Utilities Step In To Help Local Business Communities, Escalent Names 24 Utilities as 2021 Trusted Business Partners

LIVONIA, Mich.--()--Businesses’ trust their utilities significantly more after utilities stepped in to support local economies and communities during the pandemic. About one in three (36%) businesses says its utility is a trusted adviser and partner in their success, and over half (52%) are aware of their utility’s efforts to support the local economy. This increased support pushed the utility business customer Brand Trust Index score higher by 29 points, reaching a historic high of 782 this year (on a 1,000-point scale). This information is from the Cogent Syndicated 2021 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business study by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics advisory firm.

The Brand Trust Index is a composite score of utility performance on customer focus, business community support, communications effectiveness, reliable quality, environmental dedication and company reputation. Among these six factors, Business Community Support and Company Reputation have increased the most (each up 31 points) over the last year as businesses place more value on their utility’s local dedication. As a result, utility business customer advocacy has increased to an all-time high as well, with 94% of businesses saying they made a positive comment on behalf of their utility in the past year.

“Building brand equity as trusted advisers during the last year is huge for the utility industry. Only trusted brands have the ability to influence businesses to adopt innovative programs and support investments in new energy technology,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Escalent. “Building strong, trusted relationships with business customers also allows utilities to gain business community support and advocacy for their efforts. In fact, 78% of businesses say they would pay 10% more for their utility to advance its clean energy, innovative offerings and outreach objectives.”

Additional insights from the study include:

  • There is a significant 142-point gap between the most and least trusted utilities
  • Minority-owned businesses have a very high 816 Brand Trust Index score.
  • Fewer than half of businesses (42%) would support a rate increase to improve reliability, safety or service.
  • Key account managers increase customer trust, as the average Brand Trust score is 817 when businesses are assigned an account manager.
  • Two in three businesses (65%) are interested in solar and battery storage and 27% of those with high Brand Trust prefer their utility as the provider of these offerings.
  • Utilities should focus on small business customers, as larger businesses tend to have higher trust and use more consumption management and alternative energy offerings than smaller businesses.
  • Service interactions in newer digital channels like mobile, social, chat and text for business customers have increased 11 percentage points this year to 66%, as phone service interactions have increased only four percentage points to 54%, marking the first time businesses had more digital service than phone service with utilities.
  • Digital service scores 837 on the study’s Customer & Field Service Index while phone service posts scoring of 826.

Escalent congratulates the 2021 Most Trusted Business Partner utilities. These 24 utilities are industry leaders in developing trust among their business customers.

Cogent Syndicated 2021 Trusted Business Partner Utilities

AEP Ohio

Florida Power & Light

BGE

Georgia Power

CenterPoint Energy - South

Nicor Gas

Chattanooga Gas Company

NV Energy

Con Edison

Public Service Company of Oklahoma

Consumers Energy

Puget Sound Energy

Dominion Energy North Carolina

Southern California Edison

Dominion Energy Virginia

TECO Peoples Gas

DTE Energy

TECO Tampa Electric

Duke Energy Florida

Virginia Natural Gas

Duke Energy Progress

We Energies

Entergy

Xcel Energy - West

The following tables reflect regional peer benchmark Brand Trust scores among the 79 utilities surveyed. These scores reflect the amount of trust business customers have with each utility.

East Region Electric Utilities Brand Trust Business Performance

Utility brand name

Brand trust score

Con Edison

833

BGE

814

PPL Electric Utilities

789

PSE&G

788

National Grid

786

PECO

784

NYSEG

774

Jersey Central Power & Light

767

Appalachian Power

754

PSEG Long Island

746

West Penn Power

744

Penelec

731

Eversource

718

Midwest Region Electric Utilities Brand Trust Business Performance

Utility brand name

Brand trust score

We Energies

856

AEP Ohio

855

Consumers Energy

827

DTE Energy

822

Ameren Missouri

793

Indiana Michigan Power

782

Alliant Energy

781

Duke Energy Midwest

779

AES Ohio

774

MidAmerican Energy

772

Ameren Illinois

771

AES Indiana

771

Evergy

766

Wisconsin Public Service

763

NIPSCO

758

OPPD

754

Xcel Energy – Midwest

752

Ohio Edison

751

ComEd

734

The Illuminating Company

719

South Region Electric Utilities Brand Trust Business Performance

Utility brand name

Brand trust score

Dominion Energy Virginia

815

Duke Energy Progress

815

Duke Energy Florida

802

Public Service Company of Oklahoma

801

Georgia Power

800

Entergy

799

Florida Power & Light

798

TECO Tampa Electric

797

Duke Energy Carolinas

791

Kentucky Utilities

790

CPS Energy

782

El Paso Electric

779

Southwestern Electric Power Company

774

Alabama Power

773

Mississippi Power

764

OG&E

763

Louisville Gas & Electric

762

Dominion Energy South Carolina

742

JEA

741

Gulf Power

714

West Region Electric Utilities Brand Trust Business Performance

Utility brand name

Brand trust score

Xcel Energy – West

847

NV Energy

811

Puget Sound Energy

808

Southern California Edison

800

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

794

Salt River Project

791

APS

787

SMUD

779

Idaho Power

779

PNM

776

PG&E

772

SDG&E

769

Portland General Electric

765

Pacific Power

761

Colorado Springs Utilities

757

NorthWestern Energy

744

Rocky Mountain Power

741

 

Natural Gas Utilities Brand Trust Business Performance

Utility brand name

Brand trust score

TECO Peoples Gas

838

CenterPoint Energy – South

805

Dominion Energy North Carolina

803

Virginia Natural Gas

799

Nicor Gas

786

Chattanooga Gas Company

785

Dominion Energy Ohio

784

CenterPoint Energy – Midwest

778

Dominion Energy West

759

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business

Escalent conducted surveys among 15,669 business electric and natural gas utility customers of the 79 largest US utility companies (based on customer counts). The sample design uses a combination of quotas and weighting based on size of businesses surveyed to ensure a balanced sample of each evaluated utility. Utilities within each benchmark segment are assigned 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 a top human behavior and analytics advisory firm specializing in industries facing disruption and business transformation. As catalysts of progress for more than 40 years, we transform data and insight into a profound understanding of what drives human beings. And we help businesses turn those drivers into actions that build brands, enhance customer experiences and inspire product innovation. Visit escalent.co to see how we are helping shape the brands that are reshaping the world.

Contacts

Sarah Keller, 734.779.6847
sarah.keller@escalent.co

 

Release Summary

New data: Businesses’ trust their utilities significantly more after they stepped in to support local economies and communities during the pandemic.

Contacts

Sarah Keller, 734.779.6847
sarah.keller@escalent.co