| | JUNE 20168E ERGYTech ReviewDTE Energy Creating a "Plus One" ExperienceBy Steven B. Ambrose, VP & CIO, DTE Energy Steven B. AmbroseIn addition to excellent customer service, DTE Energy sought to create a truly distinctive experience for our customers--to provide them with innovative and engaging access to real-time data about their home energy usage. We built an easy-to-use platform that brought together cutting-edge consumer hardware, engaging mobile software and our expertise on energy efficiency, and we offered it for free to our customers.Introducing the DTE Insight PlatformThe DTE Insight platform gives our customers the ability to understand and analyze their energy usage and offers recommendations to help them increase their savings through energy conservation. Many app-only solutions already offer tips about energy efficiency, and we wanted to provide something truly distinctive--we sought to enable real-time usage information, requiring us to go "beyond the app."Leveraging our smart meter investment, we provide our customers with direct data connections to their homes' advanced meters through our new DTE Energy Bridge. The Energy Bridge is a free device that customers can easily install in their homes. It automatically binds with their smart meters through a ZigBee radio signal, allowing the DTE Insight app to see their homes' live energy consumption.The design of the app is visually friendly and delivers to customers their real-time usage and historical trend data through easy-to-understand charts that show electrical and natural gas consumption. In addition, customers with iPhones can hold their phone to power cords and view the energy consumption and monthly operating costs of electrical appliances. Other features such as personalized energy-saving tips, projects and weekly challenges give our customers information they can use to reduce their energy costs materially.We are just getting started. This year we are introducing new features that will allow customers to set energy-use targets with alerts and notifications if they approach or exceed their target-usage levels. Additional features will include the ability to set a monthly energy dollar budget and monitor their progress toward IN MY OPINION
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