6 Pitfalls Utilities Hit in Digital Customer Upgrades
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- VertexOne SVPs Andreya Shaak and Christina Schueneman named six areas where utility self-service portals commonly fall short: undefined goals, overlooked backend ecosystem dependencies, poor data readiness, designing around internal systems instead of customer journeys, missing feedback loops tied to call-center signals, and full-scale launches that overwhelm customers and staff.
- Shaak and Schueneman said many utilities launch portals without defining expected outcomes first, which Schueneman argued blocks utilities from measuring ROI by tracking improvements in those targeted areas over time.
- Schueneman cited a utility that flipped from flat-rate to metered billing and used the portal as the primary communication channel; "customers learned about the change and were prepared for it," so the utility received fewer complaints once metered billing was in place.
- Shaak warned that portals built around internal system constraints rather than customer needs produce "a customer who uses the portal, can't find what they need and ends up calling the care center anyway, more frustrated than before" — with agents then inheriting that failure.
- Schueneman said utilities that "do too much too fast" should instead take a phased approach, layering energy-conservation tips or program notifications only after the basics work.
- The utilities themselves showed the upside in two cited cases: one kept monthly call volumes around 5,500 even as its customer base more than doubled, while another enrolled 20,000+ customers in peak-time rebate programs for 3.6 million kWh in energy savings, shifted 77% of customers to e-billing and 63% to auto-pay.
Why it matters: Utilities that skip data readiness and front-end goal-setting end up driving frustrated customers back to call centers, undermining the cost premise of digital transformation. The cited results put real numbers on the upside: a call base pinned near 5,500/month while customers doubled, and 3.6 million kWh in savings via a portal-driven peak-rebate enrollment of 20,000+.
