Utilities Rethinking Customer Experience

The utility industry generates the power used in millions of homes and businesses, and the customer experience has not always been a top priority. Many utility professionals have been more worried about maintaining power equipment and resolving power outages than providing great service. Increased regulation and the introduction of net metering have forced executives to consider the customer when developing company programs. These are just some of the actions utility professionals are taking to enhance the customer experience in their areas.

Gulf Power is working to improve customer service by overhauling its voice response unit. Margaret Neyman, the marketing general manager of Gulf Power, says customers were upset because it was difficult to get in touch with a live person when they had problems. The upgraded system should improve the customer experience by making it easier to connect with someone. The company is also working on giving customers a way to track their hourly energy usage. The system will send alerts to customers when they reach a certain threshold, which help people avoid unexpected increases in their bills.

Ameren Missouri is working on several initiatives to improve the customer experience. One of these initiatives involves allowing employees at every level to give feedback based on the conversations they have with customers. This customer feedback will be used to improve the efficiency of the credit and collections center, contact center, and billing department. Sandi Spurbeck said she expects customer service to improve as a result of these initiatives. Peoples Natural Gas has had the challenge of improving the customer experience amid significant infrastructure projects. The utility company recently brought all call center and collections activities back in house, so this added another layer of difficulty to the job of keeping customers happy.

Vectren is changing the way the company measures customer satisfaction. In the past, employees did what they felt was right based on each customer's needs, but this led to differences in the way certain issues were handled. The customer experience is now driving some of the company's biggest decisions, which should lead to an improvement in customer satisfaction. Representatives can't grant every request, but they can make better decisions using customer input. PG&E is now focusing on the customer experience by making it easy to do business with the company. Customers are now able to choose whether they want to communicate with company representatives via call center, online chat, or mobile device, making it easier to resolve service issues.

These are just some of the utility companies working on initiatives to improve customer satisfaction and build better relationships with customers. As lawmakers introduce more regulations affecting the industry, it is a good bet other executives will realize they cannot afford to ignore the customer experience. Watch what these utility leaders are doing to generate ideas for your own company.

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