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utILItY WEEK | 5th - 11th August 2016 | 29 Sponsored Report: smart meters Produced in association with: wnS viewpoint Customer engagement is perceived as a major risk to smart metering success – how should this be mitigated? The 2020 deadline envisages the installa- tion of more than 100,000 new smart meters every week. This is one of the largest logistic exercises ever undertaken in the utility sec- tor. The deployment of smart meters is likely to generate large volumes of data. This means energy and utility companies can leverage this data to get bet- ter insights, which can help them improve customer relationships even further and drive business benefits. The right cus- tomer engagement is pivotal to the success of this initiative. It is important that energy companies take their customers forward with them as part of the deployment and post-deployment pro- grammes. This includes: • Communicating a compelling consumer value proposition in an honest and trans- parent manner. Consumers need to feel the solution has been designed for their benefit. • Generating awareness through targeted campaigns on how they will receive, use and benefit from smart meters. • Educating customers on how a smart meter will affect their bill, how it will work and the costs to install and maintain them. Consumers must be shown the relation between responsible consump- tion behaviour and saving, and how smart meters can help them. • Making customers aware of how they are empowered in controlling their energy usage. • Addressing their concerns around data privacy. Customer need reasons to trust their energy suppliers. Suppliers need transparent agreements on consumption data to analyse and benchmark against other customers. • Giving due consideration to customers' availability in scheduling installation and maintenance visits. To manage positive and credible customer relationships, utility providers have to augment their existing customer service channels in a manner that adds value to the customer. This will enable them to offer addi- tional services via multiple channels. "The 2020 deadline envisages the installation of 100,000 meters a week" The majority of customers will find IHDs useless, adding that the mobiles, tablets and the internet would enable information to be delivered in richer and more engaging ways. " " To read Transforming Relationships: The UK smart meter rollout in full, go to the downloads section of www.utilityweek. co.uk 5.6 sector's score out of ten confidence level that the mass rollout will get underway this year 3.8 sector's out of ten confidence rating that full smart meter cover- age will be achieved by 2020 63% proportion of busi- nesses that have begun rolling out smart meters 83% proportion of survey respondents that are ready to commence mass smart meter rollout the Sector iS in agreement; low levelS of confidence in all the phaSeS of the rollout Q: How would you rate your confidence that the smart meter rollout will begin and/or be delivered on time? Overall Networks Suppliers The mass rollout will begin this year Full coverage will be achieved by 2020 Average rating out of 10 (10=Extremely confident) 5.6 5.8 5.5 3.8 3.7 4.0 the vaSt majority of buSineSSeS claim they are ready for the rollout Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about the smart meter rollout? Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree/Disagree Agree Strongly Agree My business is ready for the smart meter rollout Average score: 4.0 Networks: 3.6 Suppliers: 4.2 My business has already begun rolling out smart meters Average score: 3.8 Networks: 2.5 Suppliers: 4.5 3% 8% 6% 14% 60% 26% 23% 37% 23%