|
|
|
CONTACT INFORMATION
Puget Sound Energy
Bob Whittemore
Marketing Communications Manager
BWhittemore@nexusenergy.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Puget Sound Energy Launches
Breakthrough Customer Web Portal
WELLESLEY MA, September 6, 2006 - Puget Sound Energy (PSE),
a Bellevue, WA-based electric and gas utility, recently launched the
My PSE Account -- a customer dashboard -- on its Website, providing
bill payment and analysis capabilities that help customers proactively
manage their energy costs. My PSE Account provides personalized benchmarks
of costs as compared with similar homes, causes of bill changes, hourly
use analysis, the savings of potential rate options, examination of
the costs of appliances, and what can be saved by managing how those
appliances are used.
Nexus Energy Software was chosen to provide its ENERGYprism®
Web-based energy bill analysis software system as the basis for
PSE’s customer dashboard. The ENERGYprism application is also
supporting PSE’s Customer Service phone center representatives
with similar tools to help them respond to high bill inquiries,
allowing calls to be handled quickly and consistently. ENERGYprism’s
bill analysis is based on advanced models that use bill history
and interval meter data as well as weather and customer-provided
information
“We are very excited about this,” said Darren Brady,
PSE’s Vice President of Customer Services. “We’ve
already received very favorable feedback by e-mail from our customers
who have used the My PSE Account. From a customer service transaction
standpoint, the dashboard will be the focal point of moving our
customers through the web. From a true self-service perspective,
it will be our portal for our customers to interact with us for
customer service functions.”
“The Web is going to become more and more of a presence
in utility customer service,” Brady explained. “With
the success we’ve had with the Internet through electronic
billing and the Nexus programs, and with the infrastructure we have
in place, such as our AMR technology, it’s a good time for
us to enhance our platform and move it forward.”
My PSE Account extends PSE’s successful prior deployment
of Nexus’ energy efficiency software tools used on the Puget
Sound Energy website as well as for driving personalized energy
efficiency content to customers via e-mail. In its first month,
My PSE Account enrolled 7,000 users, and the use of the existing
Web energy efficiency site rose 50%.
“We are pleased to be part of Puget Sound Energy’s
campaign to transform how its customers look at energy,” remarked
Harvey Michaels, Chairman and CEO of Nexus Energy Software. “PSE’s
leading edge My PSE Account is off to a great start in attracting
and satisfying users through the Web as well as through phone-based
customer service and should easily surpass the 12-15% annual customer
use rates we’ve seen elsewhere. In addition, we’re already
seeing that by providing online customer service, more PSE customers
are utilizing the existing online energy efficiency tools to manage
their costs and get more value out of the daily energy usage information
PSE collects."
About Nexus Energy Software
Nexus’ proven analytics-based software solutions
provide energy companies with greater customer insight and more
effective customer interactions across all customer channels, while
enhancing key back-office enterprise functions. Nexus’ browser-based
product lines work together to transform both energy company and
customer views of energy, in order to reduce costs of business services,
optimize assets, and reduce natural resources required to meet demand,
while becoming more responsive to customer needs.
Nexus’ solutions, in use by more than 75 energy companies
worldwide, can be viewed on-line at: www.nexusenergy.com.
About Puget Sound Energy
Puget Sound Energy is Washington State’s largest
energy utility, providing electric service to more than 1 million
customers and natural gas service to 677,000 in 11 Washington counties.
The utility’s customer base is growing annually at about 2
percent for its electric service and 3 percent for its natural gas
service.
As a regulated utility, Puget Sound Energy is following a strategy
that emphasizes meeting the energy needs of its customer base through
incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, low-cost procurement
of energy resources, such as wind power, and prudent investment
in energy-delivery infrastructure while consistently delivering
high levels of customer service. For more information, please visit
www.pse.com
# # #
|
|
