Utilities

Utilities serve whole regions, including many customers in difficult circumstances. Regulators set demanding targets for complaints, vulnerable customers and incident response, with financial penalties for missing them. At the same time, ageing networks bring incidents that can generate thousands of calls in an hour, and billing systems built for a simpler era struggle with smart meters, payment plans and changes of occupier.

We help utilities reduce the demand they create for themselves. Estimated bills, missed appointments and unclear letters drive a large share of contact; in a typical utility, a third or more of calls are failure demand of this kind. We trace each type back to its cause and work with billing, field and customer teams to fix it at source. We also redesign complaints handling so that more cases are resolved at first contact, and help teams identify and support vulnerable customers consistently.

For incidents, we help design response plans that connect operations, field teams and customer channels, so that customers hear what is happening before they need to ask. Clients typically see complaints fall by 30 to 50 per cent, faster resolution of those that remain, and better scores in the regulator's customer measures. Every engagement is planned around the regulatory calendar, so improvements arrive in time to count.