Bowen on how new digital customer service metrics could boost utilities earnings
Last month, I argued that the length of time customers spend interacting with their utility company is not -- on its own -- a sufficient measure of “customer engagement.” Customers care more about getting things done than they do about minutes of mindshare. If utilities can help their customers accomplish their goals in less time, they can also encourage the customer to become more engaged in energy decision-making and improve overall satisfaction with their service.
In this column, I’d like to take that argument a few steps further by addressing two questions. First, if minutes of interaction isn’t the “right” metric for customer engagement, what is? Second, as public utilities commissions across the country consider the merits of performance-based regulation, can customer engagement metrics become a basis for future utility earnings?
