NSTAR Smart Energy Pilot Update

January 9, 2013

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Agenda

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1 Pilot Design

2 Preliminary Findings

3 Pilot Evaluation Timeline

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Green Communities Act was the catalyst for our Dynamic Pricing Pilot

• Green Communities Act Pilot Requirements:— Cover at least 0.25% of the utility’s customers — Integrate two way communications and real time measurement of

consumption data.— Utilize Time of Use or Hourly Pricing— Achieve 5% reduction in Peak and Average usage

• NSTAR AMR-Based Dynamic Pricing uses existing AMR meter infrastructure in conjunction with Tendril Home Area Network.

• Proposals submitted to the MA DPU April 2009; Approved in March 2010

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Pilot Design

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Near Real-Time Information for Customers and Utilities•Communication Options

•Least Cost Options•Minimize Stranded Costs

CellularCellularBroadband over Power LineBroadband over Power Line

MeshMesh

AMR over Customer’s Broadband ServiceAMR over Customer’s Broadband Service

CellularCellular

Pilot Design

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Display

All participants

NSTAR AMR-Based Dynamic Pricing

Load Control Switch

Half of the participants

TranslateGateway

Portal

Thermostat

Pilot Design

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This project will test customer reaction to rates and near real-time information, comparing results from 4 treatment groups.

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Group Smart Thermostat / Direct Load Control

Target Number of Customers

1 Enhanced Information No 770

2 Peak Time Rebate 700

3 Time-of-Use (TOU) Rate plus Critical Peak Pricing (CPP)

700

4 No 700

Total 2,870

Pilot Design

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•NSTAR will call no more than 12 Critical Peak Events during the course of the year, each lasting for up to 5 hours•Peak Time Rebate customers will be eligible to earn a fixed rebate of $5 per event if the customer allows central air conditioning (A/C) load control•TOU-CPP customers will experience steep price differentials, per the table below

Pricing Structures

Illustrative TOU and CPP Rate Periods and Prices

Period

Summer Period(June -

September)

Winter Period

(October - May)

Standard

Supplier Charges($/kWh)

Approximate Supply

Price Ratio(Relative

to Standard)

Illustrative Supply Price

($/kWh)

Illustrative

Delivery Charges($/kWh)

Total Electricity Price

($/kWh)

Critical Peak As called by NSTAR $0.08 x 10.62 :1 = $0.82 + $0.08 = $0.90

On-peak Noon to

5pmnon-holiday weekdays

4pm to 9pmnon-holiday weekdays

$0.08 x 2.23 : 1 = $0.17 + $0.08 = $0.25

Off-peakAll other times

during the period $0.08 x 0.60 : 1 = $0.05 + $0.08 = $0.13

Pilot Design

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1,864Currently Enrolled

3600Customers Enrolled

2,700Customers Installed

53,000Customer contacts

6.7% Response

25% Dropout prior to Install

30% Dropout after install

•Challenging to convert “interest” to “install” and to sustain interest long- term.

Preliminary Findings

Common de-enrollment reasons:•Devices off-line•Dislike TOU/CPP rate; Dislike thermostat; Not saving money.

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Participants are highly educated and technologically savvy.• Most participants make over $100k;

—38% make $150k+ —20% make less than $75k

• Only 5% of participants do not have a college degree. 67% have a post-graduate degree.

• Participants are technologically savvy; 44% have 3 or more personal computers. Less than 1% have 0, and 20% have 1 PC.

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*Based on 64% response rate to pre-pilot survey (2,000 responses)

Preliminary Findings

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Some customers love the increased information; others expect more.

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“It was very helpful and made me conscious of what I used for electricity and made me think of when to do laundry.”

“I have found the program both informative and educational from a best practice standpoint as well as helpful from a financial incentive perspective. Thank you all, especially for the responsive customer service.”

“The thermostat and its connectivity to the web portal were very helpful. While it was neat to have the in-home display to see what is going on, I don’t think it impacted our decisions about energy usage.”

“All it really told me was that my A/C and electric dryer use a lot of energy, which I already knew.”

“The In Home Display is useless and the data is not actionable. You need to have a mobile app.”

Preliminary Findings

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Evaluation – Three inter-related pieces

• Impacts— Demand reductions (kW) after CPP events and in peak

periods— Energy savings (kWh) by season and year— Customer bill savings ($)

• Process and Customer SatisfactionMethods: Customer surveys and assessment of program

processes— Barriers to (and drivers of) participation— Customer acceptance & satisfaction— Improvements in structure and delivery of offerings

• Technology— Ease of deployment and support— Accuracy and reliability for billing and customer information— Customer acceptance

Preliminary Findings

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Load reductions during summer events vary with the rate and technology

• Automated load control via thermostats achieves reductions of 0.7 – 0.8 kW

• CPP rate without thermostats saves ~0.2 kW

• Technology group shows savings, but negligible

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* Findings based on two events in Summer 2012, with simple baseline load estimation

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Peak TimeRebate(n=349)

TOU/CPP +LC (n=309)

TOU/CPP(n=868)

Tech. Only(n=903)

Ave

rage

Loa

d Re

duct

ion

(kW

)

Peak Time Rebate : Group 2TOU/CPP + LC: Group 3TOU/CPP: Group 4Tech. Only: Group 1

Preliminary Findings

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Web Portal: Used infrequently by most participants; many want more useful data

72% 66% 63%55%

22%27% 28%

28%

6% 7% 9%17%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Appearance Navigation DataAccuracy

DataUsefulness

Negative (1-2)

Neutral (3)

Positive (4-5)

• 75% of participants accessed the Web Portal at least once(based on year-end 2011)

— Of those, 52% indicated that they use the Web Portal “rarely”; 15% use it “several times a week.”

• Web Portal users rate the site’s attractiveness most highly and the data usefulness most negatively.

• Suggested improvements:— Less data lag— iPhone app

Percentages are of participants who used the Web Portal at least once (n=252)

Preliminary Findings

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PilotStart

Official DOE

End of PilotOfficial

DOE

PilotKick-

offSoft

Launch

Summer 2010

January 2012

September 2012

Winter 2013

Summer 2013

December 2013

Spring 2014

24 months

Interim Report to

DPU

Pilot Evaluation Timeline

• Pilot will run through 12/31/2013 with the final evaluation to US DOE and MA DPU due April 2014.