Electric utilities seek new ways to improve customer relationships
PHILADELPHIA — As their customers become more diverse and complex, electric companies are sharpening their focus on improving customer relationships and using technology to help them get there.
As technology has advanced, customers have more options – and they want different things, said panelist Charles Patton, executive vice president of external affairs at AEP, during a panel discussion at the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) annual meeting earlier this week.
Low-income customers need information about programs that may be available to them, while electric vehicle (EV) owners want to know how to better manage their home use, Scott Neuman, group vice president for Oracle Utilities’ Opower, offered as examples.
These changes have helped drive the electric industry to enhance its focus on customer experience. Panel moderator Robert Rowe, president and CEO of NorthWestern Energy, noted that Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO Lynn Good made customer centricity a focus during her year as chairman of EEI.
“Working with EEI, we have been paying close attention to the needs of our customers,” Rowe said. “What we have found can be distilled down to: respect my time, and respect my money.”
The panelists discussed what their companies are doing to improve the customer experience. Patton noted that AEP’s hiring of a chief customer officer in 2015 was “the milestone of when we went all-in in terms of really committing energy, resources to focus on the customer in a new and different way.”
Neuman discussed how Opower is focusing on “moments that matter” for the customer experience. Typical utility customers spend nine minutes per year engaging with their utility, he said, and Opower focuses on those moments before trying to get more time with customers. From there, the company works to stitch those moments together into a cohesive customer journey.
The panelists also discussed how technology is helping utilities to anticipate customer needs and improve engagement.
For example, Neuman said, utilities can use analytics to discover new EV charging on their network and determine with relative certainty that a customer recently purchased an EV. They can then ask the customer to confirm that they bought an EV before providing them with relevant information about EV charging.
Adrian Tuck, CEO of Tendril, said that data shows that customers are twice as likely to buy solar if they have a dog than if they have a cat. Utilities could use this information to help with targeting information about solar to the right customers.
Rowe noted that, thanks in part to digital technologies and analytics, companies today know more about their customers than ever before and asked the panelists what they believe their customers want.
“When it’s all said and done, they largely want to be left alone,” Patton said. “They want it simple,” noting that providing options and education about those options is still important.
Hamel noted that although the software behind Google’s smart Nest thermostats is complex, it’s simple for customers to use.
“They don’t want more engagement, so we need to work to create less engagement but more value,” Hamel said.
Patton also emphasized that utilities should approach every initiative from the perspective of the value it will provide the customer.
“The data analytics piece and listening to the customer — we can’t lose sight of that because that was the reason that we started down this path as an industry…” he said. “It is important that we always look at technology through the prism of what is going to add value to our customers.”
