Not just another year-end countdown – the top Chartwell member requests for 2010 December 23, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, call center, contact center, customer self service, customer service, Customer service automation, demand response, energy efficiency, energy usage, Nashville Electric Service, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utility communications, utility market research, Web-based customer service
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Being a music aficionado, I have always enjoyed the year-end countdowns hosted by the likes of Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Rick Dees and more recently Ryan Seacrest. Okay, I don’t actually listen to countdowns anymore and I only assume Seacrest does one, as my age has me disliking most of the modern music out there, instead preferring my “adult alternative” programming and the popular music of my youth.
Still, countdowns, Top 40s and Pick 5s are fun, and I confess I still enjoy them. They also provide a window into the trends and styles of the day. Things in the utility industry aren’t as fashionable as the music business, but we do indeed see trends come and go. In the 1990s it was automated meter reading (AMR); music business parallel: grunge. Today, it is smart meters; music biz parallel: hip hop, unless it’s been replaced by something I’m too old to know about. There are also styles and genres that are evergreen – blues, R&B, rock. In the utility industry, things like billing, customer contact and outage management come to mind.
So, if we draw up an issues-oriented, Top-10-or-so list for the utility industry, what would it look like? (more…)
FarmVille, Weight Watchers, Xbox…utilities? October 29, 2010
Posted by Darren Epps in Utility Industry News.Tags: billing and payment, customer service, EMACS, energy efficiency, energy usage, FarmVille, gaming mechanics, Google PowerMeter, online energy information, smart grid, utilities, utility customer engagement, utility marketing, Web-based customer service
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What do FarmVille, Weight Watchers, Xbox 360 and utilities have in common? Not very much. But that will change.
To understand why futurist Garry Golden referenced FarmVille and Weight Watchers during his keynote address in front of a standing-room-only crowd of utility professionals this week in San Diego at Chartwell’s EMACS 2010 – The Customer Experience Conference, you must first understand the concept of gaming mechanics.
Smart grid will require smart contact centers September 21, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Uncategorized.Tags: billing and payment, call center, contact center, customer self service, customer service, Customer service automation, online energy information, smart grid, utility customer engagement, Web-based customer service
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Utilities have for more than a decade implemented self-service technology, from interactive voice response to the various website channels that have emerged. Newer communication channels will continue to evolve in the coming years with the proliferation of smart phones and other technology that will increase self service capabilities and desires for customers. Still, self-service adoption for the utility industry is slow and the channels themselves often create a need for human interaction, at least until the customer figures them out.
Add this to the emerging smart grid and the energy management programs and services on the horizon and one can see how the skills required of utility customer service representatives (CSRs) will soon be changing. The utility CSR of the future will need to understand energy consumption and the capabilities new technology will bring (more…)
Self service is where it’s at; Is your utility there? July 21, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: customer self service, Customer service automation, interactive voice response, IVR, online energy information, self service, utilities, utility communications, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, Web-based customer service, Web-based transactions
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Fueled by increasing sales of its Kindle e-reader, Amazon.com announced Tuesday its sales of electronic books outpaced sales of hardcopy books in the first half of 2010. This is not surprising coming from an online retailer, but I doubt Barnes & Noble is yet to see the same thing. Still, it is the wave of the future – moving toward online products and services, and no doubt one day B&N will see digital books surpass hardcopy, too.
Without having any firm evidence to cite, I feel pretty confident saying that more people read the news online than in paper format. And rarely, unless there’s a problem with the website, does one purchase airline tickets over the telephone. Usually, if you do pick up the telephone, you will “talk” to a machine. We purchase concert tickets online, book hotels and do most of our banking in the self-service realm – via online or through an automated telephone call.
So I guess it should have come as no surprise when PPL Electric Utilities recently announced that, (more…)
Is data all it’s cracked up to be? Or: Are you really communicating with your customers? June 1, 2010
Posted by Jennifer Quay Allen in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy usage, meter data, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer service, utility marketing
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Every time I hear that one organization or another will provide smart meter data to residential customers to help them “better manage their usage” or “control their bills,” I wonder to myself, “Huh?”
How does showing customers how much energy they used help them control their bills – even if that data includes increments down to 15 minutes? Customers need a lot more than usage data to make educated and effective changes in the ways they use energy. (more…)
Texas collaboration presents a unique website May 24, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy usage, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications
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They always do things bigger in Texas. Presenting online energy usage data is no exception.
Smart Meter Texas (SMT) www.smartmetertexas.com is a new collaborative website offered by distribution utilities in Texas’ competitive electricity market as a way for customers to view their detailed and incremental energy usage. We’ve already discussed in several recent Chartwell blog posts the need and potential channels for customers to view energy usage data online, but this is a different approach. (more…)
Energy efficiency programs and tips from the utility? There’s an app for that May 13, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy usage, mobile apps, mobile communications, online energy information, smart grid, utility communications, utility customer service
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Customer communications channels are changing so much lately it’s hard to keep up. Seems like just yesterday we were analyzing the interactive voice response unit and whether or not utilities should have the technology, how they should use it, etc. and so forth. The Web? That was a far-off aspiration.
Fast-forward just a few years to the present and just about everybody has an IVR, often with speech technology; customer-focused utility websites are the norm. Some utilities are seeing hundreds of thousands of customers with registered Internet accounts. We now discuss things like Twitter, Facebook and text messaging as the new frontier. Many stats reveal there are more texts sent than phone calls made.
But perhaps no other channel holds more promise than mobile apps. (more…)
Online energy information: Giving customers a choice in their provider always a good idea May 7, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy usage, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utility customer service, utility marketing
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So here’s the question: Is the move by Google and other companies to provide energy information to consumers a threat to utilities’ claim? Opinions certainly vary.
Last week we closed out Chartwell’s Summits on Smart Grid Customer Education and Web and Mobile Customer Interaction with an informative presentation from San Diego Gas & Electric. SDG&E began working with Google last year to provide such information to a small select test group. So far, about 500 customers have signed up to get their SDG&E energy usage through Google PowerMeter despite little promotion. This is after an initial test group of less than 100. (more…)
The information rush: Are third parties moving in on utilities’ claim? May 3, 2010
Posted by Chartwell Inc. in Utility Industry News.Tags: energy usage, online energy information, smart grid, smart meter, utilities, utility communications, utility customer service
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Internet giant Google is certainly causing quite a stir in the utility business. Google sees value in information, and it’s made a multibillion-dollar business out of gathering and disseminating it. But why are utilities stirring over Google? Well, there is one piece of information utilities have access to, and Google doesn’t – at least not yet. And Google wants to harness that knowledge as it adds to its menu of services. Of course, that information is consumer energy usage. (more…)
