ScottMadden
Customer Engagement Framework for Utilities
Evolving customer expectations and increasing competitive, regulatory, and stakeholder pressures in the energy industry have created a shift toward increased consideration of and enhanced engagement with customers. Effective customer engagement can have a substantial impact on utility companies, driving higher customer satisfaction levels, improving brand perception and trust, increasing customer participation in clean energy programs, and enabling more informed utility decision-making.
ScottMadden
Customer Engagement Framework for Utilities
Evolving customer expectations and increasing competitive, regulatory, and stakeholder pressures in the energy industry have created a shift toward increased consideration of and enhanced engagement with customers. Effective customer engagement can have a substantial impact on utility companies, driving higher customer satisfaction levels, improving brand perception and trust, increasing customer participation in clean energy programs, and enabling more informed utility decision-making.
From Ratepayers to Customers to Partners
Ratepayers
Utilities and ratepayers have traditionally had a largely low- touch relationship.
Interactions are generally limited to:
- Billing and payments
- Outage restoration
Customers
Personalized consumer experiences across industries are setting a new standard of service.
Interactions largely include:
- Apps and omnichannel digital options
- Participation in load management programs and incentives
- Optionality on rates and services (e.g., time-of-use rates)
Partners
Customers are increasingly engaged and becoming an essential partner in meeting utility and societal clean energy goals.
Additional Interactions:
- Consumer-driven growth in DERs and EVs introduces bidirectional flow of power, communication, and services
- Strong customer-utility relationships are required to enable flexible loads and clean energy goals
- Increasing stakeholder input is informing utility planning processes
From Ratepayers to Customers to Partners
Ratepayers
Utilities and ratepayers have traditionally had a largely low-touch relationship.
Interactions are generally limited to:
- Billing and payments
- Outage restoration
Customers
Personalized consumer experiences across industries are setting a new standard of service.
Interactions largely include:
- Apps and omnichannel digital options
- Participation in load management programs and incentives
- Optionality on rates and services (e.g., time-of-use rates)
Partners
Customers are increasingly engaged and becoming an essential partner in meeting utility and societal clean energy goals.
Additional interactions:
- Consumer-driven growth in DERs and EVs introduces bidirectional flow of power, communication, and services
- Strong customer-utility relationships are required to enable flexible loads and clean energy goals
- Increasing stakeholder input is informing utility planning processes.
Industry Forces Are Driving Customer-Centric Behavior
Policy, technology, and increasing stakeholder participation are all playing an influential role in shaping customers' relationships with utilities. Successful utilities will need to embrace these drivers and orient toward customer-centric approaches to critical decisions.
Framing the Customer Engagement Opportunity for Utilities
Understanding industry dynamics and market trends is crucial for utilities to develop successful strategies to meet myriad customer needs, while ensuring the reliability, affordability, and resiliency of the electricity system.
Framing the Customer Engagement Opportunity for Utilities
Understanding industry dynamics and market trends is crucial for utilities to develop successful strategies to meet myriad customer needs, while ensuring the reliability, affordability, and resiliency of the electricity system.
Aligning Customer and Utility Value
Beyond “checking the box” to meet the demands of customers, regulators, and stakeholders, successful utilities will engage with customers to identify and pursue together mutually beneficial opportunities. Improving customer engagement and aligning customer and utility value is critical to meeting clean energy goals. For example, successful load management programs align utilities' needs to reduce peak demand while customers pay lower bills. Energy efficiency programs can achieve similar, mutually beneficial goals.
ScottMadden's Framework for Utility Customer Engagement
A coordinated and comprehensive customer strategy is foundational to effectively engaging with customers and foundational to ensuring successful outcomes across critical dimensions of customer programs, services, experience, and technology. ScottMadden can advise on the collective and individual components of this customer engagement framework to meet the demands of a changing utility customer experience.
