May 5, 2026
Key Takeaways:
- Customers judge energy utility brands by outcomes. When interactions are inconsistent, unclear or require extra effort, even well-designed customer experiences feel broken.
- Customer effort is not just an important metric, it can be a strategic business lever. Data from Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement Residential study show how lower effort correlates directly with higher brand trust and stronger customer loyalty, while also reducing costs (e.g., fewer service calls, higher program adoption).
- Top-performing energy utilities stand out by making complex elements (such as bills, rate plans and program enrollment) easy to understand and act on. In a high-cost, high-scrutiny environment, clarity builds confidence—and confidence drives customer engagement.
I have never been fond of restaurant delivery apps, despite how convenient they’re supposed to be.
In theory, these platforms offer the ultimate easy button: you browse options, place an order and have food show up at your door. In practice, though, my experiences have consistently required more effort than they should—and the outcomes are unpredictable (or to be more precise, predictably disappointing).
The initial online experience is fine, if a bit overwhelming, with sponsored placements making users scroll through entirely too many irrelevant options. Menus are generally standardized and easy to navigate, with plenty of customization options, and while the fees add up quickly, they’re at least clearly outlined.
The real breakdown, though, is the delivery itself—the most high-touch part of the transaction and the part that matters the most. Orders often arrive late (and cold) and missing those customizations. And somehow, the basics—such as utensils—are the least reliable aspect. If you’ve never tried to eat a Greek salad in a hotel room with nothing but sheer determination and questionable improvisation skills, consider yourself lucky.
And then there are the moments that really erode trust, such as watching your delivery inch closer in the app, only for it to suddenly be marked “delivered” with no food in sight, leaving you to report the issue, reorder from scratch and hope round two involves a driver who isn’t quite as tempted by your dinner.
Now, even when delivery would be the most “convenient” option on paper, I default to picking up food myself.
In other words, I’ve opted out—not just because the experience requires too much effort, but because it doesn’t consistently deliver on expectations.
When processes get harder and trust erodes, even the most “convenient” services start to feel like more trouble than they’re worth. At some point, customers are spending more time managing the experience than enjoying it.
What does this mean for energy utilities? When customers perceive that interacting with a company requires too much effort—and they can’t trust the outcome to be accurate or reliable—they look for the “easy button” or opt out altogether when they can. While energy utility customers don’t typically have the option to switch providers, they can disengage in other ways, limiting the impact of even the most well-designed programs and communication.
The Friction Points Driving Energy Utility Customer Effort and Doubt
For electric, natural gas and combination utility customers, high customer effort often shows up in familiar ways.
Bills can be difficult to understand, leaving customers unsure of what they’re paying for or how to manage costs. Digital and self-service channels don’t always deliver on their promises—chat agents may provide generic or unhelpful responses and automated phone systems may route customers through complex interactive voice response trees before customers reach the help they need. Online information about programs and offerings can be hard to find or unclear, making choosing and enrolling in relevant offerings more complicated than it should be.
Even when tools exist to make things easier, customers may hesitate to use them if they’re not confident the outcome will be accurate or beneficial.
Measuring Energy Utility Customer Effort and Confidence in the Outcome
Since 2018, Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement Residential study has helped electric, natural gas and combination utilities quickly assess customer effort perceptions through the Customer Effort Score—a composite metric based on ratings across 20 attributes that contribute to a utility being recognized as “easy to do business with” among industry peers.
These attributes reflect not only how easy it is for customers to complete interactions, but also how confident customers feel in the outcomes of those interactions. In 2025, the study surveyed more than 60,000 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers across the United States to gauge customer engagement. Among the Customer Effort attributes rated are:
- Clear communications
- Easily accessible and understandable communications on programs and offerings
- Ease of enrollment in programs and offerings
- Ease of use of program offerings (seven voluntary offering categories)
- Bill-pay effort
- Easily understood utility bill
- Ease of resolution for customer service issues (six service channels)
These are the moments where effort and trust intersect. A bill that’s hard to understand doesn’t just require more effort; it creates uncertainty. A chatbot that can’t resolve an issue doesn’t just slow the process; it undermines confidence in the outcome. And when customers can’t easily find or act on program information, customer participation suffers—not just because it’s difficult, but because it’s unclear whether the effort will pay off.
How Does Customer Effort Drive Brand Trust, Customer Loyalty and Financial Performance for Energy Utilities?
While improving Customer Effort can drive clear financial returns—such as reducing call center volume through more effective self-service tools or lowering arrears by increasing enrollment in energy-saving or budget billing programs—the greater value for energy utilities lies in building customer trust, loyalty and long-term engagement.
Within the Cogent Syndicated residential study, Customer Effort scores of 700 to 1,000 on a 1,000-point scale correlate with 18% higher Brand Trust scores. Customers who rate their energy utilities higher for Customer Effort are also 22% more likely to say they would be disappointed if they were no longer a customer—reinforcing the connection between ease and loyalty.
Leading Energy Utilities Pull Ahead on Customer Effort and Bill Simplicity
After showing early signs of recovery in 2025, utility progress on Customer Effort appears to be leveling off in early 2026. The industry has been working to regain ground since 2022, when inflation and rising utility rates left many customers struggling to understand their bills and find ways to manage increasing costs.
Even amid this slowdown, some utilities continue to stand out, with 31 energy utilities ranking among the “Easiest to Do Business With” out of 157 of the largest providers in the US. Notably—particularly in an environment marked by ongoing rate increases and renewed economic pressure—these higher-performing utilities significantly outperform the industry on bill-related perceptions, including bill understandability and bill-pay effort.
These leaders are also making meaningful progress in simplifying rate options for customers. As energy utilities introduce more complex pricing structures, such as time-of-use plans, the risk of overwhelming customers grows. Higher-performing utilities are distinguishing themselves by making these options easier to understand and use, helping customers feel more confident in their choices and more in control of their energy usage.
Making Customer Ease a Measurable Competitive Advantage for Energy Utilities
Customers today compare every experience, not just within an industry, but across all the services they use. When interactions feel complex or outcomes feel uncertain, customers disengage. For energy utilities, that disengagement may be subtle, but its impact is real: lower program participation, weaker communication effectiveness and diminished trust.
The path forward is clear. Reducing customer effort isn’t just about simplifying interactions; it’s about delivering consistent, reliable outcomes that build confidence over time. Electric, natural gas and combination utilities that invest in both ease and trust will be better positioned to strengthen customer relationships, improve engagement and stand out in an increasingly experience-driven landscape.
If you want to prioritize Customer Effort improvements, Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated studies can help identify actionable insights.
If you’d like to learn more, fill out the form below to speak with Escalent’s team of energy and utility experts today.
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Suzanne Haggerty
Director, Syndicated Research
Suzanne is a director of syndicated energy research for Cogent Syndicated. In this role, she translates consumer data analysis from the Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™ studies into actionable insights and recommendations for clients. Suzanne is an experienced researcher, writer and customer experience strategist who has been tracking trends and identifying best practices in the utility industry for nearly 10 years. Before joining Escalent, she was director of customer engagement and insights at Chartwell, where she led a team of analysts in the development and delivery of utility research to address pressing industry needs. Suzanne holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a bachelor's degree in journalism and history from the University of Southern Mississippi.
