CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Even as consumers show high demand for utility offerings that help them lower their energy consumption, utilities have only been able to attract 7% of their customers to these product offerings. At nearly double the industry average, Florida Power & Light (FPL) not only leads the industry in product usage rates, it also provides the best customer experience with energy consumption offerings. These findings as well as those tied to over 50 product offerings across billing, payment, pricing, consumption management, electronic access and enhanced service support offerings are included in the Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement study conducted by Market Strategies Cogent™ Energy Reports, which interviewed 40,000 residential customers.
The Midwest and South both boast the greatest number of utilities that are top performers on overall product experience, while the South claims best in class performers for all types of utilities, namely Louisville Gas & Electric (combination), FPL (electric) and PSNC Energy (gas).
In terms of what drives overall product experience scores, the study finds that customer education on the design and features of a product is the most important driver. Customer understanding of the benefits of using these offerings is also important. In contrast, general awareness of or familiarity with utility offerings neither creates a great product experience nor significantly raises customer brand perceptions of their utility.
“The old adage that an educated customer is the best customer holds true in the utility industry,” says Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Market Strategies.
FPL customers rate the utility particularly high on educating its market on the design and features of its offerings and having products that fit the needs of their customers.
“We are extremely pleased to be recognized by our customers as the Top Product Experience Provider among all utilities nationwide,” says Eric Silagy, president and chief executive officer for FPL. “Each and every day we strive to improve the lives of our customers by delivering a value proposition that is second to none, built upon a suite of innovative products and services that help them save time and money and be more energy efficient. The rest of the equation is simple—educating customers on those products and services, and importantly, making it easy and fast for them to sign up.”
Top-scoring utilities on Product Experience have higher cross-sell ratios and more customers using different offerings.
“The potential market demand for products such as solar, energy rebates, consumption management, energy information, enhanced service channels and retail energy products is over five times greater than current usage,” says Oberle. “These offerings help the environment, lower customer bills, lower utility costs to deliver service and enhance utility revenue. They are win-wins that need a much greater focus by utilities.”
A positive for the industry is that consumer demand for billing, payment and online account access is close to saturated as utilities have done an excellent job presenting these enhanced options to their customer bases.
Utility brands* covered in the study are:
| COMBINATION | ELECTRIC | GAS | ||
| Alliant Energy | AEP Ohio | Alagasco | ||
| Ameren Illinois | Ameren Missouri | Atmos Energy – South | ||
| Avista | Atlantic City Electric | Atmos Energy – Midwest | ||
| BGE | Alabama Power | Black Hills Energy | ||
| Con Edison | Appalachian Power | Cascade Natural Gas | ||
| CPS Energy | APS | CenterPoint Energy – Midwest | ||
| Consumers Energy | Austin Energy | CenterPoint Energy – South | ||
| Delmarva Power | Central Maine Power | Citizens Energy | ||
| Duke Energy Midwest | ComEd | Columbia Gas – East | ||
| DTE Energy | Connecticut Light & Power | Columbia Gas of Ohio | ||
| Louisville Gas & Electric | Dayton Power & Light | Columbia Gas – South | ||
| MidAmerican Energy | Dominion Virginia Power | Dominion East Ohio | ||
| MLGW | Duke Energy - Florida | Elizabethtown Gas | ||
| National Grid | Duke Energy Carolinas | Intermountain Gas Co. | ||
| NIPSCO | Duke Energy Progress | Kansas Gas Service | ||
| NorthWestern Energy | Duquesne Light | Laclede Gas | ||
| NSTAR | El Paso Electric | Missouri Gas Energy | ||
| NYSEG | Entergy | National Fuel Gas | ||
| PECO Energy | FPL (Florida Power & Light) | New Jersey Natural Gas | ||
| PG&E | Georgia Power | New Mexico Gas Company | ||
| PSE&G | Gulf Power | Nicor Gas | ||
| Puget Sound Energy | Idaho Power | NW Natural | ||
| RG&E | The Illuminating Company | Oklahoma Natural Gas | ||
| SCE&G | Indiana Michigan Power | Peoples Gas | ||
| SDG&E | Indianapolis Power & Light | Peoples Natural Gas | ||
| Vectren | JEA | Philadelphia Gas Works | ||
| We Energies | Jersey Central Power & Light | Piedmont Natural Gas | ||
| Wisconsin Public Service | KCP&L | PSNC Energy | ||
| Xcel Energy – Midwest | Kentucky Utilities | Questar Gas | ||
| Xcel Energy – West | LADWP | SEMCO Energy Gas Co. | ||
| Met Ed | SoCalGas | |||
| Monongahela Power | South Jersey Gas Co. | |||
| Nashville Electric Service | Southwest Gas | |||
| NV Energy | TECO Peoples Gas | |||
| OPPD | Texas Gas Service | |||
| OG&E | UGI Utilities | |||
| Ohio Edison | Virginia Natural Gas | |||
| Pacific Power | Washington Gas | |||
| Penelec | ||||
| Pepco | ||||
| PNM | ||||
| Portland General Electric | ||||
| Potomac Edison | ||||
| PPL Electric Utilities | ||||
| PSEG Long Island | ||||
| PSO | ||||
| Public Service of New Hampshire | ||||
| Rocky Mountain Power | ||||
| Salt River Project | ||||
| Seattle City Light | ||||
| SMUD | ||||
| Southern California Edison | ||||
| SWEPCO | ||||
| TECO Tampa Electric | ||||
| Tucson Electric Power | ||||
| Westar Energy | ||||
| Xcel Energy – South |
*Brands in bold are Top Product Experience Providers.
About the Residential Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement Study
Cogent Energy Reports conducts online surveys among 40,000 residential customers annually across the 125 largest US electric and gas utility companies (based on residential customer counts), making it the most comprehensive customer relationship benchmark study available to the utility industry. The sample design uses US Census data to ensure a demographically representative sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, income, race and ethnicity. Market Strategies will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.
About Market Strategies International
Market Strategies International is a market research consultancy with deep expertise in consumer/retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, technology and telecommunications. The firm is ISO 20252 certified, reflecting its commitment to providing intelligent research, designed to the highest levels of accuracy, with meaningful results that help companies make confident business decisions.
Market Strategies conducts qualitative and quantitative research in 75 countries, and its specialties include brand, communications, CX, product development, segmentation and syndicated. Its syndicated products, known as Cogent Reports, help clients understand the market environment, explore industry trends and monitor their brand and products within the competitive landscape. Founded in 1989, Market Strategies is one of the largest market research firms in the world, with offices in the US, Canada and China. Read Market Strategies’ blog at FreshMR, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
