Zach HollowayImproving access for income-qualified electric customers
Research, personas, and a future-experience vision to help more income-qualified Xcel Energy customers take advantage of energy-efficiency assistance programs.
Research and personas that fed Xcel's year-end regulatory filing — the submission that keeps funding in place for its income-qualified programs — alongside eight future-experience concepts to carry the program forward.
8 future concepts
Future-experience vision
Low awareness of energy-efficiency programs, plus complicated qualification criteria and processes, keep many income-qualified customers from accessing the discounts and assistance they're eligible for.
I led a review of the annual program evaluations conducted by Xcel Energy's third-party partners and used that research to frame the grounding and focus areas for ideation. Alongside another designer, I helped design and facilitate a collaborative working session with both Xcel Energy employees and community partners.
Five customer personas
I built the five personas from the research analysis; each had to capture two important nuances:
Homeowners can qualify and enroll themselves, while renters can only participate if their landlord or property manager applies on behalf of the entire property.
Smaller 1–4 unit properties are usually managed by the owner directly, who wants smart investments that don't break the bank. Larger properties involve managers balancing tenants, ownership, and property value.
Eight future-experience concepts
After the working session, I led the creation and refinement of the eight concepts, built around the two main persona groups — tenants/residents and property owners. The session had also revealed how important it is to rethink how Xcel Energy collaborates with community-based organizations, so I focused three of the eight concepts on empowering Xcel's partners as trustworthy resources, guidance, and support for customers.
Developed a clear vision for the future
From those concepts, I outlined a cohesive future experience supporting the people and partners who experience, promote, and deliver income-qualified energy-efficiency programs.
Connected past, present, and future efforts
I cross-referenced each future-experience concept with current and planned work that could establish it, alongside aspirational goals to guide its future development.