WaterSide Chat: Measuring Program Results

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Water utilities often promote customer engagement programs for rebates, incentives, or other consumer benefits without a strong understanding of which programs are effective and where to invest future dollars for maximum benefit.  This webinar will review engagement program design and how to effectively measure results based on the business needs of each utility.  Statistical sampling, scientific controls, opt-in vs. opt-out, and other methodologies will be reviewed along with real-world case studies to illustrate the points covered in the discussion. This important WaterSide Chat features leading statisticians, data scientists, and water industry analysts with decades of collective experience. They will provide a comprehensive view of program measurement to help inform ongoing operational improvements for water utility managers. Thomas Chesnutt is President of A & N Technical Services, Inc. He has extensive experience in water rate development, stochastic simulation and forecasting in the fields of water policy and economic modeling. Dr. Chesnutt holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Policy Analysis from the RAND Graduate School, an M.S. in Technology and Science Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Economics from Kenyon College. Will Holleran is the Chief Data Scientist for WaterSmart Software and works directly with water utility clients, providing updates on the effectiveness of each program on a variety of metrics including water savings and customer satisfaction. He also designs and implements experiments to evaluate improvements to WaterSmart’s products. Will earned a B.S. in Economics and Math from Bucknell University and a M.S. in Applied Econometrics from UC Santa Cruz. Brewster McCracken is President and CEO of Pecan Street Inc., the nonprofit research institute headquartered at The University of Texas that operates the University Municipal Water Consortium. Pecan Street provides research support for university-industry applied research around the world by carrying out behavioral field trials, installing and operating measurement equipment in actual homes and businesses and operating the world’s largest research database on customer energy and water use. Smart Grid Today has named him one of the nation’s “50 Smart Grid Pioneers”, and GreenBiz.com named him to its VERGE 25 list of 25 U.S. smart grid leaders.