December 15, 2020
Customer engagement with the nation’s largest 140 electric, combination and natural gas utilities has reached a new high thanks to effective utility responses to challenges posed by the pandemic and economy. Escalent’s ECR (engaged customer relationship) index, a comprehensive customer relationship measurement used by utility management to assess customer engagement, increased 15 points this year to 728 (on a 1,000-point benchmark scale) as a result of strengthened brand perceptions and increased product engagement. Forty-two utilities performed above their peers to earn the title of Escalent 2020 Utility Customer Champions. These results are from the 2020 Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential study by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics firm.
Customers, Wall Street and regulators have all made it clear that the future success of a utility depends on engagement beyond the meter. Three in four (76%) customers now state their ideal utility should excel in the areas of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), all categories that align with the ECR index’s Brand Trust component. Customers also report increased product engagement with high use of energy consumption management offerings (64% across 13 offerings) and interest in renewable energy and electric vehicle-related products (74% across seven offerings).
“Engaging customers beyond simply satisfying service needs is now a utility reality to ensure future success. Scoring well on the ECR index is critical to growing company value and stakeholder support,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Escalent. “Utilities have confronted a very tough year by building customer support for their environmental, social, product and management efforts. Our 2020 Customer Champions are leading the pack on these ESG principles.”
Escalent congratulates the following utilities as 2020 Customer Champions. These utilities have scored above their peers on the ECR index, a 360-degree measurement of the utility customer relationship through performance on factors that impact Brand Trust, Product Experience and Service Satisfaction.
| Cogent Syndicated 2020 Utility Customer Champions | ||
| AEP Ohio | Duquesne Light | Pepco |
| Atmos Energy – South | Elizabethtown Gas | Piedmont Natural Gas |
| Avista | Idaho Power | PPL Electric Utilities |
| BGE | Intermountain Gas Company | PSE&G |
| Black Hills Energy – Midwest | Kentucky Utilities | RG&E |
| Cascade Natural Gas | MidAmerican Energy | Salt River Project |
| CenterPoint Energy – Midwest | Montana-Dakota Utilities | SDG&E |
| Columbia Gas – South | New Jersey Natural Gas | TECO Peoples Gas |
| Columbia Gas of Ohio | NIPSCO | Texas Gas Service |
| CPS Energy | NW Natural | Toledo Edison |
| Dayton Power & Light | Oklahoma Natural Gas | Washington Gas |
| Delmarva Power | OUC | Wisconsin Public Service |
| DTE Energy | PECO Energy | Xcel Energy – Midwest |
| Duke Energy Midwest | Peoples Gas | Xcel Energy – West |
The following are ECR scores for the 140 utilities covered in the study.
| East Region Utility Brands | Engaged Customer Relationship index | Service type |
| RG&E | 750 | Combination |
| PECO Energy | 743 | Combination |
| PSE&G | 741 | Combination |
| BGE | 732 | Combination |
| Delmarva Power | 730 | Combination |
| Con Edison | 723 | Combination |
| National Grid | 719 | Combination |
| NYSEG | 709 | Combination |
| Eversource | 698 | Combination |
| Pepco | 749 | Electric |
| PPL Electric Utilities | 748 | Electric |
| Duquesne Light | 732 | Electric |
| Penelec | 726 | Electric |
| Green Mountain Power | 725 | Electric |
| Penn Power | 725 | Electric |
| Met-Ed | 717 | Electric |
| Potomac Edison | 704 | Electric |
| Atlantic City Electric | 700 | Electric |
| West Penn Power | 697 | Electric |
| Appalachian Power | 692 | Electric |
| Mon Power | 681 | Electric |
| PSEG Long Island | 676 | Electric |
| Jersey Central Power & Light | 671 | Electric |
| Central Maine Power | 666 | Electric |
| Washington Gas | 769 | Natural Gas |
| Elizabethtown Gas | 755 | Natural Gas |
| New Jersey Natural Gas | 754 | Natural Gas |
| National Fuel Gas | 747 | Natural Gas |
| UGI Utilities | 746 | Natural Gas |
| South Jersey Gas Company | 743 | Natural Gas |
| Peoples | 741 | Natural Gas |
| Philadelphia Gas Works | 723 | Natural Gas |
| Columbia Gas – East | 695 | Natural Gas |
| Midwest Region Utility Brands | Engaged Customer Relationship index | Service type |
| DTE Energy | 753 | Combination |
| Black Hills Energy – Midwest | 751 | Combination |
| Wisconsin Public Service | 743 | Combination |
| Xcel Energy – Midwest | 743 | Combination |
| MidAmerican Energy | 742 | Combination |
| NIPSCO | 741 | Combination |
| Montana-Dakota Utilities | 740 | Combination |
| Duke Energy Midwest | 735 | Combination |
| Ameren Illinois | 733 | Combination |
| Consumers Energy | 727 | Combination |
| Alliant Energy | 715 | Combination |
| We Energies | 699 | Combination |
| Vectren | 684 | Combination |
| Toledo Edison | 746 | Electric |
| Dayton Power & Light | 739 | Electric |
| AEP Ohio | 735 | Electric |
| OPPD | 726 | Electric |
| Indianapolis Power & Light | 723 | Electric |
| ComEd | 719 | Electric |
| Ohio Edison | 716 | Electric |
| Indiana Michigan Power | 712 | Electric |
| Ameren Missouri | 711 | Electric |
| The Illuminating Company | 704 | Electric |
| Evergy | 696 | Electric |
| Columbia Gas of Ohio | 760 | Natural Gas |
| CenterPoint Energy – Midwest | 744 | Natural Gas |
| Peoples Gas | 740 | Natural Gas |
| Nicor Gas | 736 | Natural Gas |
| Spire Missouri – East | 732 | Natural Gas |
| Dominion Energy Ohio | 726 | Natural Gas |
| Kansas Gas Service | 718 | Natural Gas |
| Atmos Energy – Midwest | 718 | Natural Gas |
| Citizens Energy | 709 | Natural Gas |
| Spire Missouri – West | 708 | Natural Gas |
| South Region Utility Brands | Engaged Customer Relationship index | Service type |
| CPS Energy | 749 | Combination |
| Louisville Gas & Electric | 725 | Combination |
| Dominion Energy South Carolina | 712 | Combination |
| MLGW | 688 | Combination |
| OUC | 776 | Electric |
| Kentucky Utilities | 766 | Electric |
| Florida Power & Light | 755 | Electric |
| Georgia Power | 751 | Electric |
| TECO Tampa Electric | 747 | Electric |
| Entergy Texas | 736 | Electric |
| Entergy Mississippi | 735 | Electric |
| OG&E | 735 | Electric |
| Mississippi Power | 734 | Electric |
| Entergy Louisiana | 733 | Electric |
| Duke Energy Carolinas | 732 | Electric |
| Dominion Energy Virginia | 731 | Electric |
| Entergy Arkansas | 727 | Electric |
| Alabama Power | 727 | Electric |
| Public Service Company of Oklahoma | 725 | Electric |
| Xcel Energy – South | 724 | Electric |
| Duke Energy Florida | 724 | Electric |
| Southwestern Electric Power Company | 722 | Electric |
| Nashville Electric Service | 721 | Electric |
| Austin Energy | 714 | Electric |
| Gulf Power | 712 | Electric |
| JEA | 710 | Electric |
| El Paso Electric | 710 | Electric |
| Duke Energy Progress | 697 | Electric |
| Entergy New Orleans | 687 | Electric |
| Kentucky Power | 662 | Electric |
| Columbia Gas – South | 787 | Natural Gas |
| TECO Peoples Gas | 781 | Natural Gas |
| Piedmont Natural Gas | 778 | Natural Gas |
| Texas Gas Service | 760 | Natural Gas |
| Oklahoma Natural Gas | 757 | Natural Gas |
| Atmos Energy – South | 757 | Natural Gas |
| CenterPoint Energy – South | 753 | Natural Gas |
| Virginia Natural Gas | 745 | Natural Gas |
| Spire Alabama | 743 | Natural Gas |
| Chattanooga Gas Company | 739 | Natural Gas |
| Dominion Energy North Carolina | 738 | Natural Gas |
| Florida City Gas Company | 732 | Natural Gas |
| Spire Mississippi | 705 | Natural Gas |
| Spire Gulf Coast | 702 | Natural Gas |
| West Region Utility Brands | Engaged Customer Relationship index | Service type |
| SDG&E | 749 | Combination |
| Xcel Energy – West | 742 | Combination |
| Avista | 735 | Combination |
| Puget Sound Energy | 728 | Combination |
| Colorado Springs Utilities | 727 | Combination |
| NorthWestern Energy | 723 | Combination |
| Black Hills Energy – West | 663 | Combination |
| PG&E | 645 | Combination |
| Idaho Power | 764 | Electric |
| Salt River Project | 748 | Electric |
| Portland General Electric | 737 | Electric |
| Seattle City Light | 735 | Electric |
| SMUD | 733 | Electric |
| Pacific Power | 733 | Electric |
| Tucson Electric Power | 723 | Electric |
| Rocky Mountain Power | 720 | Electric |
| Southern California Edison | 716 | Electric |
| NV Energy | 715 | Electric |
| Los Angeles Department of Water & Power | 690 | Electric |
| PNM | 674 | Electric |
| APS | 673 | Electric |
| Cascade Natural Gas | 788 | Natural Gas |
| NW Natural | 787 | Natural Gas |
| Intermountain Gas Company | 762 | Natural Gas |
| Southwest Gas | 752 | Natural Gas |
| SoCalGas | 746 | Natural Gas |
| New Mexico Gas Company | 732 | Natural Gas |
| Dominion Energy West | 727 | Natural Gas |
About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential
Escalent conducted surveys among 73,170 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 140 largest US utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample design uses a combination of quotas and weighting based on US census data to ensure a demographically balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.
Click below to learn more about the full report.
