Study: Electric and Gas Utilities Post All-Time High Customer Satisfaction

According to the 2016 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential study from Market Strategies International, customers are satisfied with electric and natural gas utility service but don’t trust their advice or digital competency. Consumers also doubt the industry’s ability to keep transmission systems or personal information secure. Completing its third year, the study benchmarks and trends 130 utilities using an Engaged Customer Relationship (ECR) tracking index, which is composed of Brand Trust, Product Experience and Operational Satisfaction measures. The ECR index increased five points this year with 46 utility brands being named Customer Champions.

“Consumers now want great brand and product experiences above quality service. Our research shows that operational satisfaction is declining in importance while product experience is increasing,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president, Market Strategies International. “Customers say utilities are digital dinosaurs which creates a real problem for an industry whose future relies on innovation and offerings. The overall market perception is utilities keep service flowing but aren’t good product providers and can’t be trusted to keep customers safe and secure.”

The impacts of these negative consumer perceptions are already being felt by the industry. While utility Operational Satisfaction scores a high 764 (on a 1,000-point scale), Brand Trust scores a low 693. This lack of trust has resulted in low customer engagement with utility offerings, like energy efficiency, online tools, distributed energy, solar and new rate structures.

“Utilities would benefit greatly from developing customer management plans focused on specific customer types. Our study tracks 12 customer segments, including ‘Digital Types’ and ‘Consumption Managers,’ to help improve customer interactions and relationships,” added Oberle.

There is a 181-point difference between the highest and lowest scoring utilities on ECR. The study finds that 46 utilities have established the industry’s strongest ECR scores and are designated 2016 Customer Champions. These utilities are mastering customer engagement and, as a result, have much greater franchise values. Individual utility scoring performances can be obtained at 2016 Cogent Reports Utility Customer Relationship Scoring – Full List.

*Customer Champions were selected based on achieving a top quartile industry, top two benchmark segment score or being within 20 points of the top regional score on the Cogent Engaged Customer Relationships index (ECR).

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