Smarts and minds

Excellent customer service throughout the process of arranging and carrying out a smart meter installation visit will be critical in winning public support for the rollout, says Matthew Weaver

A colleague of mine recently signed up for gas boiler care with one of the big six energy suppliers. He was happy with the comprehensive package and competitive price, but subsequently spent two weeks trying to secure an appointment. When he finally got one, the company could specify only the day of the service engineer’s visit – not a time or even a reasonable window during the day. The uncertainty soured the entire experience and turned a once happy customer into a dissatisfied, distrustful one.

This incident does not bode well for the rollout of smart meters, especially because consumer suspicion has already been aroused over privacy and cost-­effectiveness, among other issues. If customers do not like waiting all day for something they have asked for, why will they stay in all day for a new meter that they haven’t asked for?

What utilities consider satisfactory service today will be placed under a microscope during the smart meter rollout. Stories about day-long waits (or worse) will easily spread via social media. Energy companies could lose the battle for hearts and minds before the deployment even fully ramps up. Further, the big variation in suppliers’ views on how many smart meters their field personnel can install each day does not inspire confidence. Estimates vary from the most pessimistic of six per day to the most optimistic of 14 per day. Typical predictions range from eight to 12 per day.

Suppliers need to invest in field service management that builds better relationships with customers and facilitates field worker efficiency. Ideally, such a system would:

· provide customers with more precise arrival times. A four to eight-hour wait window simply will not do. There are nearly two million single-parent households and eight million households in which both partners work in the UK – these customers will not spend entire days away from their jobs. Service engineers will knock on doors only to find empty flats and houses that require costly return visits;

· remind customers of their scheduled appointment by their choice of phone, text message or email – reducing the number of not-at-home customers;

· continue a true dialogue with customers – for instance, some automated systems allow customers to confirm, cancel or reschedule their appointments. This would support pre-deployment efforts to achieve public acceptance;

· foster collaboration among installers, enabling better customer service. Engineers able to communicate with peers may identify a nearby spare part or request assistance there and then, avoiding a return visit and mitigating customer frustration.

Other industries, including cable TV and satellite providers, have adopted field service management systems with resoundingly positive results, typically boosting on-time arrivals by 30 per cent and daily job completion rates by 47 per cent. There is no reason energy suppliers cannot do the same.

Intelligent, customer-responsive field service management will not only help a sceptical public

co-operate with smart meter deployment, but also deliver significant time and cost savings for all.

Matthew Weaver is a director of utilities, operations and strategy, EMEA, for TOA Technologies

Make a virtue out of a necessity

While behind the scenes those central to smart meter deployment are frantically trying to iron out technical specifications, interoperability, security safeguards and the like, for energy customers – and therefore by default for suppliers – much of the success or failure of the rollout will come down to one thing: the installation appointment.

That is a lot of pressure on a half-an-hour window to get it right. Another way to look at it is as a major opportunity. Unlike many brands, suppliers do not have a high street presence and have now abandoned face-to-face selling, so the engineer’s visit is likely to be the sole point of face-to-face contact with many customers. The smart meter rollout is a considerable opportunity for energy companies to engage with a generally disengaged customer base and to present them with a modern and positive proposition: smart metering.

To make it work, energy suppliers have got to get that customer contact right, and right first time. What are the key considerations?

First, the rollout is a massive one-off task being carried out within a fairly tight timescale, so is likely to involve recruiting temporary staff or working with third parties. Making sure that effective systems are in place to manage all the different parties involved is vital. Technology that supports the entire end-to-end customer journey from the first phone call to schedule the appointment right through to making sure the engineer arrives with the customer at the right time will be critical.

Second, and particularly given the use of external staff, ensuring the engineer on the doorstep has the relevant training and expertise, as well as the correct equipment, is equally important.

Success in these two areas should ensure most customers are happy. For the energy company, there are additional considerations – not least that installation targets are hit and costs kept down. Technology can prove extremely helpful in more sophisticated planning of workforces to achieve this objective (see main article). Opportunities for savings exist in a variety of areas. For example, systems are available that plot the most efficient routing of engineers so they can attend more appointments per day and keep fuel costs as low as possible.

Energy suppliers can get this right, on time and on budget, and thereby make a virtue out of a necessity. But the window of opportunity to start getting systems and procedures in place is closing, and closing fast. By acting now and investing in better ways of managing complex workforce requirements, energy companies will not only succeed in efficiently deploying smart meters, but will also enhance their relationship with their customers.

Alastair Clifford-Jones, chief executive, Leadent Solutions

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 5th October 2012.

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