Utility direct debit payment: mixed uptake in Europe

Published By Datamonitor

Utility customer service - to please or satisfy?

Residential electricity and gas customers have poorer perceptions of utility customer services than the utilities deserve. However, service excellence is a difficult prospect to promise and deliver cheaply. Datamonitor's Alex Patient says that both utilities and customers will have to decide what they are willing to pay for and receive in future - service, price discounts, or a blend of the two...

Published By Datamonitor

Utility companies impaled by gas price spikes

The price spikes seen in the UK wholesale gas market during 2003 and 2004 have highlighted the issue of wholesale market exposure among the UK's energy utilities, much to the chagrin of consumers who invariably inherit the price increases. Datamonitor's Andrew Hill looks at why so little appears to have been done to address the underlying reasons...

Published By Datamonitor

Utility challenges: effective billing is crucial to cost-to-serve base

Published By Datamonitor

Utility call centers: next stop India

Published By Datamonitor

Utility billing: the smart answer?

Proponents of smart metering have stressed the cost benefits of improved data gathering or the many new types of energy product it would enable. Now the European Parliament apparently sees it as a solution to climate change. However utilities and regulators alike would perhaps do well to remember that what customers want above all is accurate billing, whether by smart meters or not.

Published By Datamonitor

Utility billing: strong online savings ahead

Published By Datamonitor

Utility B2B customer satisfaction dictated by more complex factors than offering the lowest price

Datamonitor's Energy Buyer Research has found that utility customers have complex needs that extend well beyond receiving a low price from their supplier. In fact, customers that thought their supplier had the lowest price reported significantly reduced satisfaction scores than customers that felt their supplier tended to their separate procurement, billing, or account management needs.

Published By Datamonitor

Utilities: the online payer is a rarity, even in Sweden

Published By Datamonitor

Utilities: pricing structure must reflect sustainability goals

In an article in the Financial Times, UK Carbon Census director Sam Arie has suggested that the price of energy should rise in line with the amount a consumer uses. Pricing structures which reflect sustainability aims such as this are a necessary step change for energy providers, and offer huge opportunities for early movers.

Published By Datamonitor