Over half of the clients of energy suppliers are satisfied with the statement of services and the manner of its delivery. Nevertheless, the weaknesses of electricity suppliers relate to insufficient information on the opportunities of utilising savings programmes and poor individual communication in case of electricity failures and restoration. Customers would prefer to obtain such information via text messages which is not common practice at present. Moreover, customers would also prefer more-practical refunds of overpayments or sending all information in electronic form. These are the results of the survey focusing on customer satisfaction in communicating with electricity suppliers which was conducted by Deloitte Digital.
“The survey results indicate that energy users prefer electronic communication as regards payments and statements. It is interesting that even relatively younger generations, ie people aged 36+, use postal orders or orders to collect in addition to cashless payments,” said Petr Viktora, Partner in Deloitte Digital.
He added: “We were surprised that in the current modern age, companies still disregard the opportunity of informing on electricity outages via a text message. Respondents stated that such notifications are often provided in the form of notices on municipal notice-boards or houses. This manner of disclosing information makes it impossible for everybody to obtain crucial information on time.”
Main conclusions:
- Companies provide their customers with insufficient information as regards restoring power supplies (33% of respondents consider it “poor”) or notifications on shutdowns (22%). Almost a quarter of respondents (22%) would prefer more personal communication from electricity suppliers in those situations.
- Most clients would like to monitor electricity consumption on a website (21.3%) or via a mobile application (20.4%).
- Almost 30% of respondents would prefer to pay invoices via a bank transfer or using payment portals, such as PayU, PayPal or Paysec. Regardless of age, all respondents consider bank transfer to be the most efficient payment method. Payments via postal orders or orders to collect are preferred by respondents aged 36+ and 65+.
- Customers that have been clients of an electricity supplier for less than a year stated that they are satisfied with the installation of equipment and dissatisfied with the offer of savings programmes, which was also proved by those that have been provided services for 6-10 years. Respondents that have been customers of a supplier for more than 10 year mostly appreciated the manner of delivering statements and payments of invoices.
- Among the key criteria affecting whether the customer keeps their current electricity provider are the prices and quality of the services provided.
About the Czech Energy Customer Survey
Deloitte Digital conducted a national survey of electricity customers in which the responses of more than 100 clients of 10 supplier in the Czech Republic were gathered. Respondents primarily include households with a single off-take point using the services of one provider for more than 10 years. The survey involved participants from the clientele of ČEZ, PRE, Bohemia Energy, E.ON, FOSFA, VEMEX, Europe Easy Energy, Innogy (RWE), Amper Market and EP Energy Trading.