Utility Week

26 | JANUARY 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Interview A ccording to Matthew Vickers, energy retailers today provide some of the most sophisticated customer service available, sometimes akin to social work. Following Utility Week's initial lockdown interview with Vickers, he has seen first-hand how an emotionally drained workforce has coped in dealing with an equally anxious consumer base. Vickers is in charge of an organisation responsible for dealing with thousands of complaints about energy suppliers and understands better than most the need for empathy. Yet he has grave concerns that suppliers too o•en bandy around the word "empathy" without truly appreciating its meaning. "I'm worried empathy is going to become the next greenwashing, the latest fashionable thing, the latest corporate buzzword. I'm seeing people using words like empathy, compassion and care, but when you scratch the surface you realise it's not what they are talking about at all. They are talking about multiplying the chan- nels they have got or making channels more effective. "That is an operations management, efficiency mindset; it is not a care, compassion, empathy, human contact mindset. My worry is that because we are in an industry where finance and investment and infrastruc- ture is so critically important right now, that means we will end up with too much of this, that the reasons given for digitalisation will tend to be rooted in finance, pay- back and investment." The Ombudsman chief has o•en spoken about how the low-carbon economy will need to be a high trust one and how he believes digitalisation will be one of the most important pillars underpinning this. Yet he has concerns about the aims of companies looking to reduce costs through increased digital services, that they may not have a nuanced and empathetic approach towards their customers. "When you look at where people are building new platforms, or where they are overhauling billing systems or forms of customer engagement, we will find out over the next couple of years if those overhauls were centred on customers or on building customer-centred digital approaches. "If they are, fantastic, that will really help with cus- tomer engagement. But it's possible some of them were starting with a different end in mind; reducing opex, cut- ting costs, taking out 'unnecessary contact'." There are huge expectations on energy suppliers to go above and beyond the realms of normal customer service, which Vickers believes presents great emotional challenges for both sector workers and their customers, especially during the pandemic. He sees an "explosive combination" of an anxious customer base that is under financial and emotional pressure and customer service teams who are similarly anxious, marking a huge leadership challenge. "So much of tackling vulnerability well is about being able to hear the unsaid and getting that full picture, get- ting people to open up about what's really going on, where they need help, as early as possible. That is a real skill requiring high levels of listening and empathy." He contrasts this with his previous experience of the food retail sector, and says the two are worlds apart. Cus- tomer service in the utilities sector is "not far off social work". "We are talking about taking responsibility for look- ing a•er someone, for realising the reason they can't pay might stretch to all sorts of other issues that need be thought about. The level of skill involved in that is not customer service 101 stuff, that's PhD-level customer service." Vickers believes the fact that utilities are seen to underperform needs to be balanced with the level of expectation they are faced with, and the complexity of the queries they handle. The need for emotional depth, subtlety and nuance in conversations with customers is far more elevated for utilities than for most other sectors. Adam John, reporter "I'm worried empathy is going to become the latest corporate buzzword." Matthew Vickers, CEO, THE ENERGY OMBUDSMAN To read Adam John's full interview with Matthew Vickers, visit https:// utilityweek.co.uk

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