natural gas and coal to produce power today.  When you ban natural gas for new construction, the water heater will most likely be electric, which will then result in 2-3 times the amount of natural gas being consumed by a power plant to produce that electricity.

The idea that electricity will someday be produced by wind and solar alone is an aspirational goal, but far from reality, so why are natural gas companies going along without fighting this nonsense?  Is it that they don’t believe there will be that much new construction to make much of a difference?  Is it that they don’t have enough natural gas supply to take on additional loads?

 The TV show Good Morning America recently featured a home being retrofitted in New Jersey, and they were proclaiming that changing the existing gas fired water heater was going to save them money.  It won’t. They said it was the green thing to do… and it isn’t.  Why didn’t the utility serving that customer complain and/or correct the broadcast?

Please let us know if you would like Apogee to offer a webinar on this topic to shed light on what really happens today when you ban use of natural gas in buildings.   

Where in the World is Apogee?

Kim Johnson, Key Accounts Manager,  Apogee Interactive

 The Apogee sales team has been spanning the US the last couple months, meeting with customers and sharing industry knowledge.

Danny Watkins and Jim Hunter from Apogee’s Client Success team attended the PowerSouth Fall Focus Conference and were happy to sit down in person and talk with customers, make new contacts, and take in the great educational sessions.

Nils Frenkel, Apogee’s VP of Sales, attended the APPA Financial & Business meeting and spoke on Customer Engagement trends with Jennifer Rogers from OMPA

Stephanie Knight Johndrow, Key Account Manager, was a featured speaker at both the Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC) Member Services Meeting and the APPA Customer Connections Conference. Liz Burroughs, Apogee’s Digital Engagement Manager, attended the APPA conference as well.   At TEC, Stephanie’s topic focused on digital transactions and how digital engagement impacts the customer experience.

At APPA, Stephanie was joined by John Adkinson, Lakeland Electric’s Manager of Energy and Business Services, sharing how online tools and proactive messaging deliver more value to customers and benefits the utility. 

If you are interested in hearing more about any of these presentations please, contact your Account Manager or info@apogee.net.

In case you missed it…

Listen to our recent webinar: Solar Shenanigans, Joel Gilbert, P.E. 

Speaker Bio

 Windows that pay for themselves?  Free solar for your home?  Get even with the power company? Shams and scams have been with us for decades, but the most interesting thing is how sophisticated they have become. 

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