Frame the decision
Specify the technology, utility, customer group, geography, program structure and decision the analysis must support.
Independent utility-specific analysis
Quantify the utility value of DER and energy technologies
A credible business case translates a technology proposal into customer potential, hourly system impacts, program costs and financial results a utility can evaluate.
7 million+utility customer data foundation
8,760 / 15-mincustomer load options
150+ clientsutility, government and corporate
Utility-specificrates, customers and scenarios
Decision-focused analysis
Answer the questions behind a utility purchase, pilot or partnership
Generic market claims rarely provide enough information for a utility decision. MAISY analysis connects the proposed technology with the utility’s customers, load shape, costs and objectives.
The analysis begins with the decision the technology provider and utility need to make. It then applies detailed customer and hourly-load data to estimate who may adopt, how loads change, where and when benefits occur, and whether those benefits justify program and technology costs.
Scenarios can compare program designs, customer segments, rates, fuel prices, technology performance, participation and deployment scale.
Who is a realistic customer?Size the addressable market and identify customer segments with the strongest technical and economic fit.
What changes on the system?Estimate hourly energy, demand, coincidence and local-grid effects.
Who receives the benefit?Separate utility, participating-customer and system-level value.
Does the investment work?Quantify costs, savings, revenue, payback, benefit-cost results, cash flow and NPV.
Evaluation process
From technology proposition to utility-ready evidence
Identify customers
Use MAISY customer characteristics to estimate technical eligibility, adoption potential and addressable segments.
Simulate hourly impacts
Apply technology operation and program participation to customer-level hourly or 15-minute loads.
Calculate economics
Reflect rates, energy costs, demand charges, incentives, acquisition, administration and implementation costs.
Compare scenarios
Evaluate alternative performance, participation, control, pricing and scale assumptions.
Deliver the case
Provide assumptions, findings, financial results and the evidence needed for utility discussion.
Analysis coverage
Technology, program and financial results in one framework
Business cases can be developed for EV charging, batteries, solar, virtual power plants, microgrids, CHP, fuel cells, demand response, smart-grid technologies and other customer-side or distribution applications.
Market and adoption potential
Customer-segment economics
Hourly and peak-load impacts
Avoided energy and demand costs
Incremental utility revenue
Program and technology costs
Participation and sensitivity cases
Payback, B/C, cash flow and NPV
Program value and local impacts
Connect residential adoption and charging loads with peak-demand savings, local grid risk, incentives and program economics.
Dispatchable customer value
Evaluate the coincidence of customer loads, available storage and utility system requirements.
Customer and portfolio economics
Match load requirements with solar, storage, CHP or other resources across customer and geographic segments.
Participation and peak effects
Estimate eligible loads, customer response, program costs and system-peak reduction.
Independent role
Analysis—not technology implementation
Jackson Associates independently estimates the utility-specific value of a proposed technology, service or partnership. The results can help a provider demonstrate its offering and the opportunity for a pilot or broader deployment.
This separation makes the analysis more useful to utility decision-makers: assumptions, customer potential, impacts and economics can be examined directly rather than treated as generic marketing claims.
Selected experience
Business-case applications
These examples show how customer and load detail changes the quality of a technology evaluation.
EV virtual power plant
An illustrative Southern California Edison analysis used 5,000 customer records, commuting information and EV battery reserves to examine peak-period discharge and managed overnight recharging.
The original scenario found that 10% participation could offset the modeled residential peak and estimated $560 in savings per participating EV customer. These are historical scenario results, not a current SCE program forecast.
Review the four-page analysis
Smart-grid business cases
The Smart Grid Research Consortium used utility-specific MAISY customer samples to evaluate technologies and programs for 15 cooperative and municipal utilities.
Customer-level impacts were aggregated to estimate system-peak changes, avoided supply costs and utility and customer benefits.
Multi-state microgrid potential
The competitive business-development arm of a large U.S. utility used more than 100,000 MAISY residential and commercial hourly and 15-minute customer loads across several states.
The analysis assessed how customer loads and distributed resources could be combined to evaluate microgrid investment opportunities.
Example results depend on the customers, rates, technology assumptions, participation and study period used in each analysis. New evaluations use current utility-specific inputs and clearly stated assumptions.
Deliverables
Choose the level of ongoing access
Utility-specific report
Jackson Associates performs the analysis and delivers assumptions, customer potential, hourly impacts, financial results and conclusions for direct use in utility discussions.
Report plus data outputs
Add customer-segment tables, hourly load profiles, scenario results and files for utility, consulting or engineering workflows.
Utility-specific model license
When ongoing scenario work is needed, a model can be prepared and licensed for the client to conduct additional utility-specific analysis in-house.
Related resources
Data, models and supporting analysis
Questions and answers
Utility business-case FAQ
What is a MAISY utility business-case evaluation?
It is an independent utility-specific assessment that connects customer potential and hourly load impacts with rates, avoided costs, program costs, participation and financial results.
Does Jackson Associates sell or implement the technology being evaluated?
No. Jackson Associates independently quantifies the potential utility value of the proposed technology, program or partnership and provides the analysis and results.
Does the analysis require utility AMI interval data?
Many applications can use customer-level data already developed by Jackson Associates, with no customer data transfer, customer contact or utility staff time required for data preparation.
How is the scope and price determined?
A fixed proposal can be based on the utility, geography, technology, customer segments, time detail, scenarios, outputs and intended use. Public one-size-fits-all pricing would be misleading because those requirements vary substantially.
Strengthen the case with utility-specific evidence
Tell us the technology, prospective utility and decision the analysis must support.