Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JULY 2022 | 25 Customers He adds that as a general rule operational e ciency comes at the expense of customer service, but suppliers need just ve pieces of information to be able to build a good experience around appointments for their customers. The other main driver for an increased focus on the customer is coming from regu- lators, with both water and network opera- tors having to create customer engagement groups to help ensure billpayers are placed at the heart of their business plans. How interactions with customers are changing Energy suppliers' attention is now switching from the smart meter rollout to low-carbon technology. In order to proactively target the right cus- tomers to o• er installations, EDF is under- taking work to identify suitable customers and dwellings using Energy Performance Certi cate, demographic and location data. It is using this data to create models of the likelihood of customers taking up an o• er through a push noti cation or email sent by the company. "If you live on the 20th … oor of your block of … ats there is little point us contacting that customer to tell them we could install an EV charge point at their house," says Martin Ayl- ward, head of data at EDF Energy. The end of the smart meter rollout will also force DNOs to undertake more visits themselves. "Historically the industry has made use of suppliers going to read meters and chang- ing meters to do an inspection on the cut-out that is in people's homes," says Paul Jewell, system development manager at Western Power Distribution (WPD). The capacity within the fuse in a cut-out may have to be increased to allow the con- nection of EVs and heat pumps in the future. Identifying which ones are likely to be an issue can largely be done through data about the age of houses. Older houses are more likely to have unsuitable or low-capacity cut-outs that will need changing rst, so identifying these through externally available data such as the age of housing stock is a priority for the company. "If a customer has a service which is good enough for 80 amps, they can stick with what they have and that is likely to be the case for newer services that were probably installed a" er the late 80s, but in my records I don't know how old houses are." While DNOs are likely to see an increase in the number of visits they make to customer homes, the water sector is more closely fol- lowing the energy supply sector in becoming more virtual with its customer service. Currently water companies must still visit homes once every six months or more to con- duct meter readings, but this will change if smart metering is brought in. "You are now the telemetry service for the water companies, and the power companies as well. If there's a leak, or the water's o• or its brown, the water company wouldn't know if your water is cloudy," he says. Water companies have therefore made reporting leaks and other problems easy via maps hosted on their websites. This allows customers to pinpoint the exact location of an issue and upload pho- tographs, with the map then able to visually inform other customers of any issues within their areas. How data and collaboration can help underpin a proactive approach Duncan McCombie, chair of Customer Engagement Group, Western Power Distribu- tion's (WPD), believes smart meter data will be critical to helping DNOs, in particular, understand the expectations of their custom- ers as they will have changed recently. "It's becoming even more critical as more people work from home that we have stable and secure networks and the expectations of customers are built into what the com- panies are trying to do in the future," says McCombie. While WPD reduced its acceptable out- age time to 12-hour standard a few years ago, 12-hours without Wi-Fi will still be unaccep- table to most customers. McCombie says that to meet this expecta- tion DNOs will need to understand the per- sonas of customers on their wires, and while they have a good handle on where their vul- nerable customers are, they have no idea what proportion of their customers work from home. "It's a balance of GDPR – knowing enough about the customer without knowing everything about the customer." While GDPR rules should allow DNOs to access the data that they need, one area that it has had an e• ect is the Priority Service Register (PSR). PSRs rely on customers informing their DNOs and water companies if they require extra assistance. In the past there was not a lot of sharing of the data within the sector and agreement over whose data is most up to date. However, DNOs are currently going through a process of updating their data by contacting customers and adding new names in through partner organisations such as Citizens Advice. "It goes without saying that a more accu- rate register is a better register. But that does not necessarily translate into more or better data resulting in making the maintenance of the register easier. "In reality a less is more approach is bet- ter – focusing e• ort on what data is of most valuable in providing the level of insight nec- essary to provide the level of service the cus- tomer would bene t from," says UKPN's Matt Webb, head of enterprise data management. Lucinda Dann, features editor in association with In association with I N S I G H T R E P O R T Meet customer demand today – create better experiences tomorrow In this report Introduction Why energy companies are becoming more customer centric How interactions with customers are changing How data and collaboration can help underpin a proactive approach V I E W P O I N T Chris Tagg, Head of OS Connect Download the report Download the report Meet Customer Demand Today – Create Better Experiences Tomorrow free at: https://utilityweek.co.uk/ unlocking-proactive-customer-service/

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