Getting Your Utility’s Culture Back on Track

Egan EnergyBlog, Employee, Non-Verbal, Utility Communications, Utility Leadership, Utility Stakeholders

Last month’s blog post asked whether your utility could be headed for a culture-based disaster. To help you answer that question, we proposed a simple and easy, albeit qualitative, diagnostic tool: is there a gap between what your utility says about customers, and what it does? Most utilities “talk the talk” about customers, stakeholder engagement, transparency, the importance of communications, … Read More

Drowning in Facts? Try Managing Perceptions!

Egan EnergyCustomer, Customers, Energy News, Messaging, Non-Verbal, Utility Communications, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing, Utility Media Relations, Utility Stakeholders

“Facts are simple and facts are straight,” the Talking Heads once sang. For those reasons, facts are often a utility communicator’s best friend. Inside a utility, facts are never in short supply, and communicators often face the challenge of getting factual or going home. But that same fact-based approach can fall flat when communicating with customers and other external stakeholders. … Read More

Talking About Energy (but Not About Prices)

Egan EnergyCustomer, Customers, Efficiency & Conservation, Energy News, Messaging, Non-Verbal, Programs & Services, Utility Advertising, Utility Communications, Utility Community Relations, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing, Utility Stakeholders, Value

It’s not easy to talk about electric or gas service. Unlike consumer goods such as cars, homes or food, consumers can’t interact directly with electric or gas service: They can’t store it, they can’t give some of it to their friends, and it doesn’t really come in different colors. That’s why many utilities end up discussing their service in terms … Read More