Benefits of Providing Utility Customers with Energy Usage Data

We are living in the era of analytics. Because we have access to every digital interaction and the metrics these interactions generate, businesses can analyze that data and scale accordingly. Analytics are essential for companies, and water and energy usage data is important for your utility and customers.  

As the digital transformation changes how utilities do business, providers generate a great deal of data. Smart meters, call centers, social media, and every digital interaction produce data you can analyze to streamline operations and improve customer experiences. Utility usage data gives you valuable insights into your customers' behaviors and helps you identify key performance indicators that you can use to achieve your goals and objectives. But do your customers need to see their data? In a word, yes, they do. 

Benefits of Providing Utility Customers with Their Energy Usage Data

Consumers Have Come to Expect it From Other Companies.

If you log into an online account, say Amazon, Best Buy, or Walmart, you'll see the number of orders, reviews, payments, and all the historical information the business has collected about your shopping habits. Because that information is available, your customers now expect to see the same kind of energy and water usage data when they log into your online customer portal. It's not enough to give them a way to pay online anymore; they want to be able to see their historical information so that they can make informed choices.

Consumers Want to Be in Charge of Their Information.

The more information out there, the more consumers want to control who sees it and what gets seen. Utility usage data and personal and payment information are available in a self-serve portal. And your utility customers want to ensure when and how payment is made. They also want to pull up statements, payment history, and usage information to make informed decisions, and a self-serve portal helps them find what they need when they need it.

Consumers Want to Be in Charge of Their Consumption.

Climate change, global warming, going green, and reducing our carbon footprint, are topics on everyone's minds. And your utility customers want to know what they can do to manage their energy and water consumption. When you have a customer self-serve portal like SilverBlaze, your customers can see what services they're using and make informed decisions on how they can consume less and conserve more.

Why Should Utilities Share Energy and Water Usage Data With Their Customers?

Because consumers have come to expect access to their data, sharing energy and water usage data with them should be part of the overall customer experience you provide. Utilities are moving away from on-demand service, where they react if there is an outage. Now, utilities can let customers know an outage has occurred often before the customer has time to log a call. As we move to a more proactive approach to customer care, sharing usage data is part of how you provide better customer experiences.  

Allowing customers to see their data moves your utility away from being an on-demand service to a proactive partner. When you give your customers access to their data in a format that is easy to consume, like Green Button data, you empower them to control what they spend and consume. Ultimately, you assist your community in reaching its financial and sustainability goals. 

Giving customers the tools they need to self-serve, in turn, improves your relationship with your customers. Think about the last time you tried to speak with a customer representative on the phone. You had to be routed through the system and provide proof of your identity before you could even talk to a human. And it may sound counter-intuitive, but giving customers the means to help themselves reduces the time they spend in a queue waiting to speak to someone. Instead, they can use a device of their choice to self-serve at a time and place that's convenient for them. When they have a satisfactory self-serve experience, your utility gets the credit even though no one spoke to that customer in person.  

When customers self-serve, you also get hours back in your workweek because customers can review their account history and consumption and pay their bills, all without interacting with your staff. Your staff can perform other high-priority tasks, saving time and money.  

How Can Utilities Provide Energy and Water Usage Data to Customers?

When you have a self-serve customer portal like SilverBlaze, your utility can quickly provide utility usage data to your community. NorthStar and SilverBlaze work together to seamlessly provide that information to your customers when and where it is most convenient for them. SilverBlaze provides usage data in an easy-to-read chart format, showing customers when and how much they consume. SilverBlaze also provides a way for customers to take charge of their accounts to review past bills and pay current bills. With SilverBlaze, customers will have everything they need to reduce their carbon footprint and manage their accounts.  

Ready to improve customer experiences and streamline operations with SilverBlaze? Contact our sales team today.