The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) announced the five winners of its inaugural Best Practices Awards today at its 2018 Consumer Symposium, hosted as part of DistribuTECH in San Antonio, Texas.

The new Best Practices Awards program was developed throughout 2017 by a committee of SECC members to recognize practices, programs and strategies from electricity providers that are shifting the focus of the energy industry to the consumer.

After receiving many nominations from the industry, the award winners were selected in November 2017 by an advisory panel of 13 industry experts from a wide range of non-utility industry stakeholders.

The five inaugural winners of the Best Practices Awards are:

• Ameren Illinois has been awarded the Smart Energy Innovation Award for their groundbreaking work on a first-of-its-kind, DER-focused microgrid.
• CenterPoint Energy has been awarded the Culture Transformation Award for nurturing a transition to a more customer-focused company culture.
• Colorado Springs Utilities has been awarded the Consumer Engagement Award for launching the Change the Current initiative for community improvement.
• Direct Energy has been awarded the Underserved Markets Award for enabling millennials to better assist their lower-income neighbors with their energy bills.
• Commonwealth Edison has been awarded the Consumer Education Award for developing an engaging, multimedia education campaign on smart thermostats and other energy efficiency topics.

“Engaging and educating the energy consumer is essential for realizing the benefits promised by the smart grid and related energy technologies,” said Patty Durand, President & CEO, Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative. “I would like to congratulate these five organizations for their consumer-focused innovation and for paving the way for other industry stakeholders to follow.”

A detailed guide to the winning programs is available here, and a live webinar with the five award winners will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. (ET). Registration is currently open here. Complete case studies on each of the five winning programs will also be added to the Customer Engagement Success Stories Library throughout 2018.

Nominations for the 2019 Best Practices Awards are due to open during the summer of 2018 at www.smartenergycc.org.