Cannon Technologies Presents Innovative Demand Response Program to the Peak Load Management Alliance in March

February 17, 2003
Douglas Backer, Marketing Director for Cannon Technologies, will present a new model for direct demand response to the Peak Load Management Alliance at their annual spring conference, held at the Crystal City Hilton, in Arlington, VA on March 19th, around 11:00 AM.

Mr. Backer will detail an innovative DR incentive strategy that promotes unprecedented levels of choice for direct load control participants. The program offers a cost-effective alternative for price responsive curtailment in the mass market.

Dubbed "Pay-For-Performance for Mass Markets", the strategy reflects successful principals employed in many commercial & industrial "demand bidding" programs. The only major difference is that all participants in this approach are considered "available" unless they "opt out". Participants have many options that define their level of savings for each event. An interesting marketing twist will be outlined, called the "Energy Savings Account". This component functions much like a frequent flyer miles account, collecting interest and offering the potential for "matching" dollars contributed in a coupon format from related suppliers and manufacturers.

PFP will be compared to "Critical Peak Pricing" (CPP), considered the most likely alternative for mass market demand response, but one that requires interval metering for all participants, significantly increasing initial and on-going costs.

Another noteworthy presentation at the one and a half day conference will be given by 2002 Nobel Prize winning economist, Dr. Vernon Smith.

Dr. Smith's March 19th keynote address is titled, "Electricity: How to Achieve Lower Prices and Eliminate Spikes". Dr. David Patton of Potomac Economics will present the opening keynote on Tuesday, March 18 in a presentation titled, "A Market Monitor's View of the New England and New York Electricity Markets". Ewan Gebbie, Senior Policy Analyst for the EECA of New Zealand will present "Implementing Demand Response in the New Zealand Electricity Market - A Model for the US?" on March 18th.

Many other industry leaders including representative of several RTOs will be on the program. Registration is still available at the PLMA website: http://www.peaklma.com.