NEWS RELEASE
Smart Grid Technology Advancements will stretch electrical
utilities’ customer service capabilities
Vancouver, B.C. – (March 5, 2010) – Emerging smart grid technology will place important new
tools for cutting electricity costs and consumption in the hands of electrical utilities and their
customers. It will also, however, significantly increase customer care requirements as newlyeducated and curious customers call their provider with an increasing number of questions.
“The existing customer service models used by utilities across the country are becoming
increasingly challenged with the advent and growing popularity of smart grid technology and
new time of use billing models,” says Roland Labuhn, Energy Sector vice-president at TELUS, a
company which specializes in customer service and engagement for dozens of blue chip
companies, including U.S. utilities.
TELUS sponsored a just-released White Paper by Massachusetts-based IDC Energy Insights
exploring the challenge. The paper concluded that the rapid growth of the smart grid, referring to
the massive upgrade of the electric power grid to include advanced communications and
computing capabilities, is expected to have significant impacts on how utilities interact with their
customers.
It is estimated that 60 million residential U.S. customers will have smart meters attached to their
homes within three years. The technology replaces traditional meters and establishes a two-way
data connection between the customer and the power company, allowing customers to monitor
how much electricity is consumed at any one time. In more sophisticated instances, customers
will be able to see what their electrical appliances are consuming, manage their energy usage,
and even compare their energy consumption with other households in the community.
Industry analysts are predicting smart grid technology will create significant new demands on
some utilities’ customer service capabilities. Small core utilities staff are already noticing a
growing volume of customer interaction as consumers get more interested in reducing and
understanding their energy consumption and billing.
“Currently 35 per cent of utility respondents have noted a 10 to 30 per cent increase in the
number of calls and eight out of 10 utilities say they are expecting increases in call volume in
the coming years,” says Jill Feblowitz, IDC analyst and author of the TELUS-sponsored White
Paper.
“It’s both a blessing and a curse for many utilities,” said Labuhn. “On the one hand, utilities are
deploying new technologies and pricing schemes that empower their customers to better
understand and manage their energy consumption while making power delivery more reliable
and efficient. But the flip side is all of this new technology means huge new demands on a
utility’s customer service capacity and related systems.”
While many utilities are tackling this new customer service challenge, others are still using bill
inserts as their primary form of customer communication. The White Paper found 60 per cent of
utilities report having a web portal and only 10 per cent are capable of using live internet chat.
“The only way to get around this considerable hurdle is for utilities to be proactive and embrace
the opportunities for new relationships with customers presented by smart grid technology,” said
Labuhn. “Utilities need a more robust customer engagement strategy to meet the evolving
needs of their customers.”
The growth of green technology is expected to accelerate in coming years with analysts
predicting 50 per cent of utilities will have fully deployed smart grid technology by 2012.
Spending on energy efficiency was 35 per cent higher in 2009 than the $4.5 billion committed in
2008. This is on top of the $5.3 billion in federal stimulus funding directed to fund energy
efficiency nationally.
TELUS recommends that utilities develop comprehensive customer experience management
strategies, and be open to outsourcing and training options, in order to meet the demands of
increased and more complex customer contact.
About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada,
with $9.6 billion of annual revenue and 12 million customer connections including 6.5 million
wireless subscribers, 4 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers
and 170,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle,
TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet
protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video.
In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees
have contributed $158 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered
more than 3 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community
Boards across Canada lead TELUS’ local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be
named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of
Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company ever to receive this
prestigious international recognition.
For more information or to read the White Paper, From Customer Service to Customer
Engagement: Are Utilities Prepared for the Smart Grid Experience? visit TELUS at
www.telus.com/utilities or contact:
Shawn Hall
TELUS
shawn.hall@telus.com
Tel: 604.619.7913
Alyn Edwards
Peak Communicators
aedwards@peakco.com
Tel: 604.689.5559