Simplifying Complex Energy Management for Community Solar Providers
Overview
The PHI Community Solar Portals (CSP) serve solar organizations (SOs), developers, and internal PHI staff in managing community solar projects and subscriptions across multiple jurisdictions, including Atlantic City Electric (NJ), Pepco (MD/DC), and Delmarva (DE/MD). While the CSP was functional, it was built on an aging platform with usability issues, inconsistent design patterns, and limited integration with core business systems.
As a product design leader on this project, I led efforts to re-platform and modernize the CSP, ensuring seamless SAP integration, an intuitive user experience, and improved accessibility. My role included collaborating with content, development and QA teams, applying human-centered design principles, and aligning content with Exelon’s enterprise standards and design system (EUDS).
Tools Used
My Role
As the Product Design Lead, I was solely responsible for low—to hi-fidelity designs and prototypes, user research, usability testing, and design quality assurance (QA).
The Team
Our team included a product manager, a scrum master, a product owner, two back-end developers, and three front-end developers. I directly managed a content design strategist.
Challenges
Complexity and Poor Usability
The legacy CSP was cluttered, difficult to navigate, and full of redundant information, creating frustration for portal users, which were admins from PHI and subscriber organizations (SO).
Lack of Standardized Design and Accessibility
The platform did not adhere to the Exelon Utilities Design System (EUDS), leading to inconsistent UI elements and accessibility gaps.
Limited Data Visibility & Integration
Users needed better tools to manage solar allocations, track customer subscriptions, and view essential usage and crediting data without relying on workarounds or PHI staff.
Regulatory & Business Constraints
New regulatory requirements meant updates to UCB (Utility Consolidated Billing) and the introduction of the Savings Rate Percentage (SRP) feature, which needed clear communication and seamless implementation. UCB combines the subscription ripotion fees with a customer’s utility bill, providing hassle free billing for both the SOs and the customers.
My Approach
Human-Centered Research & Iterative Prototyping
- Conducted stakeholder interviews with solar providers, developers, and internal business teams to map user pain points and workflows.
- Analyzed content hierarchy and existing layouts to remove redundant information and simplify navigation.
- Developed low- and high-fidelity prototypes to test new layouts before development.
Applying Design Heuristics & Accessibility Standards
- Used EUDS components to create a consistent, WCAG-compliant experience.
- Simplified information architecture by decluttering notes, adding tooltips, and refining content labels.
Key Feature Enhancements
Full SAP Integration
Ensured that subscription, allocation, and billing data flowed seamlessly between CSP and backend systems. This invloved working closely with the development and integration teams to align on functionality and error messaging in the portals.
Allocation Reporting & Customer Insights Dashboard
Designed new features to give solar providers access to subscriber allocation reports, and 12-month historical usage data for better allocation planning.
Enhanced Facility Cards & Subscription Management
Visually prioritized critical data on facility cards, making it easier to track project status.
Utility Consolidated Billing (UCB) & Savings Rate Percentage (SRP)
Worked with content strategists to simplify regulatory language and help solar providers understand how UCB and SRP impact their financials.
Improved Navigation & Content Strategy
Introduced clearer page titles, better content hierarchy, and user-friendly action buttons to enhance discoverability.
Ongoing Developer & QA Collaboration
Maintained bi-weekly design check-ins with development and QA teams to ensure usability and accessibility standards were met before launch.
Results & Impact
- Simplified User Workflows
- Reduced steps needed to manage solar allocations by 30 percent, improving efficiency for solar providers.
- Consistent & Accessible UI
- Fully aligned the CSP with EUDS design standards, improving usability and WCAG compliance.
- Better Data Transparency & Decision-Making
- New dashboards empowered solar providers with real-time insights into customer subscriptions and allocations.
- Seamless System Integration
- The SAP integration eliminated manual data entry, reducing errors and improving data reliability.
- Regulatory Readiness & Improved Communication
- Clearer UCB and SRP explanations helped solar providers navigate new regulations and billing structures with confidence.
Key Takeaways
Enterprise UX needs structure.
Standardizing the CSP with EUDS components ensured consistency and usability.
Accessibility isn’t optional.
Applying WCAG best practices improved compliance and usability for all users.
Collaboration is key.
Regular check-ins with developers, content strategists, and QA led to a smoother rollout.
Less is more.
Removing clutter and refining content reduced friction and improved task efficiency.
Looking Ahead
Following the CSP re-platforming and usability improvements, post-launch user interviews with CSP users provided valuable insights into real-world pain points and opportunities for future enhancements. These conversations helped identify critical usability issues, such as challenges with subscriber management, bulk uploads, and reporting access, leading to immediate refinements in system functionality.
Additionally, these interviews uncovered data migration challenges that will inform future portal enhancements, ensuring smoother transitions when integrating new features or expanding system capabilities. As the CSP evolves, ongoing user research will continue to drive improvements, making the platform more intuitive, efficient, and aligned with the needs of community solar providers.
The next step is to refine analytics and reporting tools, giving providers greater visibility into their energy distribution and subscription management, ensuring that future iterations of the CSP remain user-focused and scalable.