Panelists share recipes for successful customer engagement with demand response October 3, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer engagement, demand response, energy efficiency, energy usage, market research, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility, utility customer engagement, utility customer service
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Consumers’ fears about smart meters have generated more than their share of headlines over the last few years. The resulting misinformation and noise has made it harder to hear the success stories that continue to define the majority of smart meter deployments. (more…)
What do utilities have in common with Nordstrom? August 5, 2011
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, call center, Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, contact center, customer experience, customer service, Customer service automation, EMACS, EMACS - The Customer Experience Conference, utilities, utility, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility marketing
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I moderate a panel of executives from leading utilities each year at EMACS – The Customer Experience Conference http://bit.ly/hU7eX. One year, a member of the audience – a customer experience consultant as I recall – asked the panelists: “What is it you really want to be – the best utility, or the best overall?” It seemed she had become exasperated with some of the discussion among the executives about the challenges they face around regulation, cost containment, customer engagement, etc. and so forth.
It was an intriguing question that brought into perspective the challenges faced by utilities that are not known in other industries. (more…)
Home energy management and customer engagement: Sprinters should avoid this marathon July 12, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer service, energy conservation, energy usage, Google PowerMeter, market research, meter data, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utility customer engagement
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Google and Microsoft’s low-key exit from the home energy management market after just two years underscores what many electric utilities are learning and Chartwell research shows – convincing large numbers of consumers to pay more attention to their energy use and act on that information will be a long, uphill journey. (more…)
The energy industry is quite complex, as some of the customer-oriented tech companies are learning June 15, 2011
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: Apple, Chartwell research, customer communications, demand response, EMACS, energy conservation, energy usage, Google PowerMeter, in-home displays, Microsoft Hohm, online energy information, Oracle, Siemens, smart meter, Tendril, utilities, utility communications
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San Diego Gas & Electric is running a pilot this summer that will include in-home displays like this one and programmable communicating thermostats.
Many people are conditioned to believe that, due to all their resources and innovations, giants like Google and Microsoft can immerse themselves into any industry, exploit the current products, improve them and cash the large check. It’s like the kids in high school who could effortlessly dominate every sport. That would be the script, some thought, for customer engagement in energy management. Here come the jocks. Everyone move aside. (more…)
When it comes to energy conservation, energy consumers consider their wallets first June 8, 2011
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Uncategorized.Tags: Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, energy conservation, energy efficiency, energy usage, market research, online energy information, smart grid, utilities, utility customer engagement, utility market research
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Chartwell’s Smart Grid Customer Engagement Council is well into its second year of studying the behaviors of North American consumers concerning their energy usage and attitudes. With a focus this year on energy usage tools and behaviors, the Council, which is made up of utility companies that work with Chartwell, has already made a couple of important findings. Among those:
- Consumers are interested in their energy usage and see the long-term need to stay abreast of it; but
- Engaging them with the right tools is the real challenge. In other words, utilities will have to offer energy monitoring products that are easy to use and which add value to their customers’ lives.
One thing is clear, however, from Chartwell’s years of research and thousands of consumer interviews: (more…)
Consumer advocate provides smart-meter reality check to utilities at Chartwell summit May 27, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer communications, energy usage, market research, meter data, privacy, security, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility market research
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Arizona’s advocate for residential utility consumers delivered a clear message to industry leaders attending Chartwell’s Smart Grid Customer Education Summit in Phoenix late last month: Increased outreach and education can only improve customers’ perceptions of smart meters and smart grid.
Jodi Jerich, director of the state’s Residential Utility Consumer Office, which represents the interests of residential ratepayers before the Arizona Corporation Commission, noted that public understanding of smart grid technologies is low. She backed this up by citing research from several firms and as I noted previously on this blog, Chartwell research shows about 40% of consumers familiar with their home energy costs say they have not heard of smart meters; about three in four say they have not heard of smart grid. (more…)
Silent running or loud and proud: What’s your smart meter approach? April 18, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer communications, smart grid, smart meter, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility market research
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You’ll find more enthusiasts than wallflowers among electric utilities planning to engage their customers during smart meter rollouts.
A clear majority of utilities tell Chartwell they plan to proactively involve customers in the rollout of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and smart metering systems. (more…)
Just how much data do customers want when it comes to their energy usage? Chartwell council aims to find out April 7, 2011
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer communications, demand response, energy usage, online energy information, smart appliances, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service
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Paper or plastic? It was a common question heard every time one checked out at the grocery store of the ‘80s and ‘90s. There was a time when the brown paper bag was king. Then it became plastic, but lots of people – my mother, for example – didn’t like moving away from paper, hence the question was always posed by the grocery bagger.
This question, of course, was asked to ensure that customers had a good experience – even those resistant to change.
Then about 15 or so years ago, shoppers started hearing that question less and less. It was assumed by the grocery baggers that plastic was what most people wanted, and most people didn’t complain. Sure, you could still request a paper bag, but not many did. Now, there’s often not even a bagger present. In fact, you can check yourself out in many stores, and the only option is plastic – unless you’ve bought one of those environmentally friendly reusable bags.
Much the way customer service and programs in other industries evolve over time, utilities will see customer attitudes and perceptions evolve. (more…)
Utilities share mobile workforce management success stories February 24, 2011
Posted by Scott Johnson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell research, mobile communications, utilities, utility communications
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More utilities see mobile workforce management (MWM) as a cost-effective tool for improving customer service and enterprise-wide communications, Chartwell survey data suggests.
Twenty of 25 utilities that participated in last fall’s outage communications survey were at least considering MWM systems as a way to help identify outages and support customer contact. That compares with less than half of the utilities in early 2007, when Chartwell last posed the question.
7 reasons to subscribe to Chartwell’s Blog February 17, 2011
Posted by Vanessa Edmonds in Utility Industry News.Tags: Allison Herdic, billing and payment, Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell conferences, Chartwell events, Chartwell research, Chartwell’s Blog, customer contact, Darren Epps, Dennis Smith, Doris Yon, Jennifer Allen, mobile devices, outage communications, scamming utilities, Scott Johnson, smart contact centers, smart grid, utility industry conferences, utility industry events, utility industry research, utility industry savvy, utility research studies, utility self service, utility tv ads, Vanessa Edmonds
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If you don’t currently subscribe to Chartwell’s Blog, or do but aren’t aware of all of the benefits of your subscription, continue reading. These are the top 7 reasons that people subscribe:
