How Convey’s acquisition of Powerley helps utilities stay ahead this winter 

As winter sets in, utility providers face one of their most demanding seasons. Cold weather elevates system load, increases infrastructure risks from frozen lines and high winds, and heightens customer expectations for communication, safety, and service reliability. From 2000–2021, storms and severe weather caused 83% of large-scale outages.¹ Winter storms have a real effect on customers’ lives and utilities are faced with rising expectations from their communities. It is time for utilities to modernize and meet those expectations. 

This year, utilities have a unique opportunity with Convey’s acquisition of Powerley: by combining smart home energy management with purpose-driven customer engagement, they can shift from reactive “storm-response” to proactive winter preparedness. 

Explore how Convey’s intelligent workflows and Powerley’s home energy management solution work together to deliver: 

• Stronger reliability and fewer call-ins 
• Enriched customer engagement and trust 
• Measurable compliance and operational savings 

The challenge utilities face in winter 

Utilities must manage multiple dimensions in winter: 

• Load spikes and demand uncertainty: Cold snaps can trigger usage surges, risking grid instability. 
• Outages and customer anxiety: Winter storms and extreme weather increase the probability and impact of outages. 
• Customer communications: Consumers expect timely, clear, omnichannel updates when power is at risk. 
• Regulatory and compliance pressures: Notification mandates, restoration updates, and customer safety must be documented and managed so they are audit-ready. 
• Customer behavior and energy use: With more indoor time and heating systems at work, customers’ energy usage patterns shift and utilities that can guide or influence those patterns win both trust and efficiency. 

By addressing these proactively, utilities can reduce both operational strain and customer friction. 

Powerley solutions available from Convey 

42% of Americans say they fully understand what drives the costs they are charged by local electric or gas utilities.² This confusion creates frustration from bill payers that results in higher amounts of calls into a utility, lower customer satisfaction scores, and more of a disconnect between a utility company and the communities they serve.  

Convey and Powerley’s combined technology enhance the customer-home interface with utilities. Key features include: 

• Real-time energy usage visibility and appliance-level disaggregation. 
• Demand response and load-shifting capabilities by encouraging customers to shift usage away from peak winter demand.  
• Engagement tools that drive ongoing interaction with detailed energy dashboards, alerts, and “what’s driving your bill” insights.  

For a utility heading into winter, Convey + Powerley solutions can: 

• Give customers insight into how their heating systems consume energy (and how that may spike during cold weather). 
• Enable targeted messages and programs. “Jane, your usage jumped 30% last week because of space heating. Here’s how you can moderate it.” 
• Help utilities forecast load more precisely by leveraging home usage patterns and appliance-level data. 
• Lower Average Handle Time by up to 30% thanks for informed CSRs. 

Powerley is the most widely deployed home energy management solution in the world, saving over 138 gigawatts of energy as a result of homeowner behavioral change coaching. Users on average spend more than 300 minutes annually engaging with home energy management solutions, showcasing the customer’s need to help lower their costs. As utility bills continue to get more expensive for customers, the demand for understanding utility bills will also continue to increase. Give your customers the ability to understand their bills without relying on call center representatives but for those who do, give your CRSs the information to share with them quickly and reliably.   

Learn more about BillWise.

Convey solutions 

In 2025, a majority of Americans have said that their electricity and/or gas bill has increased compared to a year ago and 73% are concerned that these bills will increase over the course of the next year.² Americans are feeling powerless in the face of these rising costs and are left being reactive and angry with their providers.  

Convey’s human-centered workflows are purpose-driven for utilities that want to prioritize proactive and trust-building communications to their communities. It is time to move past the days of waiting for your customers to come to you. Customer expectations mean that utilities must be reaching out before the bill lands in their inbox, or the outage restoration team is showing up. With Convey, you can:  

• Send real-time outage updates across multiple channels and keep customers informed before, during and after an event. 
• Deploy pre-storm readiness campaigns. “Here’s how you can reduce your bill this winter”, “Bundle your winter prep with us”, “Stay safe during the polar blast”. 
• Manage regulatory notifications and restoration workflow automation to ensure compliance while reducing manual load. 
• Engage customers in two-way communication, so they feel heard, not just notified.
• Deliver measurable impact: conversion to programs, reduced calls, improved customer satisfaction. 

In the winter, that means utilities can be proactive by not just reacting to the storm, but guiding customers in advance, communicating clearly during outages, and following up afterward with restoration and educational messages. 

Curious on how your teams can better prepare for the winter?  

Get your Winter preparedness playbook now.

How Convey’s acquisition of Powerley strengthens your customer communications 

By combining the strengths of Convey’s intelligent, human-centered communication workflows with Powerley’s deep home-energy insights and engagement tools, utilities can move from reactive to proactive. Here’s how utilities can combine the strengths of both Convey and Powerley in an integrated winter-readiness program: 

A. Pre-winter preparation 

• Use BillWise AI to identify high-usage customers (for instance, homes with older HVAC systems, high baseline usage, or where appliance-disaggregation shows heavy heating load). 
• Convey’s workflows automate enrollment, confirm participation, and follow-up with personalized messaging via email, SMS, RBM, voice, and the Digital Wallet for Utilities. 
• Powerley continues to monitor usage, alerting both the utility and customers if usage spikes unexpectedly, which may indicate equipment issues or inefficient systems, enabling pre-emptive customer outreach. 

• Utilities can then take that data via segmentation to launch omnichannel, targeted campaigns: 
  • “Enroll in our winter-load-shift program.” 
  • “Prepare for winter storm season: here’s what to expect, here’s how you’ll be notified.” 
  • “Know your baseline: your heating system is using X% more last year.” 

B. During extreme weather or winter storm 

Four in five Americans say that they feel powerless when it comes to how much they are charged for their electricity or gas services.² Pre, during, and post storm communications can increase customer trust and customer education while giving customers the ability to lower their costs. By showcasing a level of care to your customers, utilities are able to better serve their communities. Here’s just one example of how a utility is now able to reach their customers with the acquisition of Powerley: 

• Pre-event: “Expect heavy demand tomorrow. Here’s how you can help by reducing non-essential usage.” 
• During event: “We’re aware of the issue, crews are dispatched, estimated restoration time : XX.” 
• Post-event: “Power has been restored; here’s what we learned, here’s how to safeguard your home going forward.” 
• Simultaneously, the customer is informed of real-time usage changes: “Your usage just spiked 20% relative to this time last week, here are five tips to reduce it safely.” 
• For the utility, this means fewer surprise calls as customers are informed proactively, better load management thanks to usage insights, and improved trust as customers feel in the loop. 
• Two-way messaging allows customers to notify issues like equipment failure which connects back into the utility’s workflows for dispatch, closing the loop. 

C. Post-season or post-storm review and optimization 

• Powerley data lets the utility analyze what happened: which homes spiked usage, which customers enrolled in programs, where load shift happened, and where it didn’t. 
• Convey’s reporting shows campaign performance: message open rates, enrollment conversions, and customer feedback. 
• Together, the utility identifies the most effective segments, messages, and timing, building the blueprint for next winter. 
• Convey automates feedback surveys and educational messaging to maintain engagement throughout the non‐winter months, keeping customers connected and primed for next season. 

Learn more about Convey’s acquisition of Powerley and what it means for you.

Get winter-ready 

Winter may be the season of increased stress for utilities, but it doesn’t have to be a season of surprises. By combining the strengths of Convey’s intelligent, human-centered communication workflows with Powerley’s deep home-energy insights and engagement tools, utilities can move from reactive to proactive, from crisis to confidence. 

Together, we’re not just managing outages or sending alerts. We’re building trust, modernizing operations, shaping behavior, and delivering measurable impact. 

Get in touch today and learn how your utility can be prepared this winter.  

References 

1. Do, V., McBrien, H., Flores, N. M., Northrop, A. J., Schlegelmilch, J., Kiang, M. V., & Casey, J. A. (2023). Spatiotemporal distribution of power outages with climate events and social vulnerability in the USA. Nature Communications, 14, Article 2470.  
2. Ipsos. (2025, April 23). Most Americans report higher electricity, gas bills compared to a year ago. PowerLines / Ipsos.