DTE Equity Insights and Inclusion Study

Award category

Innovation

Year released

2023

The DTE Equity Insights and Inclusion Study models an effective path to identify, target, engage and learn from customers who are among the hardest to reach with the goal of ensuring the utility’s low-income energy efficiency program reaches customers with the greatest needs. The approach prioritizes communities and households with the highest energy burdens, greatest vulnerability indicators and/or similar indicators to determine households with the largest opportunity to benefit from energy efficiency programs. 

This effort uses a unique set of equity metrics (rooted in household-level data analysis), innovative community engagement strategy, collaboration with stakeholders and application of behavioral science insights to develop a Community Focused pilot that integrates customers’ lived experiences to overcome longstanding program challenges and deliver energy efficiency measures to priority customers.