LIVONIA, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Customer engagement with the nations largest 140 electric, combination and natural gas utilities has reached a new high thanks to effective utility responses to challenges posed by the pandemic and economy. Escalents ECR (engaged customer relationship) index, a comprehensive customer relationship measurement used by utility management to assess customer engagement, increased 15 points this year to 728 (on a 1,000-point benchmark scale) as a result of strengthened brand perceptions and increased product engagement. Forty-two utilities performed above their peers to earn the title of Escalent 2020 Utility Customer Champions. These results are from the 2020 Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential study by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics firm.

Customers, Wall Street and regulators have all made it clear that the future success of a utility depends on engagement beyond the meter. Three in four (76%) customers now state their ideal utility should excel in the areas of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), all categories that align with the ECR indexs Brand Trust component. Customers also report increased product engagement with high use of energy consumption management offerings (64% across 13 offerings) and interest in renewable energy and electric vehicle-related products (74% across seven offerings).

Engaging customers beyond simply satisfying service needs is now a utility reality to ensure future success. Scoring well on the ECR index is critical to growing company value and stakeholder support, said Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Escalent. Utilities have confronted a very tough year by building customer support for their environmental, social, product and management efforts. Our 2020 Customer Champions are leading the pack on these ESG principles.

Escalent congratulates the following utilities as 2020 Customer Champions. These utilities have scored above their peers on the ECR index, a 360-degree measurement of the utility customer relationship through performance on factors that impact Brand Trust, Product Experience and Service Satisfaction.

Cogent Syndicated 2020 Utility Customer Champions

AEP Ohio

Duquesne Light

Pepco

Atmos Energy South

Elizabethtown Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas

Avista

Idaho Power

PPL Electric Utilities

BGE

Intermountain Gas Company

PSE&G

Black Hills Energy Midwest

Kentucky Utilities

RG&E

Cascade Natural Gas

MidAmerican Energy

Salt River Project

CenterPoint Energy Midwest

Montana-Dakota Utilities

SDG&E

Columbia Gas South

New Jersey Natural Gas

TECO Peoples Gas

Columbia Gas of Ohio

NIPSCO

Texas Gas Service

CPS Energy

NW Natural

Toledo Edison

Dayton Power & Light

Oklahoma Natural Gas

Washington Gas

Delmarva Power

OUC

Wisconsin Public Service

DTE Energy

PECO Energy

Xcel Energy Midwest

Duke Energy Midwest

Peoples Gas

Xcel Energy West

The following are ECR scores for the 140 utilities covered in the study.

East Region Utility Brands

Engaged CustomerRelationship index

Service type

RG&E

750

Combination

PECO Energy

743

Combination

PSE&G

741

Combination

BGE

732

Combination

Delmarva Power

730

Combination

Con Edison

723

Combination

National Grid

719

Combination

NYSEG

709

Combination

Eversource

698

Combination

Pepco

749

Electric

PPL Electric Utilities

748

Electric

Duquesne Light

732

Electric

Penelec

726

Electric

Green Mountain Power

725

Electric

Penn Power

725

Electric

Met-Ed

See more here:
Escalent Finds Success of Utilities Tied to Engagement Beyond the Meter, Names 2020 Customer Champions - Business Wire