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Revised ConEd CONnectED Homes Platform Approved (Utility To Resell, Bundle Value-Added Services to Customers, ESCOs Had Called "Anti-Competitive")

December 9, 2015

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Copyright 2010-15 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Staff of the New York PSC have approved a revised proposal from Consolidated Edison to implement its CONnectED Homes Platform, a Reforming the Energy Vision demonstration project which envisions the utility bundling and reselling value-added services to customers.

As previously reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, under the CONnectED Homes Platform, ConEd would analyze a customer's usage to tailor unique distributed or smart energy offers to the customer. Third-party energy service vendors of smart energy services would pay a fee to be referred to appropriate customers based on these analyses and to advertise as part of the program; however, the platform also envisions certain services will be bundled and resold by ConEd itself.

The demonstration project, which is proposed to last through the end of 2017, would be limited to residential customers in Brooklyn and Westchester

For the demonstration project, ConEd has initially selected three types of services to be offered, with companies selected by ConEd outside of an RFP. The services are solar systems, to be offered by SunPower; energy efficiency audits/retrofits and energy appliance installations and repairs, offered by HomeServe USA; and an "exclusive" bundle of a smart thermostat with energy savings services, offered in conjunction with Nest, including Nest seasonal savings

Under the program, ConEdison will reach out to customers with personalized offers for energy products/services via direct mail, email, and bill inserts

In response to PSC Staff feedback, ConEd revised the program to add to the CONnectED Homes Platform an online Marketplace, and also added a process for selecting additional distributed energy resource (DER) products from vetted third-party energy service providers

The Marketplace, to which ConEd will push customers via various communications, will be a website linking customers directly to retailers where they can purchase energy saving distributed energy resources. Customers will also have the opportunity to purchase small energy-saving products directly on the website

Of the Marketplace, ConEd said, "It will aggregate available products and consumer reviews from major sites, and it will provide an independent energy score for each product that is more selective and informative than currently available rating systems."

"The Marketplace will have a wide range of appliances and large and small electronics that provide energy efficiency benefits to all customers," ConEd said

However, the revised CONnectED Homes Platform otherwise retains the utility-selected exclusive vendors and utility bundling described above -- which retail suppliers had said provides a, "distinct and discriminatory competitive advantage," to selected utility partners (click here for story)

PSC Staff has now said that ConEd's revised CONnectED Homes Platform complies with the objectives previously issued by the PSC for REV demonstration projects

A formal Staff report memorializing Staff's finding will be issued shortly, which will then prompt the filing of an implementation plan by ConEd

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