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:
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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.
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.
Copyright Business Wire 2013