Consumer Advocates of the PJM States
When every word counts: how behavioral science transforms utility emergency communications.
When the grid is stressed and customers need to act, unclear communications can mean the difference between a managed event and a crisis. Hawks Peak Strategies audited PJM’s storm and emergency communications portfolio and delivered a behavioral science–informed playbook that gave consumer advocates the evidence and recommendations they needed to advance stronger emergency communications standards.
The Challenge
Utilities communicate with customers every day—but during emergencies, the stakes for getting it right are highest.
PJM is a Regional Transmission Operator (RTP) that operates the electric grid across 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states, serving 67 million customers. Consumer Advocates of the PJM States needed rigorous, independent analysis of whether PJM’s emergency communications met best practices reaching and resonating with customers. Were the right messages reaching the right people, through the right channels, in language they could act on?
Our Approach
Hawks Peak applied behavioral science to a domain where it was largely absent.
Dr. Henderson reviewed and categorized 90+ PJM communications pieces—spanning internal communications, PJM and utility emails, social media posts and videos, YouTube videos, and more —assessing each against best practices in plain language, audience differentiation, call-to-action design, and reach across diverse stakeholder audiences. Findings were organized into distinct recommendation tracks for by stakeholder group, and presented at the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates annual meeting and to the Public Interest Environmental Organization User Group.
The Outcome
The audit surfaced meaningful opportunities and gave advocates a concrete, evidence-based framework for advancing stronger RTO and utility communications standards.
- Identified systematic use of technical utility language in consumer-facing content, with plain-language alternatives developed for each
- Documented that calls to action were frequently buried, overly numerous, and lacked the specificity needed to drive customer behavior
- Delivered a bifurcated recommendation framework with concrete, implementable actions for both utilities and consumer advocates
When customers receive clear, timely, actionable emergency communications, they can protect their households and support grid stability when it matters most. This audit made that case—with evidence.
Why This Work Is Different
Behavioral science applied at the grid-operator level—elevating emergency communications from routine messaging to evidence-based interventions that shape customer action when reliability is on the line.
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