Besides juggling the demands of modern life and making a conscious effort to lower carbon emissions, can we really expect today’s energy customers to be phoning up their supplier to fix billing issues? At a time when robots are flying around Mars, it seems reasonable that energy customers should be able to manage their energy through seamless, digital experiences based on live data rather than monthly paper bills.
Fortunately, we are now seeing new technology driving real progress in how energy customers interact with their energy company and their energy use. For example, while there are times when ‘speaking to a human’ is the most effective method in dealing with an account query, most of the time issues can be solved – or avoided altogether – simply by ensuring the data for each customer is accurate, accessible and easy to understand at any moment in time.
And it’s not just customers themselves that stand to benefit, but lowering energy companies’ costs to serve customers enables them to instead focus on investing in innovating the low carbon products and services of the future. At Kaluza, our talented tech teams have been working hard to address the challenges around customer self-service and improve their digital experience. In fact, Kaluza’s platform has helped OVO Energy reduce the number of times customers have had to contact their support centres by nearly 50% from 2019 to 2021.
This graph shows how Kaluza has lowered the number of contacts per customer account per year in comparison with OVO Energy’s legacy platform.
Here’s how:
- Flipping the switch to digital
As part of migrating customers from OVO’s legacy operating system to Kaluza’s platform, customers were automatically contacted about their new digital experience and were prompted to log in to access these benefits. This engaged customers in taking control of their energy digitally.
- Making content easier to access
Previously, OVO Energy had a self-service rate of ~40%, with 6 out of 10 customers who visited the online help centre going on to contact a support centre in order to resolve their issues. Powering a new digital help centre, Kaluza has improved the way content can be viewed and searched for, doubling the self service rate to 80%.
- Swapping paper bills for live balances
Kaluza provides live account balances that are constantly up-to-date so customers know exactly what they owe as it changes. This has had a remarkable impact on reducing inbound enquiries from customers who are often surprised by their bill amount at the end of the month.
- Developing technology with real customers
The way bills are presented can also contribute to customer confusion over what they owe. That is why Kaluza has invested heavily in research to understand exactly what information customers need to see, at a meaningful level of detail.
- Enabling customers to tailor their energy payments
Kaluza enables retailers to help their customers know if they’re paying too little, too much or the right amount. The platform also provides intuitive tools that help customers set what they would like to pay and see whether that will leave them in a financially healthy position. Giving customers full control over their payments has also reduced support centre contact rates.
It’s in our Roots
Kaluza is a pioneering technology business born out of UK energy leader, OVO. Now the third largest energy supplier in the UK with over 4.5 million customers, OVO is committed to delivering simpler, greener and cheaper energy and driving progress towards a zero carbon world. In order to achieve this, OVO wanted a new breed of technology platform that could enable it to engage its customers and give it the agility to create new, rewarding propositions around smart, low carbon solutions.
This is where Kaluza comes in. We are enabling energy suppliers and regulated utilities to bring new offerings to their customers in a fast, affordable way so they can stay competitive and empower customers to take action to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint.
Stay tuned for further blogs on how our technology is enabling energy companies to evolve and meet the demands of net zero by putting customers at the heart of the energy transition.
Notes on the authors
Rebecca Gray is a Product Lead for Agent Experience and Tooling at Kaluza having worked in the energy retailer contact centre space for over two years. Rebecca has over seven years of product experience across different industries including Energy, Finance, Healthcare and Education, and has played a leading role in the creation of outstanding experiences for users at companies including OVO Energy and Natwest.
Alex Ashford is a Senior Data Analyst at Kaluza. Joining in 2019, Alex plays a crucial role in the development of Kaluza’s Energy Operating System and its migration functionality, enabling the transfer of millions of OVO Energy and SSE customers onto the Kaluza platform. Alex is also responsible for the constant iteration of Kaluza’s technology in ensuring it delivers an engaging and rewarding experience for end users based on live data. Previous to Kaluza, Alex was an Insight Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
