Restoring Brand Trust in Utilities: A Look at Rebuilding After Crisis

Utilities play an essential role in people’s daily lives, but when trust is lost through repeated rate hikes, prolonged outages or catastrophic system failures such as wildfire culpability, rebuilding credibility is daunting. Rebuilding trust is no small feat. However, there are steps utilities can take to repair their reputations and show customers they’re committed to doing better.

In this blog, we’ll explore practical steps utilities can take to restore public confidence and demonstrate accountability. We’ll also examine a compelling case study on how Con Edison navigated a major crisis and rebuilt credibility, offering valuable lessons for other utilities facing similar challenges.

From Crisis to Credibility: Five Actions Utilities Must Take to Regain Customer Trust

1. Acknowledge the Impact—Honestly and Openly

Start with transparency. Utilities must acknowledge the hardship caused by steep rate increases during already stressful economic times. When power outages are frequent and communication fails or when poor maintenance sparks devastating wildfires, silence or defensiveness only deepens customer mistrust. Own the mistakes, share what was learned and clearly outline what’s changing.

2. Invest in Reliability and Resilience

Talk is not enough—customers need to see visible, tangible improvements. That means accelerating grid modernization, strengthening maintenance programs and implementing wildfire mitigation strategies. Communicate these investments in plain language, showing how they will directly reduce outages, prevent disasters and ultimately control costs.

3. Communicate Proactively and Empathetically

One of the biggest pain points in any crisis is poor communication. Utilities should overhaul outage notifications, customer service channels and emergency updates to be timely, accurate and empathetic. Provide multiple ways for customers to stay informed and give feedback—especially during storms, wildfires or other high-stress events.

4. Engage Communities and Rebuild Relationships

Repairing brand trust isn’t just a PR exercise—it’s a commitment to rebuilding relationships on the ground. Meet regularly with community leaders, host listening sessions and create advisory panels that include customers who were most affected. Show up in person, not just online, to demonstrate accountability.

5. Demonstrate Value Beyond the Bill

Customers are more likely to accept necessary rate changes if they see real value. Focus on programs that help customers save energy and money, protect vulnerable households and build local resilience. Report back on progress frequently so customers see their dollars at work.

In times of crisis, a utility’s reputation can be fragile—but with authentic leadership, meaningful action and ongoing communication, brand trust can be rebuilt and strengthened for the long term.

A Lesson in Resilience—How Con Edison Rebuilt Trust After a Major Crisis

In 2019, a major blackout plunged parts of Manhattan into darkness on the anniversary of the infamous 1977 outage, leaving thousands stranded in subways, elevators and Broadway theaters on a sweltering July night—dealing a significant blow to Con Edison’s reputation for reliability.

Days later, Con Edison drew additional criticism for preemptively cutting power in Brooklyn during a heat wave to protect the grid, sparking outrage among customers and local leaders alike.

A Hit to Public Confidence

The immediate impact on Con Edison’s reputation was severe. Public trust plummeted as customers and officials questioned whether the utility was adequately maintaining its infrastructure and communicating transparently during emergencies. The state launched a formal investigation, with the Public Service Commission (PSC) concluding that Con Edison failed to meet its reliability benchmarks. The company faced millions of dollars in penalties and the risk of long-term reputational damage.

Changing Crisis Into a Positive Turning Point

In the face of these challenges, Con Edison took deliberate steps to stabilize its reputation and rebuild customer confidence—lessons that hold valuable insights for any utility:

• Own the issue and communicate transparently. Con Edison’s leadership publicly acknowledged the outages and quickly shared the root cause: a failure in a substation protection system, rather than a grid overload or a cyberattack. The company issued a sincere apology and updated stakeholders regularly as the investigation progressed.
• Cooperate fully and commit to improvements. Rather than resisting oversight, Con Edison worked closely with regulators, accepted penalties and used the findings to guide new investments. This signaled to customers and policymakers that the utility was serious about making things right.
• Invest in grid reliability and resilience. The crisis accelerated Con Edison’s plans to modernize aging infrastructure and strengthen the grid. The company launched a Climate Change Resilience Plan outlining specific upgrades to reduce outage frequency and duration—visible actions that helped rebuild customer trust over time.
• Fix the communication gap. Poor crisis communication made the situation worse. In response, Con Edison revamped its customer alerts, service channels and outage notifications to be faster, clearer and more empathetic during emergencies.

What Your Utility Can Learn About Rebuilding Brand Trust and Restoring Reputation in a Crisis

Con Edison’s experience shows that while infrastructure failures can severely damage a utility’s reputation, trust can be rebuilt—but only through transparency, tangible action and genuine community engagement. The key is to demonstrate to customers that you’re listening, you’re learning and you’re investing in solutions that matter.

At Escalent, we help utilities navigate these challenges by identifying trust drivers, improving customer experience and aligning communication and investments with what customers value most. Because when trust is lost, a thoughtful, proactive plan makes all the difference.

Want to see how your utility stacks up on trust and customer engagement? Let’s talk about how we can help you turn insights into action—and reputation risk into an opportunity to lead.

To learn more, fill out the form below to talk with one of our energy industry experts today.

 

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