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Consumers' Trust in Utilities Lowest in Four Years, New Accenture Research Shows

ACN
Consumers’ Trust in Utilities Lowest in Four Years, New Accenture Research Shows

Less than one quarter of consumers trust their utilities, according to an annual survey by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) of more than 11,000 consumers in 21 countries.

Accenture’s New Energy Consumer research shows that just 24 percent of consumers trust their utility to inform them of actions they can take to optimize energy consumption – a decrease of nine percentage points from 2012. This is the lowest level of trust since the multi-year global research program was launched four years ago. Furthermore, customer satisfaction has drifted lower globally, falling from 59 percent to 47 percent over the past year.

Across both regulated and competitive energy markets, consumers are ready to turn to alternative providers for energy and energy-related products and services. If given the choice, 73 percent of the consumers surveyed said they would consider alternative providers for purchasing electricity and alternative energy-related products and services.

“In the evolving energy marketplace, many utilities are at an inflection point at which they should redefine their role in consumers’ lives and refocus on building a base of trust,” said Greg Guthridge, Accenture Energy Consumer Services managing director. “The first step is making interactions simple, in particular getting the basics right the first time. Each touch point with the consumer is critical – whether it involves mobile or digital options for straightforward transactions, or higher-touch interactions to resolve issues.”

Despite the fact that many utilities have increased spending on consumer-centric programs, such as online self-service, this has yet to translate directly into improved trust or satisfaction. Storms, challenges with service reliability, and price volatility have all contributed to decreasing customer trust and satisfaction. However, Accenture’s research shows that there is a growing gap between customer expectations and the energy experience they receive from their providers today.

The research shows that delivering the basics of the customer experience is key to building consumer trust. The vast majority of consumers surveyed said that consistently getting the bill correct (92 percent), receiving reliable energy delivery (91 percent) and getting clear and easy-to-understand pricing information (91 percent) are the factors that matter most in building their trust with energy providers.

However, the survey results also show that there are significant gaps between consumers’ expectations and their utilities’ performance. For example, while 91 percent of consumers said that clear and easy-to-understand pricing information is important, only 69 percent would rate their providers’ performance in that area as good or excellent – a gap of 22 percent.

“Utilities need to consider radically rethinking their customer satisfaction investments with a targeted approach to simplifying the consumer energy experience, addressing the concerns of dissatisfied consumers and closing the expectation gap,” Guthridge said.

Responses from survey participants indicate that utilities have several opportunities to better engage with their customers, including:

  • Extending the mobile experience

The increased use of mobile devices is driving the demand for mobile energy experiences with personalized information. Thirty-eight percent of consumers say they would like to receive notifications about their energy usage on their mobile device. And 32 percent say they would like to have the ability to remotely control their home heating, cooling and appliances using their mobile devices.

  • Tackling consumer costs

Reducing the household energy bill is a consumer priority. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of survey respondents expect detailed online access to their energy usage information and half (50 percent) want online personalized tips on actions they can take to reduce their energy bill.

  • Acting as an energy advisor

Eighty-one percent of consumers surveyed would be more interested in purchasing energy-related products and/or services if their utility were to provide them information on how to save on their energy bill.

  • Delivering a smarter experience

The vast majority of respondents – 87 percent – said that once their utility supplies them with a smart meter, they expect the company to provide additional energy-related products or services, including personalized advice on actions they can take to reduce their bill, information on new product and service offerings, bill notifications and home-energy management solutions. Similarly, if their utility were to provide them with a variable rate plan option in which the price of energy changes throughout the day, 92 percent of consumers surveyed said they would expect the utility to offer new features to help them manage their bill.

“It’s becoming clear that utilities are at a turning point when it comes to serving the new, tech-savvy consumer,” Guthridge said. “Satisfaction and trust are built on consistently delivering the basic customer experience whether through digital or traditional channels. Once in place, utilities have incredible opportunities to create digitally powered value propositions that can deliver step-change consumer engagement.”

Methodology

Accenture’s annual global survey was based on questionnaire-led interviews with 11,154 residential consumers in 21 countries, conducted online in native languages for Accenture by Harris Interactive. It is a quantitative survey with a sample statistically representative of the general population in each country, with the exception of Brazil, China and South Africa, where the sample was representative of the urban populations.

The New Energy Consumer Handbook (http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-new-energy-consumer-handbook.aspx) draws upon four consecutive years of end-consumer research, analysis of consumer and technology trends, insights from leading energy providers, cross-industry experience and Accenture’s knowledge of managing utility customer operations. The handbook is designed to offer energy providers fresh ideas and actionable insights to help frame the journey ahead and inspire dynamic new approaches that can lead to success in the evolving energy marketplace.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 266,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is www.accenture.com

About Accenture Energy Consumer Services

Accenture Energy Consumer Services provides customer care solutions for competitive and regulated energy providers globally. We help our clients to develop and implement full value-chain solutions that achieve three key business imperatives: cost effectiveness, revenue assurance and customer satisfaction. Through new energy customer transformation, next generation customer solutions, transformational outsourcing and asset-powered services, we bring world-class industry-specific management consulting, technology and business process customer-care capabilities to our electricity, gas and water clients.



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