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UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH OCTOBER 2015 | 23 Customers My favourite five water apps Jacob Tompkins, managing director, Waterwise Severn Trent: In My Street app. (For details, see below). Givemetap app. Allows you find places to fill up on tap water. Thames Water tap app. Gathers customer water efficiency data and gives feed- back. Part of Thames' large-scale retrofit programme alongside its meter rollout. Wateraid toilet finding app. Allows users to locate toilets while giving money to sanitation projects in the developing world. WRc and Waterwise shower app (In development). Will link shower length to users' favourite songs and set daily challenges. Jacob Tompkins says: "I love Severn Trent's In My Street app because it humanises the company and make a direct link with the customer and the people doing the work. This is exactly what water companies should be doing." Severn Trent's In My Street, a different take on an app Severn Trent has developed a micro-site specifically designed for smartphones to inform custom- ers of planned works taking place in the area, including maps of affected roads and diversions. The site is updated through a "fieldworker app" which enables operatives to post live updates and photos of the works directly on to the site. Customers are able to interact via Twitter. Currently the site, launched in April, only covers planned works, but Severn Trent is aiming to expand it to cover a wider range of jobs and emergency works. "Lots of people find it really useful the week ahead of the works because of the traffic diver- sion, with people saying it's really nice to put a name to a face when they get the letter, and there are the guys actually in the street doing the work," says Severn Trent, capital communications manager, Paul Evans. "We have had some really good engagement with customers, with users even sending us photos on Twitter of the work from nearby flats, it's a really good way of interact- ing with customers." Sarah Bentley, chief customer officer at Severn Trent, says: "The reason we created the app and focused on streetworks is that this is an everyday topic for not just our customers but all peo- ple coming in and out of our region. In thinking about possible topics from a customer perspective, the ability to get to work, drop your kids off at school, catch a bus or even put the wheelie bin out are daily needs that can be affected by the works we undertake. It became clear to us that we could make these moments easier for everyone. The responses to both our initial trial and follow on pilots have been very positive, and we are in the process of rolling this out more widely." Special Features: • Monitor energy usage over time with easy to understand graphs • View energy-saving tips to help keep your usage low • Find answers to most frequently asked questions • Get immediate answers with virtual assistant Ask First • Contact First Utility customer services • "Remember me" function – no need to re-enter customer details • Keep track of the weather at home Becky Cotton-Barratt, 28 September, 5 stars: "This app is brilliant. Easy to use, with excellent small features like a built-in torch on the meter reading screen. I can access all my bills and work out exactly how much I spend just at a touch of the button. I wish all energy companies were this technologically competent. Five stars and a very satisfied customer " Sharon Wilson, 29 September, 2 stars: "Still unable to contact First Utility easily The app is misleading when you need to contact someone. It takes you to an automated answer system. When you want to contact someone real it takes a while to find an email address. Expect a long wait for a reply – and if you want to pay for your usage monthly AND change your payment date that's a big NO NO and if you keep asking they just don't bother replying. Nice company!" Special Features: • Control the heating in the home using Scottish Power Connect • Contact customer services directly or on social media • Quickly access emergency information • Change My Tariff • Monitor energy consumption David Amos, 23 September, 3 stars: "Way less rubbish than their site, which is really irritating." Brian Evans, 11 September, 5 stars: "Works perfectly for me. Enter your readings into the boxes, so quick and easy. Generates your bill and adjusts your direct debit amount instantly." Vidwatch: "Reported this bug more than six months ago but it is still not fixed. First I'm forced to re-register the details I already have on my online account originally set up on my computer. But the app won't let me enter my name as I did before as bad programming now restricts the number of characters in the name field to two characters too few. This bug could surely have been fixed within an hour, but why do I need to re-register in any case when I already have a password? "Perhaps I'm expected to change my name before I can use this." Special Features: • Manage Smart Pay As You Go • See account balance and Smart Pay As You Go transactions • Track energy use over time • Get energy saving advice • 24 hour emergency numbers Craig Snider, 16 September, 5 stars: "Really love this app. The new torch function is clever. Its just a dumb utility/meter read app but it works really well, tracks my usage annually and keeps it easy. Simple and effective, all I ask for." Debanjan Roy, 17 September, 3 stars: "Good. But should have the option to download bill." Eon Android: 2.9 stars (1,748 votes) Apple: 2.5 stars (1,110 votes) First Utility Android: 4.1 stars (1,247 votes) Apple: 4 stars (247 votes) SSE Android: No app Apple: 2 star average SSE app consists of five apps: SSE, Swalec, Scottish Hydro, Southern Electric, Atlantic Scottish Power Android: 2.9 stars (972 votes) Apple: 2 stars (264 votes) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★