The industry keeps getting smarter and smarter: Hot topics at DistribuTECH January 31, 2012
Posted by Dennis Smith in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, customer engagement, Customer service automation, demand response, DistribuTECH, electric vehicle, electric vehicles, energy conservation, energy usage, meter data, mobile apps, online energy information, plug-in electric vehicle, smart grid, smart meter, smart meters, utilities, utility, utility communications
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Analytics, metrics, meters, home automation gadgets, bucket trucks, plug-in electric cars, dog bite repellent and some remote control vehicle that looked like the Mars lander. Even Hooter’s girls. Yes, the 2012 DistribuTECH had something for just about everyone last week in San Antonio.
Once again, the exhibit hall was extensive, or, as one attendee quipped, “big enough to land a [Boeing] 747 on.” We at Chartwell couldn’t cover it all. So we stayed focused. What was there to improve the utility customer experience? And the answer: still plenty. Here’s a recap (more…)
The Top 10 Chartwell member requests of 2011; and other stuff to look back upon December 28, 2011
Posted by Dennis Smith in Utility Industry News.Tags: 2011, billing and payment, call center, Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell member requests, Chartwell research, customer engagement, customer satisfaction, customer self service, customer service, electric vehicle, mobile communications, smart grid, utilities, utilities in 2011, utility, utility customer engagement, utility customer service, utility marketing, Web-based customer service
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It has been an interesting year to say the least. 2011 was a year of more positives for Apple and Google and negatives for BlackBerry and Netflix (remember its Qwikster fiasco). It’s been a year marked by the deaths of Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi and Kim Jong Il, a devastating tsunami and accompanying earthquake, political protests at home and abroad, and Republican presidential hopefuls rising and falling faster than a roller coaster at Six Flags. And in keeping with year’s past, Congress failed once again … and again (You can’t even cut spending when you’re this deep in debt?!), and another NFL team made a run at undefeated glory only to stumble toward the finish line. Maybe the Green Bay Packers will still repeat with another Super Bowl win – 2012 will tell that tale.
Oh, and the financial struggles of recent years continued.
The year is also one that’s been big for the utility industry. It’s been marked by several high-profile merger proposals, continued smart meter protests and the mass market introduction of the plug-in electric vehicle (EV). It will be interesting in the coming year to see (more…)
Forceful 2011 hurricane season packs an unusual punch for Northeastern utilities December 7, 2011
Posted by Chris Brennaman in Uncategorized.Tags: call center, Chartwell, hurricane irene, northeast, outage communications, outage reporting, PPL Electric Utilities, snowstorm, southeast, storm, tornadoes, tropical storm lee, utilities, utility customer service
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With the calendar flipping to December, two things come to mind: the holiday season is now in full swing and hurricane season is officially over. Having lived in the Southeast most of my life, I can appreciate the day the sun comes out after the last hurricane of the year. While this year was tied (with 1887,1995 and 2010) for the third-most active season in history with 19 named storms – only 2005 (28, including 15 hurricanes) and 1933 (21) had more – it remained relatively calm in much of the Southeast with only two storms making landfall in the Gulf of Mexico: (more…)
Customers rise up against banks; Should utilities care? November 16, 2011
Posted by Dennis Smith in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, Chartwell Blog, Chartwell research, customer satisfaction, customer service, EMACS, EMACS - The Customer Experience Conference, utilities, utility, utility customer engagement
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It was interesting to watch last month as Bank of America (BOA), SunTrust and the other major banking institutions that sought to impose debit card fees had to retreat from their high ground and reverse course after customers finally rose up in revolt.
Despite this consumer victory, these are still tough times for customers. (more…)
Two Georgia utilities at forefront of digital paperless billing option October 18, 2011
Posted by Chris Brennaman in Uncategorized.Tags: billing and payment, CenterPoint, Chartwell, Cobb EMC, customer communications, customer engagement, digital mailbox, email, GasSouth, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, mail, online energy information, paperless billing, postal service, Southern California Gas Co., utilities, utility customer service, Zumbox
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A few weeks ago, while checking the mail at the community mail center of my apartment complex, I turned to the person next to me and repeated one of the overused clichés of mailbox small talk: “If not for bills, I would not get any mail.” While not completely true – after all I am still one of Netflix’s few DVD-only customers – there is some truth in the statement. However, we still need to receive birthday cards, holiday cards and (most importantly?) our credit cards – thereby securing a need for the postal service for at least the foreseeable future.
But is there really a need to continue receiving bills through the mail? (more…)
Secret to a smooth-running HAN deployment: Test, test, test October 6, 2011
Posted by Russ Henderson in Utility Industry News.Tags: Chartwell, customer education and outreach, customer expeirence, deployments, EMACS, home area networks, satisfaction, smart grid, technology, utilities, Zigbee
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Leaders of utilities fast off the starting line in their smart grid deployments say just a few bad customer experiences can cause a traffic jam of popular opposition, and one of the keys to ensuring that doesn’t happen is running all of the system’s Home Area Network (HAN) devices through a barrage of tests.
“I’d say the best go-to-market strategy has five parts. First is consumer education and outreach. The other four parts are test, test, test and test,” J.C. Martin, HAN and EV project manager at San Diego Gas & Electric, said during Utilimetrics’ Autovation 2011 conference that I attended in Washington DC last week.
Martin was part of a panel discussion about lessons learned from HAN deployments. Among participants was Kendall Hestilow, HAN program manager with Oncor Electric Delivery. While Oncor is strictly a transmission and distribution company, Hestilow explained, its customers are more than 100 retail electricity distributors in Texas that each are facing HAN issues. (more…)
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 Dennis Smith 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…)
