Shift CX, Shift Load, Shift CapEx: How Hydro One and Santee Cooper Are Rewriting the EV & DER Playbook

Surveys only capture a small view of bigger challenges. At Hydro One, self-reported surveys turned up fewer than 1,000 EV owners; AMI-based disaggregation found nearly 50,000 charging on the grid — load that was always there, just unmeasured. For Santee Cooper, DMV data on EVs has limited insight and therefore limited use in identifying EV owners eligible for EV-specific rates.

In this session, Andy Altman (Santee Cooper) and Phoebe Chang (Hydro One) show what changes when utilities trade broad assumptions for true behavioral insights and appliance-level visibility: EV and DER adoption detected directly from AMI data, invaluable views into seasonal peaks and daily consumption, and demand response and program recruitment aimed at the customers who can actually shift load. The result is a new playbook built on premise-level intelligence instead of guesswork:

Key Takeaways

• Shift CX. Move customers from anonymous accounts to known, engageable EV and DER adopters, without relying on self-reported surveys.
• Shift Load. Target demand response and TOU recruitment at the premises with real, measurable flexibility, not broad demographic guesses.
• Shift CapEx. Spot constrained assets early enough to defer, resize, or right-time upgrades instead of over-building on assumption.

Speakers

	Andy Altman Senior Manager, Energy Solutions & Services		Phoebe Chang Energy Transition Team Engineer
	Janette Sticher Senior Customer Success Manager