February 6, 2025
When I tell people outside of the utility industry that my job is to help utility companies improve their customer engagement, I often get corrected or questioned.
“Oh, you mean customer service.” Nope.
“That’s the same thing as customer satisfaction, right?” Wrong again.
Customer engagement isn’t just about your call center game or basic satisfaction—it’s a stronger connection, and it’s important. Engaged customers are more likely to participate in energy-efficiency programs, embrace smart technologies, and remain loyal to their utility provider (provided they ever have the opportunity to choose). In an industry where outages, rate changes, and sustainability initiatives impact everyday life, fostering these connections with customers is more important than ever.
Customer engagement isn’t a BFF vibe—this is still a service provider/customer relationship; you’re not planning a potluck together. But don’t you trust and respect some of your service providers more than others, even when you have ups and downs in your relationship?
Engagement Starts With Meeting Basic Customer Needs
Bear with me. Last year I shared my experience with my customer-service nemesis.
TLDR: Fantastic internet provider service 99% of the time, but an utter disaster to deal with when an issue comes up that’s just a little too complicated to handle via digital self-service.
And it’s not so much about the hassle (and I cannot stress enough the incredible hassle); it’s about the steady dwindling of trust: If I have to fight this hard to get you to meet my basic needs as a customer, why would I trust you enough to sign up for your other offerings? Why would I ever recommend you to anyone else, without serious caveats?
Can this relationship be saved? I’m honestly not sure. The internet provider would have to do a lot of “We heard you and we’ve changed—come on, let’s try this again,” communication to make me even consider that it might be a trustworthy company. And even then, I wouldn’t really be able to believe it until something went wrong or I moved again. Big “prove it” vibes.
Get the Little Things Right
Now let’s talk about another service provider I actually trust. When I travel for work, I usually stay in one major hotel chain. Its brands are consistent, and its customer service ranges from adequate to exemplary.
Again, we’re not BFFs, and things go wrong. For example, I’m writing this about 15 minutes before I actually wanted to wake up this morning, because the room’s fancy Alexa device woke me up earlier with, presumably, the previous guest’s morning alarm (my kingdom for an old-school digital clock—I beg of you).
Am I annoyed? Kinda. Does it make me trust the brand less? Nah. If I did have that bedside clock (please put it back), I would have made sure the alarm was off before I went to bed, so this is really on me in the end.
This isn’t a towel-animal-on-the-pillow type of place, but anytime I’ve ever had an issue outside of Alexa-alarm crimes, the brand righted it in short order. I’ve never had to escalate; I’ve never walked away from an interaction thinking, “I bet that’s totally not going to be fixed.”
But the check-in process is predictable. The app is user friendly and robust. The rooms are clean. The TV and internet work. Towels are stacked and ready. Hot water is in steady supply.
Wow, you might be thinking. This is what hotels do, what’s the big deal?
The big deal is this hotel brand gets the little things right.
Shifting Expectations: Four Ways Utilities Can Enhance Their Relationships With Customers
Granted, utilities aren’t hotels. But customer expectations continue to rapidly shift across service providers, and customers aren’t settling for “good enough” relationships with their utilities anymore.
Why should utilities be the one service relationship that’s eternally dissatisfying?
At Escalent, our Energy team works closely with utilities throughout the US to improve customer engagement. Each year, we identify utilities that perform well above their peers in building engaged customer relationships, according to data from our Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential study, which tracks the performance of 142 gas, electric and combination utilities to identify brand and customer experience opportunities and trends in the industry.
Below are four high-level examples of what our utility Customer Champions are doing to enhance their relationships with customers.
- Optimize Digital Communication Channels
Today’s customers expect seamless, real-time interactions. Utility companies that invest in mobile-friendly channels and apps for bill payments, outage reporting and energy tracking see higher engagement.
- Leverage Data for a Personalized Customer Experience
Using customer data and analytics, utilities can offer customized energy usage insights to help customers manage consumption, leverage targeted energy-saving recommendations based on usage patterns, and take advantage of personalized billing options such as flexible payment plans and budget billing.
- Educate and Engage on Sustainability Initiatives
Sustainability is top of mind for many customers. Utilities are playing a significant role in the energy transition and should share their strategies and accomplishments. Utilities with significant plans and achievements should educate customers on energy efficiency and carbon footprint reduction and highlight community-based sustainability projects and partnerships.
- Adopt Proactive Customer Communication
Utilities should not wait for customers to reach out with issues. Instead, utilities should send proactive outage alerts via text and/or email, billing reminders, and personalized alerts. Letting customers choose the alerts they want and channels they prefer via a preference portal will reduce opt-outs.
If you want to prioritize your utility’s customer engagement improvements and learn more about our Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential study, fill out the form below to talk with one of our energy industry experts today.
Want to learn more? Let’s connect.
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.
