Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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utILIty WeeK | 26th February - 3rd march 2016 | 23 turbine 8-12MW structure ready for front end engineering design and physical model testing later this year. If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, please send your pictures and details of the project to: paul.newton@fav-house.com or call 01342 332085 Operations & Assets F or years most complaints against energy suppliers have been about bill- ing. And errors in charging compound customer anger over prices. The corrosive effect of this on customers' trust is well documented – the latest Edelman "trust barometer" has the UK energy sector – at 38 per cent – just above the back marker, banking, which sits at 32 per cent. What customers want is a painless process in setting up and paying bills, dealing with changes in their circumstances or even sorting out their occa- sional gaffe. From a utility's standpoint, the opportunity to respond to real-time informa- tion on missed payments and other anomalies would be so much better than having call centre staff struggle with fragmented, confusing and way out-of-date customer data. Already, businesses from all manner of industries are work- ing with billing and payment operations that combine swi responsiveness for the business with effortless sign-up followed by negligible ongoing demands for customers. Energy suppliers can deploy the same technology to keep on top of customers' billing and payment status and demonstrate a connection with customers that a letter sent six months aer the event doesn't. The technology is here to: • email or prompt a phone call when a payment fails or a Direct Debit is cancelled; • enable customers to set up a Direct Debit from a mobile phone or tablet in minutes; • validate instantly a cus- tomer's bank details to reduce the chance of failed payments; • give customers flexibility in their choice of frequency and dates of payments; • integrate with CRM, billing and finance systems to pro- vide customer support with real-time information on a customer's payment history. The costs of the technology are transparent, so its value for money is clearer than that of existing payments options taken by energy retailers. GoCardless has provided its digital payment technology to many business areas. Migra- tion is simple and swi. It gives an energy retailer sight of its data in real time, so a payment query doesn't turn into a lost customer before it knows about it. Customers can set up their Direct Debit payments in the time it takes to finish a cup of coffee. They'll also benefit from improved customer support as there'll be a fully informed person on the phone when they have a question about their billing. Advanced payment technol- ogy brings competitive advan- tages to any business. In energy, GoCardless' system comes with an additional promise: to allow customers to expect ease rather than frustration when dealing with their supplier. For the sup- pliers, timely and targeted cus- tomer engagement could shield them against further damage to their reputations and help the rehabilitation of the sector. Robert Whiteside, VP Sales, GoCardless eXPert VIeW RobeRt Whiteside, GoCaRdless The customer's right billing errors are still the major cause of complaint for many energy suppliers. innovative web-based solutions can enable utilities to put their customers back in control.