Direct Energy Puts Customers First and Ramps Up Personalized Energy and Home Services with Expanded Innowatts Partnership

HOUSTON, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Energy^®, one of North America's largest providers of energy and energy-related services, is expanding services to its residential customers via a deepened partnership with Innowatts, the leading AI-enabled SaaS platform for global energy providers. Through the partnership, Direct Energy will deliver more responsive, customized services for its U.S.-based residential customers, adding value and reducing customer costs by providing actionable energy insights, customized plans, and an easier energy shopping experience.

Since 2016, Direct Energy has worked with Innowatts to accurately forecast customer demand and efficiently procure and price energy plans through a smart meter-driven energy technology framework. Now, Direct Energy is taking the next big step to innovate with customer-centric services. The company is deploying Innowatts' "Product Suitability and Smart Engagement" features to (1) better understand individual customers and align them with the right plans and programs to save money and improve home comfort, (2) develop new initiatives and services to proactively power their homes more efficiently, and (3) allow customers to opt in to alerts with personalized actionable intelligence to switch plans or get their HVAC appliances tuned up.

Direct Energy is also able to surface insights for individual customers by analyzing their smart meter usage. Using this information, the company can then provide customers with a more personalized experience, including recommendations for the best energy plans and products that map to their lifestyles, whether it's the whole family at home, or away on weekends. Additionally, the program will allow customers to access insights from Direct Energy through their preferred delivery channel such as text, phone or email.

Direct Energy and Innowatts have teamed up to make it easy for customers to achieve savings and take the guesswork out of how to run their homes more efficiently with smart meter insights. For example, the expanded capabilities enable Direct Energy to identify and alert customers whose HVAC appliances are operating erratically and may need a checkup. In addition to saving money through enhanced energy efficiency, customers can also get peace of mind that their systems will stay operational all year long regardless of weather changes.

"We're committed to delighting customers with smart, tailored services that are easy to use and anticipate their changing and unique home needs, and through our expanded partnership with Innowatts we're able to deliver genuinely personalized services at scale," explains Bruce Stewart, President of Direct Energy. "Our customers' energy demand is continuously evolving due to weather and their unique residential environment. But with Innowatts' powerful smart meter insights and AI analytics, we're able to help our customers stay ahead of the curve by providing them with creative, reliable, and cost-effective services –– and most importantly, peace of mind."

"Direct Energy is a true leader when it comes to using new technologies to drive customer choice," says Siddhartha Sachdeva, Innowatts' CEO. "It's through partnerships like these that we see the full potential of sophisticated AI and machine learning to drive transformation in the energy space, and give consumers the personalized and proactive services they need."

About Innowatts:
Innowatts is a leading energy SaaS platform that utilizes best-in-class artificial intelligence to help electricity providers unlock grid edge opportunities, increase customer value, and accelerate the transition to sustainable energy solutions. The Innowatts platform harnesses insights from more than 40 million meters, delivering real-time, customer-centric energy analytics with unprecedented accuracy. With clients and operations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, Innowatts is a global leader, enabling energy providers to become truly customer-focused and fully leverage the power of data to transform their businesses. For more information, please visit www.innowatts.com.   

About Direct Energy
Direct Energy is one of North America's largest retail providers of electricity, natural gas, and home and business energy-related services with nearly four million customers. Direct Energy gives customers choice, simplicity, and innovation where energy, data, and technology meet. A subsidiary of Centrica plc (LSE: CNA), an international energy and services company, Direct Energy, its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, operate in 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia and 8 provinces in Canada. To learn more about Direct Energy, please visit www.directenergy.com.

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David Wamsley
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SOURCE Innowatts LLC