Ontario Community Energy Savings

Spearheaded the implementation of the Ontario energy rebate program aimed at increasing the customer base by 12%

The Problem

Community energy savings programs aim to provide an opportunity for customers to play a significant role in the operation of the electricity grid, with the goal of ensuring a cost-effective, sustainable, and reliable electricity system in Ontario. As a new program we had to work with utility partners to test and ensure our entry points and API's were working prolerly, we also had to educate elegible users on the benefits

My Contributions

  • Discovery - SQL work and data analysis to accuratly reprsent our elegible target market
  • Technical testing - Worked with Dev lead to ensure user flows and signups worked properly
  • Design - Collaborated with design and UX teams to create a new in-app entry point and promotional materials and in-app notifications
  • Collaboration and Coordination - Worked with marketing, sales and goveernment bodies to develop and execute promotional campaigns, ensure compliance with regulations and maximize program reach
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About ecobee

Energy services is essentially how ecobee monetized thermostats after they have been purchased and installed in a home. The two main ways this is done is through Community energy savings and demand response events. These help to strengthen the community’s grid when energy demand is high. Community Energy Savings works by precooling or preheating your home during non-peak hours and then slightly adjusting your ecobee smart thermostat to reduce energy use when demand peaks.

Context

As part of ecobee's initiative to support energy efficiency and expand our customer base, we worked with IESO and Hydro One to launch the Ontario energy rebate program. This program aimed to incentivize customers to adopt energy-saving measures by providing financial rebates

Problem

The first problem was getting the programs setup in Ontario, until then almost every single program was done in the USA. This required us to work closley with the devs to ensure the utility providers inforamtion was correct and covered all our elegible users. Additionally being a new program in canada we wanted to ensire that elegible users understood the benefit from enrolling in the program and we wanted to make this as seamless as possible. Third was that there was a set number of enrollments allowed in the given year between ecobee and NEST so we were competing for enrollments

Opportunities

By improving user education and redesigning the entry points for the rebate application process, we had the opportunity to significantly increase program participation, boost customer engagement, and expand our customer base

Action

I led the product implementation of the program by coordinating with cross-functional teams, and creating a new, more invasive entry point for eligible users. This involved designing user-friendly promotional materials, collaborating with government bodies for compliance, and continuously monitoring and optimizing program performance based on user feedback. The new entry point showed a 40% increase in enrollment in test