Calpine Energy Solutions

Suite of Products & Tools

Calpine Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Fortune 500 company Calpine Corporation, helps clients navigate energy markets, manage risk, and meet sustainability goals through innovative energy management strategies and digital, cloud-based solutions. As a data manager, it offers a suite of web tools and products tailored to support Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) across California and beyond.

Calpine Energy Solutions Products & Tools. Products designed to help CCAs make the best energy choices for their customers.

The Problem

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Delayed, Outdated Data Slows Clean Energy Decisions.

Calpine Energy Solutions' process for delivering data to their CCA clients was often manual, leading to outdated information by the time it was received. The lengthy request-to-delivery process frequently resulted in users receiving old or inaccurate data. The lack of control and absence of a fast, convenient way to access data caused delays that hindered the ability for CCAs to make timely, informed clean energy purchasing decisions for CCAs and their customers.

The Process

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Deep dive into client needs and refining internal processes.

Shortly after joining the team, I began exploring the challenges Calpine Energy Solutions faced and evaluating the existing solutions. To gain deeper insights, I developed a questionnaire for department heads and their teams, allowing them to rate products based on client impact and feedback. This process enabled us to identify high-value products and those generating significant complaints.

After analyzing the results, I collaborated with the Director of CCA Business Solutions to create a roadmap aimed at improving underperforming products and launching new initiatives to address key client pain points.

To further reinforce our findings and gather additional feedback, I led a UX initiative at the CAL CCA annual conference in Redondo, California. This involved organizing an interactive session to engage clients and collect insights for enhancing products and customer experience. I managed all aspects of the event, including theme development, gamification, signage, interview questions, reporting, and team coordination.

After the event, I presented the findings to each department, outlining necessary steps to enhance client engagement and our product offerings. These insights helped prioritize our product roadmap, uncover new business opportunities, and guide product improvements. By clearly defining the problems and establishing measurable success criteria based on client feedback and application metrics, we secured business buy-in for the roadmap.

User research conducted during the CAL CCA annual conference in Redondo, California, provided valuable insights that allowed us to move forward with new product initiatives.

A comprehensive user flow I created for the new CCA program 'Power Share' identified 11 use cases and edge cases—significantly exceeding the initial five requirements. I provided this detailed documentation to the development team, offering clear guidance that facilitated more efficient implementation and accelerated client approval.

The Solution

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Enhancing Customer Satisfaction with Real-Time Data and Simplified Tools.

To improve customer engagement and satisfaction, Calpine Energy Solutions prioritized initiatives that deliver immediate value to clients. Based on insights from client feedback and available resources, the focus was placed on four key projects: two enhancement to an existing product and two new initiatives—the Data Warehouse Bulk Download, the CCA Client Portal, the Bill Compare Tool, and the Clean Energy Opt-Out Tool.

These initiatives were strategically designed to improve the customer experience by offering accessible, data-driven tools that address both immediate needs and long-term goals.

Data Warehouse Bulk Download is a client-facing, single sign-on web application designed for non-technical users to easily access and view real-time data. It streamlines data retrieval by offering simple file downloads in multiple formats. Due to confidentiality, product images are not available; however, UX designs—including wireframes, user flows, and personas—can be presented upon request.

The CCA Client Portal is a client-facing, single sign-on web application that provides centralized access to all Calpine Energy Solutions programs. It offers solutions, support, and tools that clients rely on daily. The portal integrates with applications such as Power BI and Microsoft D365, delivering real-time customer status, energy data and usage information, email management, and support ticket creation. Due to confidentiality, product images are not available; however, UX designs—including wireframes, user flows, and personas—are available for presentation upon request.

Bill Compare tool is a customer-facing, white-label application that allows clients to integrate directly into their websites, offering a user-friendly interface for comparing billing information. Note; UX deliverables for this project is available upon request.

The Clean Energy Opt-Out tool is a customer-facing, white-label application that allows clients to integrate an opt-out feature directly into their websites. The redesigned workflow and modern interface enable users to easily choose whether to stay in the CCA program or opt out, providing clear information to help them make informed decisions. This enhancement ensures users have the flexibility to remain in the program or exit with ease, improving overall customer satisfaction. Note; UX deliverables for this project is available upon request.

The Team & Tools

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