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Commission approves three-year eSource subscription for customer and market data access
Summary
The commission approved a three-year subscription with eSource to access surveys, customer-satisfaction benchmarking and market data; staff said the service covers a range of offerings across Austin Energy and may be useful to other departments.
Richard Genesee, vice president of customer energy solutions for Austin Energy, described a proposed contract with eSource as a subscription providing market data, benchmarking and survey services across multiple functions: "Their services are actually quite extensive over the entire enterprise of Austin Energy ... they are proprietary, and we intend to make the maximum use of all of their services." Genesee said the household survey component would cover roughly 32,000 customers in the utility's service territory.
Commissioner Cyrus Reed asked whether the survey was a new Austin Energy sample or a pre-existing eSource panel; Genesee said he believed it was a household survey of 32,000 customers "in our service territory that we would have access to." Commissioners also asked whether the contract's services could be extended to other city departments; Genesee said staff could follow up on cross-departmental uses (for example, Austin Water or other utilities).
The commission moved and approved the contract by voice vote. Staff described the agreement as a three-year contract with two one-year extension options; the subscription covers topics including demand response, customer satisfaction, efficiency programs, electric vehicles and other utility offerings. Staff said they would follow up on whether and how other departments could access eSource products.
Why this matters: Access to market data, benchmarking and a large household survey can inform program design, customer outreach and demand-side management planning across the utility enterprise. Commissioners requested clarification about the survey scope and about possible cross-departmental uses.
