Gilbert Caption This Photo & Win!

Free Web Workshop Oct 15; Boot Camp Oct 13 - 14

Apogee's 2 nd Annual Free Web Workshop promises a full day of non-stop, leading-edge learning with industry experts. Beginning with JD Power & Associates ' 2003 Customer Satisfaction Survey, Jeff Conklin will show what drives utility customer satisfaction and the role Websites play in those ratings. Vishal Daga of edocs Inc. will share how leading organizations like Toyota and AT&T Wireless are leveraging the Internet to improve customer satisfaction and increase underlying operational efficiencies. WebSideStory will demonstrate the latest in real-time Web analytics methods and practices.

Plus, get a first-hand look at the Internet strategies and techniques being put into play by your colleagues at FPL, OG&E, Sawnee EMC and TVPPA. And learn the latest in interactive tools, content management systems, and energy-related Web content from Apogee.  

Includes a networking dinner cruise the night before on Georgia's gorgeous Lake Lanier. Click here for full agenda. And register by Oct. 8.

Boot Camp Drills Down Farther

For those who want a comprehensive assessment of their utility's Website and an action plan for improvement, sign up for the Apogee Web Boot Camp on Oct. 13-14.   Rob Wilhite, eStrategy Director for Apogee and former Accenture utility consultant, will conduct this intensive 2-day session for Web managers ready to move their sites forward.

He'll take participants through:

•   Characteristics of High-Performing Websites

•   eBusiness Assessment Methodology

• Key Management Interviews – Set Expectations

• 4-Step Website Assessment Methodology – Gap Analysis

• Primary Evaluation Framework – Needs Prioritization

• Metrics for Success – Enhance Investment Returns

•   Build the Foundation: Functionality is a Necessity

•   Create the Main Structure: Content Drives Visitors

•   Develop the Crown: Governance Ensures Success

•   Exercise One: Website Self-Assessment and Review

•   Special Design Topics

• Design and Navigation Trends

• Revolution in Content Management

• Monitoring and Measuring Visitor Traffic

• Maximizing Customer Self-Service

•   Exercise Two: Website Action Plan Development

Don't miss this exceptional learning experience for $475 on Oct. 13-14. Space is limited. Click here for agenda. Register by Oct. 8.

Former Publisher of Public Utilities Fortnightly Leads Apogee's OrientationExpress^TM

How do you begin to instill perspective, industry knowledge, collective wisdom, and institutional memory in your employees when daily time pressures seem to eclipse any opportunity for such fundamental training?

This is a universal challenge we've heard expressed increasingly by our clients as we enter our 10 th year of consulting in the energy industry.

It's also a challenge we're helping to solve with OrientationExpress™, an intensive and engaging Web-based course about the utility industry that is supplemented and customized with each sponsoring company's information.

Proven effective at Southern Company, where we developed and launched their version of OrientationExpress™ (called Student of the Business), we're now developing a custom OreintationExpress™ for Georgia's electric cooperatives.

What's more, we've brought one of the industry's leading writer/editor/publishers on board to direct the development of each customized OrientationExpress™ course.

Susan Johnson Directs OrientationExpress ™

Susan Johnson (links to full page bio on Susan), former executive vice president and publisher for Public Utilities Reports (PUR), brings over 20 years of utility and publishing experience to her new role as Director and Subject Matter Expert for OrientationExpress™. Since 1983, Susan has had a hand in producing one of the industry's premier publications, Public Utilities Fortnightly, and in developing PUR's roster of utility training courses. Prior to that, she launched her career in the energy industry at Carolina Power & Light, developing energy education materials.

Susan brings unparalleled industry insight to each OrientationExpress™ project and ensures that the final online course captures your company's culture, organizational structure and business objectives.

Not Just for New Employees

Surprisingly, OrientationExpress™ earns rave reviews from new and veteran employees alike. These student comments are proof positive:

•  “ After 15 years with the company, I was surprised at how much I really did not know. I wish I had taken a course like this earlier in my career.”

•  “Terrific course! I've been with the company 7 years and I should have taken this in the first 6 months.”

•  “GREAT COURSE. All employees should take this course.”

So while most utilities aren't in the business of adding large numbers of new hires these days, every new employee plus your “old timers” can benefit from OrientationExpress™. Complete with audio, video, graphics, interactive quizzes and testing, the course actively engages each student for a maximum learning experience.

Contact Susan to learn how OrientationExpress™ can jumpstart your organization's effectiveness – and bring a twinkle of light back into your employees' eyes.

Distributed Generation: All Hype or Hope?

Is distributed generation the glass box on the wall to be “used only in emergencies” or is it a daily resource to be used to balance supply and demand?   Is it a delaying tactic or a real solution to T&D upgrades?   Is the current interest in DG nothing more than a passing fancy by customers with strict power quality needs. Or is it re-emerging as a central solution to the August blackout, complete with incentives and preferential treatment? Learn Joel Gilbert's take and technical expertise on this issue.

I remember, after the second oil shock in the late 1970s, when President Jimmy Carter stated that the energy crisis was the moral equivalent of war.   Today, the Federal Government seems once again poised to promote legislation that may significantly increase the likelihood of customer interest in distributed generation (DG).  

It certainly seems that some states (TX and NY) seem to be especially interested in seeing customers put in DG.   And, just like in the past, the third-party wheelers and dealers come out of the woodwork promoting all sorts of gadgets that make all sorts of claims.  

Energy companies back then just shook their heads knowing full well that most of this was bunk and that customers would never fall for such nonsense. Well they did. And, I think they are about to again.  

Can You Answer These Questions For Your Customers?  

Do you know how some distributed generation (DG) proponents can make the following claims?

•  Cogeneration can appear to make free electricity.

•  A 60 kW generator can actually produce 180 kW.

Did you know that cogeneration proponents can and have made these claims recently?

Do you (or your customers) know w hy most generators never produce their rated power?

Do you (or your customers) know which generators cannot be used for business interruption protection?

Do you (or your customers) know how to correctly develop and evaluate the true economics of DG?

•  True vs. claimed installed costs.

•  Heat rates, heat recovery, and maintenance costs.

•  Their true net effects on a customer's energy bills.

•  Structuring third-party deals that mislead customers.

Taking a fair and balanced position, DG is not a good or a bad idea. It is potentially a good idea for some customers and a bad one for others.   But how do you or your customers know?

DG Workshop on Nov. 5-6

Experience indicates that most customers are not always shown realistic DG analyses.   Silence is not golden. Be prepared to provide this guidance to your customers. Call us or attend the workshop we've designed specifically to answer these and other related questions: DG: All Hype or Hope (goes to agenda and registration link) on Nov. 5-6 in Atlanta.

Make registration page just like the one for other workshop/boot camp but with new seminar name, date, etc.

Flint Energies Boosts Online Bill Payment with New Website

Flint Energies' online bill payment participation is nearly double the industry average, thanks in part to a new Website by Apogee Interactive that boldly features self-service functions at the top.   Currently, 5 percent of Flint's membership pays online. A recent industry study by Chartwell Inc. found that an average 2.69 percent of utility customers in North America use the Internet to view and pay their energy bills.

“One of our objectives with the new site is to increase online account management and it's working,” said Hayley Greene, Public Relations Manager for Flint Energies.   “We're also seeing an increase in online requests to change account phone numbers, change billing addresses and to sign up for programs like Levelized Billing since the site went live in August ( www.flintenergies.com ),” Greene said. “These online requests free up our call center to handle other types of calls.”

“National studies indicate that customers who use online bill payment are more satisfied than customers who walk in to pay their bills,” said Susan Gilbert, President of Apogee Interactive, the Atlanta-based online solutions company that developed and hosts Flint's Website. “Web-based customer service is more cost effective for the utility and more time efficient for the customer. They can get what they need from the utility – be it bill information, a service application, energy advice or an energy audit – when they need it rather than when the office doors are open.”

Flint has used Apogee as its Web developer and host since 2000. Flint is the Georgia's seventh largest EMC and the nation's 25th largest electric cooperative.

In addition to Web design and hosting, Apogee provides diverse Web-based solutions to the energy industry including Web content, eLearning ( www.Study-Center.com ), demand response platforms

( www.demx.com ), and eBusiness consulting. Apogee's c lients include other cooperative, public power and investor-owned utilities such as Southern Company, FPL, TVA, BPA, Carroll EMC, Sawnee EMC, Warren RECC and many others.

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