Utility Customers Want More Communication in Times of Disruption

LIVONIA, Mich., June 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New data from Cogent Syndicated show that utilities who are spending more on customer communications and marketing are reaping the benefits. The utility industry Brand Trust Index is down significantly from last year, declining eight points to 698 on a 0-to-1,000 scale. However, Brand Trust among utilities who are communicating with customers about topics such as their efforts to keep rates low, community engagement, and programs remains high. Today, we name these 39 top utilities as the 2022 Most Trusted Brands.

Those are some of the latest findings of the 2022 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential study, which tracks performance of 140 gas, electric and combination utilities to identify brand and customer experience opportunities and trends in the industry. The report is published semiannually by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics advisory firm with extensive energy and utility experience.

Overall, utilities are communicating less with their customers, with the Communications Intensity Index, an indicator of per-customer spending, declining 9% year-over-year. That pullback on communication is being felt by customers, as communications recall about topics that customers care greatly about such as ways to lower energy consumption, safety, and programs has declined significantly. At the same time, recall of reliability-related messaging, such as storm preparation and outage/safety event, and rate change messaging has increased significantly. As a result, customers’ perception of the value they get from their utility took a big hit, leading to the industry Brand Trust decline.

“Brand Trust is paramount in maintaining healthy utility-customer relationships,” said K.C. Boyce, vice president of Escalent’s Energy division. “Proactively communicating with customers is going to become even more important as customers feel the impact of higher energy prices. With the median reported bill already increasing $5 from last year, customers are bracing for additional rate hikes.”

“Building a trusted brand by investing in communication and marketing channels gives utilities more control over their customer perceptions and helps create a new narrative about how their utility is helping in these uncertain economic times,” continued Boyce. “Today, we’re pleased to announce our 2022 Utility Most Trusted Brands, who despite the challenging times, have maintained high Brand Trust among their customers. They’ve done this, in part, by spending on average 24% more on customer communication and marketing than their industry peers.”

Escalent congratulates the 2022 Most Trusted Brands among utilities. These 39 utilities have developed industry-leading customer trust levels.

* Utilities named as Most Trusted Brands are selected based on having Brand Trust Index scores in the top decile of the industry; top score within their respective benchmark segment; or having a Brand Trust Index score within 20 points of the top benchmark segment score and above the industry average.

The following tables reflect regional peer benchmark Brand Trust scores among the 140 utilities surveyed. These scores reflect the amount of trust customers have with each utility.

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential

Escalent conducted surveys among 79,529 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 140 largest US utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample design uses a combination of quotas and weighting based on US census data to ensure a demographically balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results. The Brand Trust index score is a composite based upon consumer ratings across six factors. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

About Escalent
Escalent is an award-winning advisory firm that helps clients understand human and market behaviors to navigate disruption and business transformation. As catalysts of progress for more than 40 years, our strategies guide the world’s leading brands. We accelerate growth by creating a seamless flow between primary, secondary, syndicated, and internal business data, providing consulting and advisory services from insights through implementation. Based on a profound understanding of what drives human beings and markets, we identify actions that build brands, enhance customer experiences, inspire product innovation and boost business productivity. Visit escalent.co to see how we are helping shape the brands that are reshaping the world.