Since June 2012, San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) customers have been participating in the San Diego Energy Challenge and saving energy to win prizes for themselves and help their favorite San Diego Unified School District middle schools win valuable cash grants. Together they have encouraged over 3,900 people to participate in the Energy Challenge on behalf of 39 middle schools who are competing for a generous $10,000 grand prize. Simple Energy and SDG&E are partnered to bring this innovative program San Diego residents to empower customers with energy usage information at home. The program leverages the Simple Energy Customer Engagement Platform to engage customers and deliver measurable and verifiable energy efficiency, demand side management, and smart grid results through cutting edge behavioral science techniques.

Delmarva Power recently launched the Delmarva Energy Challenge, a pilot program, to 56,000 eligible residential customers in Wilmington, DE.  The Energy Challenge is an energy saving game that gives customers a fun way to compete with their friends and neighbors to save energy and win prizes for themselves as well as their favorite Wilmington, Delaware, K‐12 public school. Customers that play on behalf of their favorite Wilmington school can help them win prizes ranging from $2,500 -­‐ $10,000 by encouraging others to sign up and save energy.  Individuals can also win prizes for themselves for saving energy in their homes such as gift cards and tablet computers. “We are thrilled to bring this innovative new program to our customers,” said, Charles Dickerson, program architect and Vice President of Performance Management and Support Services. “This is one of the first programs of its kind, combining social gaming and the customer’s desire to make a difference.  When customers play, they will obtain valuable energy saving information to help them reduce their usage which in turn can lead to amazing incentives for the whole community.” Delmarva Power partnered with Simple Energy to bring customers the Energy Challenge platform, where they can monitor their energy usage online and compete with friends to save energy. The Simple Energy platform helps users to understand their energy use with actionable insights and an easy points system that scores them against their friends. It normalizes customer’s energy usage, allowing participants to compete with their friends -- similar to a golf handicap.