Industry
Energy, Resources & Utilities
Rebalance the energy equation
Highlights
- Customers now expect utility services to be as simple, clear, and responsive as the digital services they use every day.
- Rising bills, extreme weather, and the growth of electric vehicles and rooftop solar are changing the conversations customers need to have with their utilities.
- Better customer experience (CX) helps utilities build trust through clearer communication, timely support, and services that reflect individual customer needs.
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Why has CX become a business priority for utilities?
CX is increasingly becoming a deciding factor in how people view and trust their utility provider.
As customers deal with rising bills, extreme weather, changing tariffs, and new choices around rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and home energy storage, they naturally expect clear information, timely help, simple digital services, and, most importantly, fair treatment when something goes wrong. For utilities, good CX is no longer limited to answering calls quickly. It requires a better understanding of customer needs, clear communication, sometimes even before customers ask, and support that helps them make informed energy decisions.
Why is delivering a good CX still difficult for utilities?
Utilities are expected to offer the ease of a digital business while managing a service that is heavily regulated, operationally complex, and essential to everyday life.
Customer information often spans billing, metering, outage, field service, and contact center systems. Even a fairly simple request can involve several teams and applications. During an outage or a billing issue, those gaps quickly become apparent as customers may receive delayed updates, receive repeated information, or struggle to reach someone who understands the full problem.
Expectations are also evolving fast. Customers want more control over their energy use, but the changes in tariffs, smart meters, rooftop solar, batteries, and electric vehicles can be difficult to understand. Add rising bills and extreme weather, and the conversation becomes even more sensitive.
Not every customer wants a digital-only experience either. Some need accessibility support, language assistance, payment help, or simply a person who can listen. Getting this balance right is hard. When utilities do not, the impact shows up in repeat contacts, complaints, higher service costs, regulatory attention, and, most importantly, loss of trust.
How can AI reshape the customer experience for utilities?
The workflow-agent-hybrid choice can be resolved with a five-question approach.
AI can help utilities understand customer needs earlier, leading to faster responses and less complicated conversations. AI can help utilities anticipate issues such as unusual consumption, unexpected bill changes, payment difficulties, and outage-related concerns before the customer contacts them. It adds more value when it is not used as a separate tool, but as a technology that supports the entire customer journey.
Utilities can bring together data from billing, smart meters, outage systems, field operations, and past customer interactions. This can give the utility a clearer view of the customer’s situation. AI can then analyse the data to flag unusual consumption, explain changes in a bill, provide relevant outage updates, or help an advisor understand previous conversation.
Generative AI can turn information that customers may find confusing, such as tariffs, usage, and billing details, into language that is easier to follow. AI agents can also help complete routine tasks, such as updating an account, booking an appointment, or checking the progress of a service request.
Not every interaction should be automated, though. A balanced approach is needed for situations involving financial hardship, safety concerns, complaints, or complex energy choices, where human judgment remains important. AI can handle repetitive work and bring together the right information, while employees spend more time helping customers who need additional support.
What changes when utilities get customer experience right?
A better experience makes life easier for customers, from understanding their energy use and managing their accounts to getting help when something goes wrong. For utilities, this can mean simpler operations, lower service costs, and, most importantly, happier customers.
The difference is visible to both customers and utilities. Clearer bills and timely updates can reduce confusion and repeat contacts. Better self-service options give customers more control, while AI-supported advisors can resolve enquiries faster by having the right information at hand. Proactive alerts can also help customers respond sooner to outages, unusual consumption, and upcoming payments.
These results do not come from technology alone. Utilities need connected data, well-designed processes, trained employees, and regular customer feedback. Over time, this can improve first-contact resolution, digital adoption, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity.
There is a wider advantage too. When customers receive clear information and feel supported, they are more likely to trust their utility. That trust matters as utilities introduce new tariffs, energy-efficiency programmes, electric-vehicle services, rooftop solar, and other changes linked to the energy transition.
What can TCS bring to the utility customer experience journey?
Many organisations focus on improving one customer touchpoint at a time. A better approach is to examine the entire customer journey and understand how each interaction affects the overall experience. By blending customer insights, operational knowledge, and technology, AI and automation help solve problems more effectively instead of treating them in isolation. New ideas should be tested, refined through feedback and improved over time. This helps utilities respond to changing customer needs more quickly while creating a smoother, more consistent experience across every channel.
AI creates better customer experiences by helping utilities identify and address the root causes of customer issues, rather than simply responding faster.
Many utilities use AI to respond to customers faster, but speed alone does not build trust. The bigger opportunity is to understand why customers are contacting the utility in the first place. By connecting customer interactions with operational data from billing, metering, and field services, AI can help identify recurring issues and support lasting improvements. For instance, if customers repeatedly complain about high bills, AI can identify that the underlying problem may be estimated or delayed meter readings. This allows the utility to address the operational issue behind the complaints.
Addressing the root cause, rather than repeatedly handling the same complaint, creates a more reliable customer experience and helps build trust over time.
What will define the utility-customer relationship of the future?
The future role of utilities will not be limited to supplying energy. Utilities will take a more holistic approach to helping customers understand their choices, manage costs, and participate in the energy transition.
AI can support this shift by identifying customer needs earlier, simplifying complex information, and making services more personal. However, trust takes time and has to be earned through consistently reliable service, fair treatment, clear communication, and access to a person when it matters. Utilities that strike the right balance between AI and human judgment can build stronger relationships, encourage customers to participate in new energy services, and make the transition easier for everyone.