Welcome Your New Expert Interview Series: Eric BenSalah, New Expert in the Energy Efficiency Group - [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Expert Interview]
Energy companies have always been a critical part of our daily lives and the communities in which we live, but with the advancements in technologies and the ambitious goals to transform the sector that’s becoming even more the case. More people are installing solar panels, researching electric vehicles, and want to be active participants in their energy relationship, moving beyond the once-per-month billing exchange being the only interaction. As that happens, the community-facing aspects of the utility is becoming more mission critical, and that’s creating new and exciting opportunities in the utility workforce.
Recognizing this importance and how various power providers are moving at unique speeds to do so, our latest addition to the Energy Central Network of Experts is an exciting one. Eric BenSalah is an energy consultant at Omaha Public Power District, where he is tasked with educating community members about energy efficiency opportunities, providing information to classrooms and community events alike, and representing this important public-facing aspect of the utility of the future.
Because of the unique perspective he brings, we thought his participation as an expert in the Energy Efficiency Group would bring some refreshing insight, and to kick that off we’re eager to share some insights gained during him sitting down with us as a part of the New Expert Member Interview:
Matt Chester: Thanks for agreeing to be one of our experts, Eric. Can you give your background in the industry so our community better understands what went into you being established as an expert?
Eric BenSalah: I started out at OPPD, back in 2012, as a Part-Time Payment Specialist. All that means is I took payments from customers to pay their OPPD bill. After a few months of that, I started taking general billing questions to help with the queue in the Contact Center. Then I moved over to full-time. This meant I did everything for residential customer service work: billing questions, payment arrangements, start/stop/transfer service, outage inquires and more.
Fast forward a few years I moved over to the Business Solutions Center; essentially commercial customer service. This new role had the same duties as the residential side, but we also handled property managers and landlords. Additionally, that role had our Energy Advisor inbox since we no longer had a dedicated Energy Advisor at OPPD. With my background in HVAC (installs, replacements, troubleshooting, etc.), I took the lead answering any questions that came through the phone line or email inbox.
Fast forward another few years (now we’re at almost 7) and the new Product Development & Marketing Department was created and headed up by Heather Siebken (current Director). In this new department a new role was created: Energy Consultant. I was hired on for that role in December 2018 and have been there ever since. Since being hired as the Energy Consultant, I designed and adjusted the job and what it entailed along the way. I am technically a Product Manager, but also am an energy advisor for customers or, as I like to put it, an Energy Educator since I teach students as well.
In order to properly “productize” what I had in my mind as far as energy efficiency information, I revamped our energy efficiency information on the OPPD.com website at www.oppd.com/EE. This includes energy efficiency tips, information, How-To videos and more. In January of 2022, continuing on the road of externalizing information I had, the Energy Education Program for students 3rd through 5th grade was launched. That program teaches the different aspects of energy, energy efficiency, generation and more not only to students through classroom sessions I teach (as Mr. E), but also to the teachers in the community through Teacher Workshops. In 2023, that program expanded to middle schools and high schools. More information on that program is at www.oppd.com/EnergyEd.
In 2019 I completed the Energy Efficiency Management Certificate Program through the American Public Power Association and also studied building science and energy rating at the Southface Institute in Georiga.