Consumers nationwide are reeling from inflation driven by forces beyond their control, but at their natural gas utilities, customer service is helping them regain some power over strained household budgets. As prices rise across the board for consumers, natural gas utility customer service divisions are going proactive. Their strategic outreach initiatives are designed to close gaps in assistance programs, connect with diverse audiences and share the news about available relief for customers facing financial hardship.
“We understand that inflation has family budgets at a breaking point,” said Kerry Hogan, vice president, customer experience, Southern Company Gas. “Our customers are at the center of everything we do, and our commitment to them and their needs will never waver. So, ensuring they know we care is priority.”
To that end, utilities, including Southern Company Gas and SoCalGas, have developed proactive strategies for building bridges in their communities.
When California natural gas customers were facing wintertime cost spikes, SoCalGas wasn’t sugarcoating the story. In a blog posted before New Year’s Day 2023, the utility explained the market conditions and below-normal temperatures were fueling “shockingly high” January bills.
The warning was paired with ideas for saving money and conserving energy. “We understand that our customers are starting to feel the pain caused by large changes in the natural gas market,” Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Gillian Wright said in the post. “And we also recognize that we owe it to our customers to provide them with as many tools and tips as possible to help them find ways to prepare for colder weather and higher winter bills, including financial assistance in some cases.”
In this atmosphere, SoCalGas is honing its outreach and messaging to a customer base that has always been diverse but whose needs are changing. Its customers include those who fall above income assistance guidelines but, increasingly, struggle to pay their household bills. Here are some ways the utility is taking action:
Phone in hand: Based in the nation’s second-most expensive media market, SoCalGas doesn’t buy television advertising. Instead, it relies on a tapestry of social media, radio, ethnic newspapers and partnerships.
For example, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Communications Commission clarified its rules to allow direct text messaging for specific purposes without violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. By design, SoCalGas worked to shape a texting initiative that was not income-based, assuring its reach to all customers regardless of traditional definitions of need.
The texts have provided proactive reach to customers who verge on becoming late in paying their bills. Gentle reminders prompt forgetful customers to pay, while they also share direct links to assistance programs for those who may be in arrears.
“It doesn’t become an ‘ignore the bill and it’ll go away’ kind of problem,” said Wright. “We can give customers more time or help with the bill.”
Everyday language: While universal translation software supports a globe’s worth of languages, SoCalGas staffs its call center with bilingual representatives fluent in English and five other languages spoken by major customer groups—Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese. Links to information presented in those languages and others are also prominent on SoCalGas webpages.
SoCalGas has also learned that incorporating vernacular into employee handbooks helps ensure that messaging and conversations are clear and actionable. For instance, customer reps have shared that the Spanish textbook words for “bill” or “invoice,” such as cuenta or factura, are less common than the Spanglish “el bill.” “We give our agents room to adjust the language to be understandable,” said Wright.
Disability access: During the height of the pandemic, SoCalGas created the position of disability access coordinator and promoted a blind employee to fill the post. The coordinator focuses primarily on access to digital channels by the blind and hard of hearing. “He’s pushing us to look at all of the ways we reach and connect with customers,” said Wright.
While the SoCalGas website is WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant and audited by the Center for Accessible Technology, the disability access coordinator advocated for a streamlined, logically ordered web design that promotes clean conversion to speech or Braille by screen-reading software. That work has been done.
Circles of trust: Accessibility can mean expanding the circle of account holders able to access accounts. SoCalGas noticed that many of its elderly customers are represented by family members. So, the utility simplified the ability to add the names of multiple adult children or others, placing them in trusted positions to access accounts and conduct transactions.
Community partners: At SoCalGas, reaching 5.8 million diverse accounts representing 22 million customers is a team effort among Wright’s customer-facing division and the utility’s “strong and robust” public affairs, community relations and charitable donations teams, Wright said.
“We try to keep multiple touch points so we have awareness of those organizations that are well-connected, respected and trusted in the community—really trying to cross-reference and stay connected to all of the different communities that we serve,” she said.
SoCalGas works with community agencies on several fronts. More than 35 community-based partners help increase participation in customer assistance programs through outreach, enrollment and education. Working with the United Way and its agency network, SoCalGas distributes charitable donation-based cash assistance, with increased funding and accelerated distribution this past winter in anticipation of higher bills.
Community agencies also play a role in reaching limited English-proficient consumers with education and assistance, through a SoCalGas partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission and its Community Help and Awareness of Natural Gas and Electric Services program.
Matchmaking: With its abundance of assistance programs, SoCalGas strives to ensure that customer representatives are matching customers with the right initiatives and understand their power to layer participation for maximum benefit.
For example, this past winter, to prepare for a wave of customer calls about high heating bills, the utility revamped its training to help customer representatives explain that bills are based on price and not just usage. Within that process, journey-mapping exercises presented pathways for responding appropriately. Scrutiny of customer surveys and findings from focus groups yielded insights into what customers find helpful and what makes sense as representatives introduced programs that might address their needs.
“We went back and revamped all of our communications, really paying attention to what we are seeing and what the customer survey information is telling us in terms of whether we are easy to do business with and [if] what we’re giving customers is making sense,” said Wright. “Do they understand and trust that their bills are correct? That’s a really key one. Do they feel like we’re helping?”
Relevant messaging: SoCalGas is also linking its empowerment messaging to moments when customers are paying attention. A giveaway of smart thermostats opened up an opportunity to tell customers about the importance of controlling usage. An email campaign alerting customers to higher bills included money-saving tips. Events such as an imminent cold snap triggered social media messaging with simple tips on using less energy for heating and hot water.
“We need to help them plan,” said Wright. “We need to give them tools. We need to warn them so they can anticipate what’s coming.”
During the pandemic, Southern Company Gas made a commitment to connect with and support customers in more meaningful and intentional ways. The resulting “We’re Here” campaign became an edict the company lives by and that continues to resonate through today’s economic challenges.
The pandemic taught Southern Company Gas the importance of responsiveness to customers’ full slate of needs. So, the utility modified eligibility criteria for its financial assistance programs to help more customers in need, building it all on a foundation of empathy that “makes sure customers know we understand where they are,” said Hogan.
As a result, concerted outreach has delivered the message to an expanding circle of customers.
Raising awareness: Being intentional about meeting customers where they are, with information that can help them make better decisions, includes telling customers that they don’t have to be in a disconnect or past-due status to be eligible for assistance. They can also be proactive in checking eligibility for deferred payment arrangements to keep their accounts current until assistance is provided.
Southern Company Gas identifies customers who could benefit from help by analyzing accounts for signs of struggle, such as a past-due status or changes in payment patterns, Hogan said. These customers are among those targeted with emails or messaging that appears on their My Account pages.
Customers are listening, especially in large markets, where uptake in payment arrangement deferrals has been significant, said Hogan. Even customers who don’t qualify for assistance are directed toward partners who can connect them to other resources, because they may need assistance beyond their utility bills.
Much of that uptake began in June 2022. Southern Company Gas encouraged those customers to package their deferred payment arrangements with a Budget Plan enrollment that would help them gain control as winter approached, said Hogan.
“We know we’re not their only concern, which is why we are here to serve, whether it’s with assistance to pay their natural gas bill or to help them meet other basic needs, like partnering with local food banks,” she said.
Streamlining and self-service: As requests for payment assistance rose, the utility reinforced ways to make it easier for customers to find what they need. The customer care center and technology teams collaborated to add self-service options to the interactive voice response system, allowing callers to select options to check their eligibility for deferred payment arrangements or enroll in a Budget Plan.
With customer account details “baked into” the system, callers can finalize their self-service transactions without intervention by call center agents, said Hogan.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program systems, all state-administered, and the systems of one of Southern Company Gas’ larger utilities talk to each other to maximize integration and minimize manual intervention. In some markets, LIHEAP funds can be applied directly to the accounts of approved recipients, even if that creates a credit for funds to be used toward future bills.
“When people are going through rough times, you want to make it a little less cumbersome and one less thing for them to worry about,” said Hogan.
Multichannel communications: As need rises, Southern Company Gas is spreading the word about available federal, state, local and company-sponsored assistance via both new and traditional outlets and tactics.
Successful targeted outreach in one of its markets in 2022 included the company’s first QR-code commercial spots, running on paid streaming media, such as Hulu and ESPN. By scanning an on-screen QR code, viewers could connect directly to the utility to request personalized help with navigating resources and options.
The QR-code commercials were initially tested in conjunction with a phone-a-thon pilot also targeting customers in need of financial assistance in an area that includes a large elderly population and some income disparity. Via phone, email and worksheets, customers could learn if they qualified for assistance and how to apply.
Community partnerships: Southern Company Gas uses long-standing, trusted partnerships to help bridge any outreach gaps concerning payment assistance for income-eligible customers. In 2022, grants driven through partnerships to help income-eligible customers pay their natural gas bills totaled $56 million for the utility’s Chattanooga Gas, Nicor Gas and Virginia Natural Gas subsidiaries, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars more in Georgia.
In addition, many Southern Company Gas markets empower customers and employees to help customers in need through financial contributions. In December 2022, one utility company distributed “Season of Sharing” grants totaling $337,000 to help a select group of income-eligible customers already receiving financial benefits pay their natural gas bills.
Showcasing empathy: In Southern Company Gas customer care centers, representatives are receiving more training in compassion to help customers understand what the utility can and cannot control about costs and teach them how to interpret their bills.
While voice-of-the-customer tools are essential for gauging the customer experience, Southern Company Gas also applies speech analytics to uncover any lingering customer service needs in near-real time. In addition, the company recently updated its after-call surveys to learn whether customers were satisfied with the care and empathy they received and whether their issue was resolved. Instant results can reveal the need to call a customer back immediately or identify an agent who needs additional guidance to succeed the next time a similar call comes in.
At its core, this outreach approach gives free rein to nontraditional thinking—permission to try “outside-the-box methods in order to ensure that our customers see us and know there are a variety of ways to get access to what they need through us,” said Hogan.
“We want to serve our customers where they are and make sure, whatever their energy need, that we can provide an avenue of resourcefulness,” she added. “That is what we are here for.” u
Join CS Week, May 2–4, in Charlotte
CS Week Conference 47 returns to Charlotte for the first time since 2015. The 2023 edition spotlights the critical nature of customer service in delivering excellence and access for utility customers.
Expect content regarding billing and payments, contact centers, credit and collections, digital engagement, disruptors, field services, and strategies and analytics. Highlights include the Women in Utilities Sunrise Event, Innovation Talks, workshops and exhibits featuring technology, systems and products taking customer service to the next level.
CS Week Conference 47 is May 2–4, 2023, at Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, North Carolina. For registration and details, visit csweek.org.