Customer engagement revolution

Energy delivery is undergoing a fundamental change as supply networks move towards an ever more decentralised model. This is already in evidence with solar projects funded by the feed-in tariff and the ever increasing number of community heat and energy projects, while smart metering will allow real-time energy use information to flow between customer and provider.

This will require a more complex, more mature relationship with customers and one in which social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter look increasingly best-placed to handle.

Based on research reported in the Exelon 2009 Social Media Benchmark Survey approximately 93% of consumers believe that a company should have a presence in social media, and 85% believe that companies should adopt social media as the way of interaction with consumers. In addition 83% of utilities are interested in using social media and 60% are already using Twitter to a certain degree.

This article was written by Nicholas Chrysanthou, energy consultant analyst at Alva and released in full on Energy Business Review.