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Utilities Recognized for Excellence With Chartwell’s 2024 Best Practices Awards

Baltimore Gas & Electric, Consumers Energy, Enbridge, Evergy, Hydro One, Orange & Rockland, and Pacific Gas & Electric have taken the top honors in Chartwell’s 21st annual Best Practices Awards. In addition, ATCO Electric has been awarded Chartwell’s first-ever Award for Excellence in Customer Transformational Leadership.

The awards recognize excellence among electric and gas utilities with respect to projects, programs, and service initiatives. The categories include Billing and Payment Programs, Customer Service, Digital Experience, Electric Vehicle Programs, Marketing and Communications, Serving Business Customers, Serving Vulnerable Customers, and Customer Transformational Leadership.

Gold Award winners will discuss their initiatives during EMACS – The Customer Experience Conference, Oct. 8-11 in San Antonio. All Best Practices Award winners and finalists will be recognized during an awards luncheon on Oct. 10.

The conference will feature more than 20 sessions focused on customer experience-related issues facing the utility industry, including artificial intelligence, the changing energy landscape, electrification, and transforming the customer experience for business and low-income customers. A special rate is available to attendees who register by Aug. 30.

Each year the judges, who are all members of Chartwell’s research team, are charged with the difficult task of selecting the best entries. This year’s selection process was made even tougher, with more than 90 quality entries submitted across eight categories. This year’s winners and finalists include:

Billing and Payment Programs

  • Consumers Energy will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Billing and Payment Programs for its equitable restructuring of credit card payments without adversely impacting arrears or customer satisfaction. Through related efforts, the utility has also successfully converted 70% of customers from card to bank-based autopayments.
  • NiSource will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Billing and Payment Programs for its Meter to Cash Analytics project. The utility’s data-driven customer engagement strategy leverages proactive outreach via customers’ preferred communications channel, ultimately leading to enhanced customer interactions, reduced arrears, and increased program adoption.
  • Manitoba Hydro will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Billing and Payment Programs for its new machine learning model, which incorporates AI best practices to discern appropriate collections strategies through enhanced segmentation. This model has allowed Manitoba Hydro to more effectively classify bad debt risks and improve credit and collections-related customer satisfaction.

Customer Service

  • Hydro One will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Customer Service for its implementation of Conversation Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance its Voice of the Customer (VOC) program. Through its efforts, Hydro One has garnered valuable insights from customer feedback to improve operations, enhance knowledge of customer journeys, and automate customer-focused quality assurance processes.
  • Con Edison will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Customer Service for its CORE CIS Implementation Project. The CORE project is credited for improving Con Edison’s operational efficiencies, contact center and billing metrics, and customer satisfaction.
  • NB Power will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Customer Service for its use of proactive notifications to customers beginning new construction or renovation projects. NB Power has improved its outreach to targeted customers; reduced call volume and handle times; decreased customer effort, call escalations, and abandonments; and improved customer satisfaction.

Digital Experience

  • Evergy will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Digital Experience for its scalable IVA which allowed more than 40,000 start or move service transactions in its first year of operation. The utility’s fully automated IVA-based process is credited for improving the customer experience and reducing contact center costs.
  • Manitoba Hydro will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Digital Experience for its chatbot data integration project. Manitoba Hydro is utilizing its chatbot to deliver a guided self-service experience resulting in reduced customer effort. The tool is credited for exceeding containment rate targets and reducing contact center interactions.
  • Duquesne Light will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Digital Experience for its self-service containment project. Through a cross-functional team, Duquesne Light leveraged voice of the customer data and personalized customer journeys to successfully achieve a 58% containment rate across its IVR and web channels.

Electric Vehicle Programs

  • Orange & Rockland Utilities will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Electric Vehicle Programs for its Power Ready Program, facilitated by its E-Mobility team. Through this program the utility endeavors to serve as an energy advisor to customers, accelerate EV charger installations, and provide clean energy solutions to underserved communities.
  • Austin Energy will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Electric Vehicle Programs for its EVs for Schools initiative. Through this program, Austin Energy combines transportation curriculum with infrastructure to propel next-generation EV adoption. Prioritizing outreach to disadvantaged communities, EVs for Schools provides teachers with a digital tool kit and training spotlighting STEM education, environmental justice, clean energy, and sustainable mobility.
  • Ameren Missouri will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Electric Vehicle Programs for its efforts to strengthen its customers’ EV experience. Ameren Missouri has hosted ride-and-drives and webinars and facilitated social media campaigns to bolster engagement. Ameren Missouri doubled its goal of new EV registrations in 2023, and the utility’s EV experience events achieved a 97% satisfaction rate.
  • Southern California Edison (SCE) will receive an Honorable Mention for Excellence in Electric Vehicle Programs for its EV Readiness Studies. These studies provide business customers with the technical knowledge and insights to make informed charging-related decisions. SCE also provides customers with a consultation call with an EV advisor and a customized study to help determine the feasibility of an electrification project.

Marketing and Communications

  • Enbridge Gas will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing and Communications for its Read, Record, Reward campaign. The campaign featured prizes and gameshow psychology to encourage customer engagement. Throughout the campaign, Enbridge Gas customers submitted more than 1.2 million meter readings.
  • Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company (LG&E and KU) will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Marketing and Communications for the Sounds of Sustainability advertising campaign. The campaign blended natural sounds originating from LG&E and KU’s sustainability efforts with environmentally friendly visuals. Sounds of Sustainability spanned 12 weeks in 2023 and garnered more than 23.5 million digital impressions and 14.7 million traditional media impressions.
  • BGE will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Marketing and Communications for its “The Match” campaign. Through a series of “dating profiles” across various media channels, BGE encouraged customers to find the perfect appliance match for their residence. Since the campaign’s launch in September 2023, advertisements have generated more than 1.6 million impressions and over 22,000 website sessions.

Serving Business Customers

  • Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Serving Business Customers for its Optimal Rate campaign. The 2023 campaign, designed to connect with small business customers, included expanded outreach, multi-channel marketing strategies, and dedicated technologies. As a result of its efforts, PG&E improved customer sentiment and satisfaction while increasing savings for small businesses.
  • Duke Energy will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Serving Business Customers for the introduction of its Energy Business Service Center that has increased small to mid-sized business customer satisfaction, strengthened utility operations, increased customer engagement, and elevated employee satisfaction and retention.
  • Exelon will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Serving Business Customers for its Program Finder tool designed for the utility’s large customer segment. The tool provides commercial and industrial customers with an efficient search of and match to available programs designed to save time, money, and energy.
  • CPS Energy will be awarded Honorable Mention for Excellence in Serving Business Customers for its Community Engagement Energy2Business initiative designed to serve small and mid-sized business (SMB) customers. Through this effort, CPS Energy has more successfully engaged its SMB segments, improved customer engagement, mitigated escalations, and increased enrollment in its Budget Payment Plan.

Serving Vulnerable Customers

  • BGE will receive the Gold Award for Excellence in Serving Vulnerable Customers for its multi-faceted approach to serving low and moderate-income segments with home energy needs. BGE’s efforts have resulted in nearly 15,000 customers obtaining $26.4 million in grant funding and in-person engagement with nearly 1,000 customers across 23 community events.
  • ENMAX Energy will receive the Silver Award for Excellence in Serving Vulnerable Customers for its Limited Power Pilot Program. Rather than proceeding with full disconnection for non-payment, ENMAX provides essential power through load limiting devices while customers plan for remittance. In 2023, ENMAX installed more than 5,000 pilot-based devices at customers’ residences.
  • PG&E will receive the Bronze Award for Excellence in Serving Vulnerable Customers for its dedicated approach to serving customers in arrears following the permanent closure of its in-person customer service offices in 2022. In 2023, PG&E’s Customer Service Outreach team began proactively connecting with vulnerable customers with outstanding balances in order to provide tailored payment counsel.
  • LADWP will be awarded Honorable Mention for Excellence in Serving Vulnerable Customers for its Customer Support Saturdays. These events were designed to raise awareness of the utility’s EZ-SAVE and Lifeline discount programs as service disconnection mitigation efforts. LADWP also promotes the availability of local, state, and federal programs during these events.

Customer Transformational Leadership

Chartwell’s new Award for Excellence in Customer Transformational Leadership recognizes a North American utility that has undertaken groundbreaking efforts to lead its customers and stakeholders toward a clean energy future, as well as the individuals in executive leadership positions who are driving those initiatives. Only one award will be presented in this category each year.

ATCO will receive the Award for Excellence in Customer Transformational Leadership for its five-year Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Program. ATCO designed and sequenced 12 initiatives to create long-term value for customers by enabling proactive engagement, improving operational efficiencies, and empowering customers. The program is designed to systematically address Canadian customers’ electricity energy needs now and in the future.

Julie McGinnis, ATCO’s Director of Customer Experience, said about ATCO’s award-winning program: “We are transforming our customers’ experience to meet their changing expectations and, using a human-centered and technology-enabled approach, we are laying the foundation for long-term value creation for our customers and for our business.”

If you have any questions about the awards or the upcoming conference, please email Keith Pierce, Senior Research Manager.