How to Keep Your Utility Brand from Becoming Toxic

AdminBlog, Customer, Customers, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing

Whether your company delivers electricity or natural gas, your customers’ bills have shot up, which damages your utility’s brand. Analytically, we all understand why bills have shot up: Natural gas costs have skyrocketed. Colder weather has driven up customer usage. Inflation. Supply chain. The costs of building out or replacing your infrastructure. Heck, even water provider’s bills have risen, for … Read More

A Few Thoughts on Fear, Gas Stoves, and Freedom

AdminBlog, Customer, Effective, Programs & Services, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing

“Are Your Gas Appliances Killing You?” That’s the way I began a piece of marketing collateral I wrote, well, back in the waning years of the 20th century. Back then, I worked in marketing for an electric utility, Salt River Project, and we were having our lunch eaten by a natural gas utility, Southwest Gas, in the new-home construction market. … Read More

Rate Case Communications: Why This Time It’s Different

AdminUtility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing, Utility Rate Case Communications

Natural gas prices are up sharply. Coal prices are also up. The long-term declines in costs to build renewable energy seem to have paused. Skilled craft labor is in short supply. Supply chain bottlenecks persist. Transformers have a three-year wait time. All of that means it’s time to activate your rate case communications plan, because you need to talk to … Read More

Quick Hits for Utilities: Boosting Trust, ESG, and Communications

AdminBlog, Efficiency & Conservation, ESG Communications, Utility Communications, Utility Stakeholders

People are exhausted — physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially — after spending two years in the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t really need survey data to prove that, do we? And by “people,” I mean utilities’ customers, employees, and other stakeholders like investors, community leaders, and suppliers. So basically everyone. Despite Popular Exhaustion, People Still Trust Businesses Being exhausted means people … Read More

Utility Marketing: Are You Looking for Zebras in the Right Place?

AdminBlog, Efficiency & Conservation, Programs & Services, Utility Marketing

Shortly after I launched Egan Energy Communications, I had the good fortune to work with a business coach. When I asked her how I could find prospective clients, a perennial concern of all businesses, she replied, “If you want to see Zebras, you need to go where the Zebras are.” Her wise advice has shaped our approach to utility marketing: … Read More

Utility Rate Case Communications: Do It Right

AdminBlog, Customer, Effective, Messaging, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing, Utility Rate Case Communications, Utility Stakeholders

Among policymakers, there’s a lot more talk about energy infrastructure these days, following the catastrophic Texas power blackouts and the Biden administration’s $2.25-trillion infrastructure plan. That means rate cases and rate case communications. U.S. electric utilities invested about $40 billion to build new transmission projects in 2019, a sharp increase over earlier years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration … Read More

Communicating on ESG: An Emerging Need for Utilities

AdminCommunities, Customers, Efficiency & Conservation, Employees, Utility Community Relations, Utility Marketing, Utility Stakeholders

Many utility communicators and marketers have Earth Day (April 22) circled on their calendar. This year’s Earth Day, if history is any guide, promises to be busy. Employees will volunteer to pick up trash from streams, rivers and parks, plant trees and lead community workshops. Utilities will announce the closure of coal-fired power plants and the construction of renewable energy … Read More

Boost Your Marketing ROI with Hero’s Journey Storytelling

AdminBlog, Customer, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing

When developing content to market customer programs, there are several options for energy company marketers and communicators. One approach is straightforward, fact-based and quantitative: “You will save about $250 per year if you enroll in this program.” Another is the lifestyle pitch: “You can shift your energy use to off-peak periods of the day and you won’t even notice it.” … Read More

Marketing Electric TOU Prices: The Time is Right

AdminBlog, Efficiency & Conservation, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing

The proliferation of electric vehicles, rooftop solar and other strategic forces afoot in the industry are driving a growing number of electricity providers to implement, or investigate, time of use (TOU) pricing. For some, this is a big step. Many utilities have long offered only one price option: a flat per-kilowatt-hour price. Leaders considering offering TOU pricing may be wondering … Read More

Environmental Communications: When Green is the New Black

AdminBlog, Efficiency & Conservation, Renewables, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing, Utility Stakeholders

In recent years, a growing number of electric utilities have added “sustainable” or “environmentally responsible” or “cleaner” to their longtime vision of providing electric service that is safe, affordable and reliable. That’s one part of their response to a shifting market. Even utilities operating in traditionally regulated monopoly markets, where there is no threat of losing customers to a competitor, … Read More