Exceleron Software
Optimizing Utilities’ Smart Grid Investments

The utility industry is primed for innovation.” That’s according to Bob Crenshaw, CEO of Exceleron Software, a smart grid technology company that provides cloud-based, creative solutions for utility service providers. In 2004, Exceleron pioneered and patented the first webbased prepaid platform, MyUsage, and has since then expanded its smart grid solutions to include multiservice prepaid account management, Meter Data Management (MDM), an enterprise alerts and communication platform, mobile payments, and a new low income energy conservation program.

Exceleron’s customer-centric model allows for “flexibility, adaptability, and specificity,” says Crenshaw. “Utilities’ needs are increasingly complex, and a one size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.” Fundamentally, customer service and relationship are at the heart of everything Exceleron does. “If a customer has a problem, we’re going to do everything we can to solve it. That’s just how we work.”

Craig Hutson, CIO of Exceleron says, “Until recently, utilities have viewed technology as an internal resource with minimal customer interaction. However, in today’s world, customers expect timely, easily accessible information, and it’s our mission to help utilities provide it.” Exceleron’s flagship program, MyUsage, does just that. My-Usage’s mobile application offers a seamless user experience and gives utilities’ prepaid and postpaid consumers access to information about their electricity, gas, and water consumption anytime, anywhere. Exceleron has also expanded its crea¬tive payment offerings for both prepaid and traditionally billed postpay consumers to include mobile payments, as well as barcode and cash payments at thousands of retail stores and outlets throughout United States.

Along with providing assistance to more than 90 utilities with prepaid solutions, Exceleron recently developed a new platform for low income consumer conservation.

We’re constantly growing, adapting, and improving our solutions to meet the changing needs of utilities

Partnering with Com Ed in Chicago and Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG), Exceleron is in the process of launching Dollar-A-Day, an innovative conservation pilot program that Com Ed will be rolling out in early 2016. Drawing on his-torical data, participants in this program will receive a daily credit towards their bill if they utilize 5 percent less energy than they did the same day in the year prior (taking into account adjustments for weather). The pressure from the Federal Government and utility regulatory bodies to offer more conservation programs and financial assistance to low-income consumers is only going to increase in the years to come, and the findings from Dollar-A-Day will be significant. Programs like Dollar A Day shift the communication paradigm between the utilities and their consumers. All of a sudden, consumers not only expect, but want to be in daily communication with their utility service providers regarding their energy consumption and usage.

When asked about future plans, Hutson emphasizes, “We’re constantly growing, adapting, and improving our solutions to meet the changing needs of utilities.” After hearing from several utilities concerning alerts and messaging with consumers, Exceleron launched a new, secure alerts platform for the utility space. The Exceleron team has also developed a hosted, MDM platform that is already being utilized by utilities of all sizes across the U.S.

One thing is clear just as it has led the “prepaid movement”, Exceleron Software will continue to disrupt the smart grid space with innovative, enterprising solutions that put the customer at the center of its design and development process.