Every now and again throughout winter, areas of North America are threatened with a “once in a generation” snowstorm.. Events like this create concern for utility customers who hope that the weather won’t affect their service, especially when it comes to heating their home during periods of extreme cold.

"Utility customer satisfaction" has almost reached buzzword status in the industry. 

All over North America, utilities are engaged in a race to see who can improve customer satisfaction and deliver the best customer experience - but, according to some recent data, many utilities are experiencing a decline in utility customer satisfaction.

A customer service portal, like the SilverBlaze Customer Portal for Utilities, is a web-based customer-facing system that enables water utility companies to interact with, and serve their customers - while also empowering customers to serve themselves.

Customer experience and customer service are critical to a utility provider’s customer satisfaction and engagement.They are often used interchangeably, but did you know that they are two different things? 

Customer self service portals are constantly adapting to meet the ever-changing needs of the customers using them. Sometimes trends stay the same for years and other times, shifts in technology and customer expectations bring forth the need for new and innovative ideas.

Much has been said about the soaring energy prices in Europe over the past few months. Whether it be theatres in Hungary closing due to energy costs or the risk of winter gas shortages in the United Kingdom. And it’s not just Europe. The rest of the world is either experiencing, or likely to experience, rising energy prices as well. For example, California is suffering from rising electricity and gas prices.

Receiving and paying a bill is one of the few times that utility providers interact with their customers. In the past, this process was slow and inefficient. Paper bills would be sent out to customers via post, customers would receive the bill and then head to their local office or bank to make a payment. But, things have come a long way since then.

There are three main customer experience metrics that utility providers should be tracking to determine how happy their customers are. These are Customer Effort Score (CES), Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT).

From a business perspective, utility usage data is an important metric. Not only does it give you insights into customer behaviour, it also gives you invaluable KPIs that help you build a strategy around your long-term objectives for managing conservation and demand.

Utility providers have traditionally operated in an industry with little-to-no competition, which meant utility leaders were typically slower to invest in new technologies primarily focused on enhancing the customer experience. 

Yet in recent years, there has been a sudden shift - largely led by a huge change in what customers expect from their utility providers.