Escalent Names 31 Utilities as Environmental Champions, Recognizing Their Dedication to the Environment This Earth Day

LIVONIA, Mich., April 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Utilities have a reason to celebrate Earth Day, as the industry’s Environmental Dedication score remains at a multi-year high of 686 (on a 1,000-point maximum scale). Since 2014, Escalent’s Environmental Dedication score comprises customer ratings of utility actions to build strong environmental stewardship. Among those actions, customers rate utilities highest on providing programs and tools that help them lower their energy consumption and on being committed to clean energy. This information is from Cogent Syndicated’s 2022 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential management advisory study from Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics advisory firm.

The study finds 70% of utility customers nationwide believe climate change is happening and 64% say their utility should spend more on clean energy technology. And customers cite “clean environment” as the second-most important cause for a utility to support. But with only one in three (31%) customers actively aware of their utility’s efforts to help the environment, there’s huge opportunity for utilities to highlight their environmental efforts to raise their brand perceptions and customer satisfaction.

Premier utilities have successfully productized their environmental efforts in support of consumer demand for environmentally friendly products such as EVs (13% of customer demand), home or community solar (54%) and renewable natural gas (33%).

“Customers’ esteem for their utility increases when they are aware of their utility’s dedication to supporting the environment. Customer trust and utilities’ overall reputation significantly increase with awareness of environmental stewardship efforts, such as investing in clean energy options and highlighting ways utilities limit the environmental impact of their service,” said K.C. Boyce, vice president at Escalent. “Environmental Dedication is absolutely critical for utilities that want to build strong customer relationships.”

On this Earth Day, Escalent congratulates the Cogent Syndicated 2022 Environmental Champion utilities. The 31 utilities below stand out among the 140 utilities surveyed for winning high marks from their customers for their environmental stewardship.

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential

Escalent conducted surveys among 79,223 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 Environmental Dedication score is a composite index based upon consumer ratings across four attributes. 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.