Whew! The 2024 election is finally behind us and we can get back to our day jobs as utility communicators and marketers. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of chatbots like ChatGPT, Scribe, and...

Jim, my neighbor, was stealing catalytic converters. Sally, another neighbor, gave out poisoned candy for Halloween. And my son’s friend Ted was selling Oxy at local high school football games. So said posts in our...

Many utilities continue to struggle to find the single best way to communicate with employees. The employee communications challenges of a single-city municipal utility are, of course, different from a large multi-state one or even...

Credit: Bingo Baker Buzzwords are like plaque in your arteries: over time, they build up to the point where clear thinking, or arterial blood flow, is impeded. Left unchecked, buzzwords can kill clear thinking in...

    I had just finished writing an article for a client on electric utilities investigating non-traditional utility pricing options when a notice arrived from my city-owned water utility: Too many people were watering their...

  Focus groups can be so eye-opening. I’ve sat in on a few over the years. I’ll never forget the one where a residential customer pushed back against a facilitator’s question about electric usage in...