The Challenge

Two months. That’s all the time between initial testimony deadlines and evidentiary hearings in a high-stakes National Grid rate case affecting Massachusetts’ most vulnerable energy customers.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office rapid, rigorous analysis of:

• Income eligibility verification processes
• Participation targets for discount rates
• Outreach and education strategies

All while navigating the complex regulatory requirements and utility rate design considerations.

Our Approach

Hawks Peak combined regulatory expertise with customer-centered research.

Dr. Henderson didn’t just analyze data, she listened to the people behind it. Working with precision and agility, she conducted discovery, prepared testimony, and developed case strategy alongside the MA AGO. But the breakthrough came from elevating voices rarely heard in utility rate cases: the income-qualified customers themselves.

Through innovative qualitative research conducted mid-litigation, Dr. Henderson documented the real-world barriers customers faced in proving their income eligibility. The findings were undeniable—and they directly shaped her expert recommendations.

The Outcome

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities adopted Dr. Henderson’s recommendation for a self-attestation income pilot—a significant policy win that removes bureaucratic barriers for the households facing the highest energy burdens.

When customers who lack resources to participate in regulatory proceedings finally have their voices heard, policy changes. This case proves it.

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.

The Challenge

In 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted a new income-graduated fixed charge structure—a three-tier rate design intended to reduce electricity bills for lower-income households and accelerate electrification. With a CPUC stakeholder working group convening to develop income verification processes and a filing deadline of late summer 2025, the Sierra Club needed rapid, rigorous analysis to shape a proposal that was practical, cost-effective, and centered on the customer experience.

Our Approach

Dr. Henderson conducted a deep review of the CPUC rulemaking record and benchmarked income eligibility and verification models for low- and moderate-income customers across multiple jurisdictions. She designed metrics for income verification audit and appeals processes, developed customer journey maps, analyzed Census data, and synthesized findings into rapid insights memos to inform the Sierra Club’s policy positions. She also participated in the monthly stakeholder working group on behalf of the Sierra Club, engaging directly with California investor-owned utilities, environmental justice organizations, and CPUC energy staff.

The Outcome

Hawks Peak delivered evidence and analysis for the Sierra Club to meet its’ advocacy and policy needs on income verification processes designed around customers—not bureaucratic convenience.

• Delivered jurisdictional benchmarking across multiple states and programs, identifying best practices for frictionless, low-barrier income verification
• Developed policy positions and advocacy strategy for the Sierra Club’s working group proposal, with a focus on moderate-income tier design and customer-centered eligibility processes
• Provided ongoing stakeholder support through the CPUC working group, ensuring the Sierra Club’s voice was heard alongside utilities and environmental justice organizations
• Applied behavioral science principles to advocate for low-friction verification methods.

Getting the income verification process right is not a technicality—it is the difference between a policy that works on paper and one that actually reaches the customers it is designed to serve.

The Challenge

Strong brand values mean nothing if customers can’t connect with the words used to express them.

Peninsula Clean Energy needed to understand how customers perceived its brand, which messages resonated—and which fell flat. Key questions included whether terms like “public agency” and “shareholder” were helping or hurting, whether affordability and clean energy messaging were connecting together or separately, and what emotional associations customers held for the PCE brand.

Our Approach

Hawks Peak designed a rigorous two-phase study—qualitative interviews & a multi-lingual quantitative survey—to test brand messages with real customers.

In Phase 1, Dr. Henderson conducted in-depth virtual interviews with PCE customers across San Mateo and Los Banos, probing brand awareness, emotional associations, and reactions to three candidate brand messages. Findings directly informed Phase 2: a 300+ respondent survey designed to quantitatively measure message clarity, relevance, importance, favorability, and likelihood to drive customer action amongst English-, Spanish-, and Mandarin-speaking customers. Together, the two phases trianulated findings across methodologies to produce high-confidence messaging recommendations.

The Outcome

The research gave PCE clear, evidence-based direction on which brand messages to prioritize—and which language to avoid—grounded in what customers actually think and feel.

• Found that combined “affordable, clean electricity” messaging outperformed either value alone.
• Identified terms that created confusion and dissonance for customers in a non-profit context, with specific plain-language alternatives surfaced from customer voices
• Delivered a five-part recommendation framework guiding PCE’s brand messaging strategy, message rotation priorities, awareness-building campaigns, and service-specific marketing approach

When brand strategy is built on what customers actually say—not what organizations assume they hear—the message lands. And when the message lands, customers engage.