Faceless utilities need to meet their customers

Why don't utilities talk face to face with their customers? Energy companies have been talking about changing their offering to customers - becoming an energy service company, talking about ­managing usage, giving them the green message - but much of the money spent to get that message across has gone on improving other companies' relationships with utility customers.

Double-A rated white goods might have a utility sticker, but you get them from Comet. If you want insulation, you don’t talk to your utility, you go to your DIY megastore. And although Waterwise and the water utilities work hard on water efficiency savings, if B&Q manages, as it flagged in a recent Utility Week, to develop a quality mark for water-efficient fixtures, it will be seen as leading on the issue.
Utilities left the high street because they started treating their ­product as a commodity. But times have changed. Now energy companies are ­worrying about how to convince customers to take up Cert-subsidised offers on insulation. They want to educate them on the possibilities of the Green Deal, and explain how smart meters are an opportunity, not a threat. They seem to think that all this can be done by leaflets and waiting for the phone to ring.
Meanwhile, water companies want to be seen as local partners, and they want to convince customers – especially now we are in drought – that water-efficient appliances are not second best. Again, leaflets, adverts and waiting call centre operatives are the favoured routes.
Why not get back on the high street? Let customers see the hardware they’d be investing in if they chose better showers, or efficient boilers, or insulation. Let them see the difference between a smart meter and an old one, and try out different energy monitors. Let them talk to a real person about how to put together Green Deal packages.
Energy companies think telecoms providers are likely competitors when smart meters make it possible to sell all the things energy provides – not electricity as a commodity. But you don’t have to walk far through any shopping centre or high street before you see a suite of phone shops selling contracts, and all the phone accessories you would want. And with real people there to talk to, it would be very easy to extend that conversation to smart metered energy.
Water companies and distribution networks should be visible in their patch. And as for energy retailers, anyone who has gone from one concession to another in a department store knows it’s quite possible to have retailers competing under one roof.
Spin-off benefits? Well, those hard-to-reach and vulnerable customers are the ones who use the high street. Customers who wander in and see something interesting might start building some market pull. There is a cost – but companies have funding for engagement.
It’s time for utilities to stop being the faceless providers, be real service companies, and get back on the high street.

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 23 March 2012.
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