Chartwell Blog
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Idaho Power Rated #1 in Energy Industry Benchmark Report
100 Automated Phone Systems Evaluated by IVR Doctors and...
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How Utilities Can Improve the Digital Customer Experience
As utility companies work to improve customer relationships, ease...
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Developing a Robust VoC Framework: A Functional Blueprint for Utilities
By Jennie King, Principal Consultant While few utilities implement...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2025 Outage Best Practices Awards
LUMA Energy, PG&E, and SDG&E have received top honors...
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Journey Mapping Workshop: High Bill Customer Journey
John Bord, Chartwell Senior Consultant and journey-mapping advisor, recently...
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38% of Utilities Leverage Energy Burden Analysis to Identify Vulnerable Customers
With LIHEAP cuts being made in the US, utilities...
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Top Billing and Payment Initiatives: Arrears Management and Customer Payment Options
29% of residential utility consumers with household incomes less...
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Essential Guidelines to Optimize Utility Emergency Management Programs
Chartwell’s Emergency Management Leadership Council is publishing a monthly...
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ETRs Drive 30% Satisfaction Boost for Low-Scoring Utilities
Customer satisfaction surveys have been a key tool in...
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Managing Crisis at All Levels: A Structured Approach
By Carlos D. Torres, Resilience Executive Advisor In today’s...
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Increasing Digital Self-Service Adoption to Reduce Call Volumes
By Heather Siebken, Senior Manager, Councils & Events While...
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Chartwell Launches Three-Part Series of Insights from Residential Customers
Chartwell recently completed work on our Residential Consumer and...
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Moments of Truth: How Effective Communication During Power Outages Can Transform CSAT
By Jennie King, Principal Consultant For any customer, residential...
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The Rapid Rise of ETR Officers and Processes
By John Burnap, Senior Advisor ETR, or estimated time...
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Utilities Achieve 25% Reduction in Inaccurate ETRs from 2023 to 2024
By Suzan Greene, Senior Consultant Utilities are using a...
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Empowering Vulnerable Business Customers: Leveraging Community Partnerships for Economic Resilience
By John Bord, Senior Consultant While many utilities focus...
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Transformative Outcomes of Community Partnerships
By Pat Ricks, Senior Consultant In today’s rapidly evolving...
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Utility Veteran Carlos Torres Joins Chartwell to Lead Organizational Resiliency Benchmarking and Best Practices Initiative
Atlanta, GA – Feb. 24, 2025 – Chartwell, Inc.,...
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Most Influential CX Factors Over the Next Five Years
A recent Customer Experience Leadership Council call centered on...
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Enhancing Awareness of Your Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)
By Ben Murdock, Senior Data Analyst In a recent...
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15-Minute ETRs: Precision at Speed
By Suzan Greene, Senior Consultant When outages occur, customers’...
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Unlocking Customer Journeys: How Mapping Benefits Utilities
Understanding the complete customer journey is crucial for utilities...
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Top Five Communication Channels Used by Utilities for Business Customers
Findings from Chartwell’s 2024 Business Customer Care Survey highlight...
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Chartwell Soliciting Utility Industry Survey Responses for Two Benchmark Surveys on Payment and Vulnerable Customers
Share Your Insights to Receive Research Report, Raw Data,...
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EV Benchmark Survey in the Field for North American Utilities
Gain insights into North American Electric Vehicle (EV) trends...
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John Burnap Joins Chartwell as Senior Consultant
Chartwell is excited to announce that John Burnap, MEP, is...
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Chartwell, Inc. and IVR Doctors Announce Strategic Partnership to Optimize Utility Call Center Operations and Customer Service
Atlanta, GA – October 9, 2024 – Chartwell, Inc.,...
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Chartwell Electric Vehicle Leadership Council Members Engage Communities To Drive Electric
EV Leadership Council Members Celebrate National Drive Electric Week...
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Rebuilding Trust and Community: CPS Energy’s Customer Engagement Insights at EMACS San Antonio
By Russ Henderson, Research Director – As utilities continue...
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Chartwell Publishes Results of Customer Service Industry Survey in Multiple Formats
Chartwell recently completed its Industry Survey on Customer Service....
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Chartwell Offers Hands-On Tools for Serving Vulnerable Customers
The need to assist vulnerable customers has never...
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Utilities Recognized for Excellence With Chartwell’s 2024 Best Practices Awards
Baltimore Gas & Electric, Consumers Energy, Enbridge, Evergy, Hydro...
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Chartwell to Launch New Utility Resilience Institute and Councils
Chartwell, Inc., a leading provider of insights and best...
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Announcing I.S. Dunklin as New Chief Executive Officer
Chartwell, Inc., a leading provider of insights and best...
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Understand How Consumer Demographics Can Impact EV Interest
As utilities help their customers navigate the transition to...
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Hydro One Leaders: Cross-Departmental Collaboration is Key to Success for Outage Communications, Emergency Management and Reliability
By Russ Henderson, Director of Research The expectations...
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Chartwell Publishes Its 2024 Billing Options Benchmark Report
Chartwell’s 2024 Billing Options audit shows that budget billing...
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Navigating Resilience in an Electrical Utility
Is your utility prepared for the worst? An effective...
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Chartwell Completes Four-Report Series Based on Findings From 2023 Consumer Survey
Chartwell’s 2023 Residential Consumer Survey, with its newly introduced...
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Entergy’s Messaging Refresh Wins Gold in Outage Communications Category of Chartwell’s Best Practices Awards
In 2022, Entergy began a refresh of its outage...
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Chartwell Inc. Champions Efforts to Better Prepare Utilities to Face the Industry’s Increasing Threat Environment
Utility Veteran Don Daigler to Lead New Benchmarking, Best...
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ComEd’s Operation Power Play Awarded Gold in Emergency Management Category of Chartwell’s Best Practices Awards
In April 2023, ComEd’s Emergency Preparedness Department hosted the...
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Chartwell Explores the Road Ahead for Electric Vehicles
While Chartwell has covered the evolution of EVs for...
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Chartwell 2024 Bill Viewbook: Illuminating the Latest Trends in Utility Bill Design
Accurate bills with information that is clearly displayed and...
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Chartwell, Inc. Electric Vehicle Leadership Council Drives Forward to Inaugural Meeting
North American Utility Experts Collaborate as Trusted Advisors in...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2024 Outage Best Practices Awards
Commonwealth Edison and Entergy have taken the top honors...
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Business Customer Leadership Council Gears Up for Inaugural Meeting
Leading Utility Experts Unite to Elevate Business Customer Experience...
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Announcing Chartwell’s Electric Vehicle Leadership Council
Chartwell, Inc., a leading provider of utility industry research...
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Announcing Chartwell’s Business Customer Leadership Council
Chartwell, Inc., a leading provider of insights serving the utility...
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Announcing Chartwell Executive Services
Chartwell is pleased to announce Executive Services, a new...
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Meeting Utility Customer Expectations About Electric Vehicles
By Casey Collins, Research Analyst at Chartwell Inc. –...
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Utilities Recognized with Chartwell’s 2023 Best Practices Awards
ComEd, CPS Energy, Duke Energy, PSE&G, PSEG Long Island,...
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Utilities Recognized with Chartwell’s 2023 Outage Best Practices Awards
March 23, 2023 Duke Energy and Commonwealth Edison have...
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The Vulnerable Customer Leadership Council
Chartwell recently launched the Vulnerable Customer Leadership Council, a...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2022 Best Practices Awards
ComEd, Con Edison, Hydro One, PECO and SMECO have...
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BGE, Central Hudson Gas take home top honors in Chartwell’s 2022 outage awards
By Suzanne Haggerty, Director of Customer Engagement and Insights...
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The Benefits of Open-Source Content Management Systems
By Laura Gousha, VP of Engagement at Mindgrub, an...
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Five Reasons Your Customer Communications Aren’t Working
By Layna Shuppert, Marketing Communications Manager with Message Broadcast...
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CEO of Tucson Electric Power to Share Her Journey at EMACS 2021
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – This year’s...
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Three Must-Have Interactive Content Solutions for Energy Utilities
Breanne George, Senior Creative Copywriter at Questline – To...
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User experience is key to leveraging mobile apps for outage communications
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – As customer service becomes...
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Six Characteristics of Award-Winning Outage Communications – Part Three: Metrics and Agility
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – In part...
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Six Characteristics of Award-Winning Outage Communications – Part Two: Channels and Tactics
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – In last...
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Six Characteristics of Award-Winning Outage Communications Programs – Part One: Strategy and Organization
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – As I...
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Lasting Impacts of COVID-19 on Utility Customer Care
Part 2: Serving with Empathy Stacey Bailey, Vice President...
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Utility Assistance Programs: The Gift of Energy
By Chris Hellmann, Research Analyst – The U.S. Bureau...
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Take Chartwell’s Customer Service Survey to participate in contact center benchmarking
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Do you want to...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2021 Best Practices Awards
Con Edison, Austin Energy, Consumers Energy, PNM and Southern...
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Lasting Impacts of COVID-19 on Utility Customer Care
Part 1: Digital Transformation Whiplash Stacey Bailey, Vice President...
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Outage Communications Benchmarks Available on Chartwell’s Insight Center
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Chartwell’s latest report, 2021...
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Forged in Crisis: Utilities Display Strengths Built in Adversity at Chartwell’s Outage Conference
By Steve Waters, Senior Consultant – Nietzsche teaches “that...
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Preparing Your Digital Infrastructure for Major Storm Events
Sponsored by: Mindgrub Guest blog by Laura Gousha, VP...
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How an innovative approach to data engineering can deliver great customer experiences
Sponsored by: AGENT511 A recent Gartner Note, “How to...
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Join us for our 15th annual PowerUp: Chartwell’s Outage Conference
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – It’s hard...
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Talking Omnichannel to the New Utility Customers
Sponsored by: Smart Energy Water Embracing the shift in...
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4 best practices for maintaining high-quality service during outages
Sponsored by: Interactions You’re not able to change the...
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Utility leaders leveraging Nextdoor for outage communications
A number of utilities on the Outage Communications Leadership...
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Boost Satisfaction Among Customers Who Prefer Paper Bills by Optimizing Bill Design
Millennials and Gen Z may think paper bills are...
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Key to driving self-service adoption is to first improve awareness
Your customer migration strategy should prioritize moving customers from...
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Chartwell’s 2020 Communication Benchmark Report now available
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – 2020 saw a new...
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Utilities share tips to help with winter bills
By Noah Solomon, Research Manager As we move through...
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Creating delightful customer payment experiences
By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Recent Chartwell publications...
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Chartwell’s 2021 awards in outage communications, restoration are open for submissions
By Suzanne Haggerty, Senior Manager of Customer Engagement –...
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AI-Powered Hyper-Personalization, AMI Analytics and Unlocking New Utility Business Models: Transformation Is Possible Today
By Bidgley In the field of computer science, the...
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Meeting Utility Customers’ Payment Expectations
By Rob Houser, Senior Vice President, Product Management and...
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Chartwell’s 2020 Payment Industry Benchmarks Available in the Insight Center
By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Respondents to Chartwell’s 2020 Payment Industry...
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TVA leverages augmented-reality tech to create virtual home energy audit
By I.S. Dunklin, Director of Data Analytics and Research...
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2020 Billing Industry Benchmarks now available
By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Chartwell’s 2020 Billing Industry...
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Utilities continue to find success in eliminating or reducing credit card fees
By Noah Solomon, Research Manager – Credit cards are...
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Leveraging Utility Bills as a Customer Experience Boost
By John Hoggard, Principal, Global Utility Markets, Quadient –...
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Updater solves the inefficiencies (and headaches) of moving, with technology
Dennis Donovan, VP of Utility & Warranty at Updater,...
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How Pre-Pay Energy Helps Millennials Pay Bills in an Uncertain Economy
By Shaun Jackson, Senior Vice President, Marketing, KUBRA –...
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Strengthening customer loyalty in the digital age
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Chartwell’s latest survey of residential...
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Utility Collections in a COVID-19 World Present Public Relations Challenges
At the start of the pandemic, many utilities did...
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Improving Customer Experience in Four Steps
Utilities have traditionally enjoyed a competitive advantage via a...
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How should utility providers approach digital transformation?
More than 60% of digital transformation initiatives and pilots...
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Improve Customer Experience and Reduce Live Agent Costs at the Same Time
What you know about a customer at the moment...
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The Customer and Business Impact of Enabling Next-Level Self-Service
Across industries including financial services, telecommunications, and utilities, customer...
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Discover the Humans in Your Data for Big Customer Payment Wins – Even During a Pandemic
A 650% increase in email engagement. A 47% payment-in-full...
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Does Your Payment Solution Meet Customer Expectations?
Is your utility keeping up with the rapidly changing...
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How to Reduce Delinquencies Before Resuming Disconnects
By Kristen Hoppe, Marketing Manager, Message Broadcast – What...
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Improving customer satisfaction with outage communications
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Outage communications is a...
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Crisis and Innovation – Chartwell EMACS Keynote Presentation with Google
The last several months have been one of the...
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Learn how Enbridge engaged customers previously resistant to eBill messaging
By Noah Solomon, Research Manager Here at Chartwell, we...
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The Continuous Changes and Challenges of COVID-19 – Are Utilities Prepared?
In the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted...
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Benchmarking the state of the digital experience in the utility industry
Chartwell’s 2020 Digital Experience Industry Benchmark Survey is in...
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People’s Choice – Video finalists ready for the virtual spotlight
By Suzanne Haggerty, Senior Manager of Customer Engagement –...
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Improving customer satisfaction through outage communications
For the utility industry, outage communications is key to...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2020 Best Practices Awards
Duke Energy, PSEG Long Island, Con Edison, BGE and...
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Chartwell’s 2020 Outage Restoration Benchmark report available now
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Chartwell’s latest benchmark report...
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How utilities are implementing robotic process automation (RPA)
By Noah Solomon, Research Manager – Robotic process automation...
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Chartwell’s latest outage communications benchmarks available for download
Chartwell has been tracking trends in outage communications for...
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Key Takeaways from PowerUp, Chartwell’s Outage Conference
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – We were...
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Join us next week for Chartwell’s VIRTUAL PowerUp outage conference
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – No one...
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The utility industry shifts to more mobile-centric approach
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – As the...
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Deadline extended for Best Practices Award submissions
By Suzanne Haggerty, Senior Manager of Customer Engagement — The...
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Outage communications and response complicated by COVID
By Chandler Dunklin, Client Relationship Manager – While much of...
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Confronting the billing and payment challenges raised by COVID-19
By Chandler Dunklin, Client Relationship Manager – Most utilities responded quickly...
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What to do when the COVID-19 bill comes due
As the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolved in recent weeks,...
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Submissions are open for Chartwell’s 2020 Best Practices Awards
By Suzanne Haggerty, Senior Manager of Customer Engagement — So, the...
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TEP meets rising customer expectations using research, VOC and cross-functional teams
Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – John Bord, Manager of...
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In coronavirus response, utilities prove nimble even as they continue to power our lives
By Chandler Dunklin and Chartwell Staff – Utilities have...
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How to create a more customer-centric organization
By Chandler Dunklin and Chartwell Staff – Utilities have...
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As the coronavirus strikes, utilities move to protect customers
By Noah Solomon, Research Manager – The coronavirus, also known...
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Chartwell research shows jump in mobile and electronic payment options
By Rebecca Harris, Data Analyst – Chartwell’s latest benchmark...
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Three tips for turning power outages into winning opportunities
By Russ Henderson, Senior Research Manager – A badly...
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How AI improves customer communications and customer experience
Today’s customers are accustomed to receiving top-notch customer experiences...
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Metrics that Matter: How Customer Effort Scoring can improve the ease of doing business
Utilities are unique in that they often have defined...
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Best Practices Awards in Outage Communications and Outage Restoration
Chartwell is excited to announce the winners of our...
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DTECH 2020 speakers explore the future of the utility industry
“Today, we’ve figured out that customers are looking for...
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Outage maps, now essentially ubiquitous, remain a fundamental channel for utilities
Outage maps, which only a decade ago were a...
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Can utilities keep up with the times on mobile pay?
With such an emphasis placed on billing and payment...
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VOC: Discovering the precious artifacts of customer experience
Utilities connect with their own “locals” to gain insight...
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New year, new deadline: Time to work on those outage award entries
We've expanded our outage awards to two categories, meaning...
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Boosting customer experience in the utility industry through customer journey mapping
Journey maps describe a customer’s entire journey and ultimately...
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Chartwell expands the Outage Conference and associated awards
Mobile technology, grid hardware and software, analytics, and social...
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Don’t fail at scale: a lesson from airline push alerts
Push notifications can provide a convenient, satisfying way of...
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Customers expect ETR accuracy and timeliness
Understanding customer expectations regarding ETR accuracy and timeliness is...
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Utility marketplaces evolve into tools to engage customers beyond the meter
Chartwell data shows that consumers who have used their...
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Winning People’s Choice video combines information with humor
Attendees at Chartwell's 2019 EMACS - The Customer Experience...
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EMACS 2019: Delivering in a digital, data-driven landscape
EMACS 2019, held Sept. 30-Oct. 3 in New Orleans,...
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Get the latest data on robotics process automation, payment methods and more!
This year’s survey is set to continue delivering salient...
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The pioneers are still standing – will more utilities charge ahead with auto-enrollment?
This year, for the first time since 2016, a...
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ComEd, JEA, Pepco, SCE and Tucson Electric Power recognized with Chartwell’s 2019 Best Practices Awards
ComEd, JEA, Pepco, Southern California Edison and Tucson Electric...
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Increasing customer independence with chatbots and virtual assistants
Chartwell recently released a report focusing on how utilities...
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Outage communications: From culture change to tech revolution
Utility leaders have spent more than a decade working...
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Chartwell’s 13th annual Outage Communications Conference features innovation
No one knows outage communications better than Chartwell and...
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2019 CBP awards deadline is almost here
Chartwell’s other 2019 Best Practices Awards categories include Billing...
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How to welcome your new robot overlords
Robotics Process Automation, or RPA, is in vogue. Utilities...
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Delivering more effective customer communications
Chartwell research shows that utilities need to engage customers...
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Amplifying customer care and communications using social media
Customers don’t routinely visit their utility’s website for information,...
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Award advice: Start early, gather a team, revise often
Download your entry forms, which outline details on the...
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Utilities combat the “Amazon Effect” with innovative digital outage communications tools
Like so many other sectors of the economy, the...
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Credit card fees – the Endgame?
Many utilities are currently pursuing potentially reducing or removing...
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Workshop: How to provide an award-winning outage communications experience
Southern California Edison’s Tomaso Giannelli will lead a limited-seating...
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Georgia Power bridges silos to implement technological solutions
Donna Collins, Strategic Support Analyst at Georgia Power Company,...
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When outages strike, is your utility equipped with a comprehensive communications strategy?
Chartwell researchers understand that each year, utilities are faced...
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Chartwell’s People’s Choice – Video category allows utilities to showcase their creative talents
Video: Whether you like it, love it, dislike it,...
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Flint Energies prepay program increases CSAT, reduces uncollectible debt and labor costs
How can utilities, especially one with a smaller customer...
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Technology trends in outage communications place humans at the center of increasing automation
Outage communications is uniquely positioned within the utility organization,...
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Submissions are open for Chartwell’s 2019 Best Practices Awards
The original awards of their kind for utilities, Chartwell’s...
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Director of Customer Service at LG&E and KU focuses on growing ability to meet customer expectations
Debbie Leist, Director of Customer Service and Marketing at...
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Utilities recognized with Chartwell’s 2019 Best Practices Awards in Outage Communications
Southern California Edison, Oncor and Florida Power & Light...
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CSRs move beyond traditional roles as omnichannel affects call centers
As technology enables utilities to utilize more digital channels...
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Learn how utilities are transforming marketing communications with business customers
When utilities try to drive program adoption or energy...
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Game on! How utilities can use gaming for contact center safety training
With a large number of CSRs right around the...
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Increasing engagement and brand favorability with customers and employees
Capturing the interest of both customers and employees are top communications...
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Deadline to share your best outage communications efforts is coming up quickly
It's that magical time of the year again: the...
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Engaging utility customers in the digital age
Chartwell’s newest report, Engaging Utility Customers in the Digital...
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How a Canadian utility leveraged automation to improve the customer experience
In April 2016, Hydro One began leveraging Robotics Process...
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Prepare for the future of customer communications. Take Chartwell’s Communications Survey today!
Customers increasingly prefer digital channels over traditional ones. In...
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KCP&L grows electronic payment channels with strategic approach
Nearly half of utility customers pay via some form...
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Calling all outage communications thought leaders: Best Practices Award deadline is just a few weeks away
Dan Séguin, Hydro Ottawa's Manager of Media and Public...
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Dominion Energy Virginia flips the conventional customer experience model with its Strategic Underground Program
In 2014, Dominion Energy Virginia began a system-wide initiative...
Chartwell Services
Our membership services can help your utility identify strategies to impact customer experience and operational efficiency: A research subscription to our Insight Center membership allows unlimited access to hundreds of research reports, case studies, benchmarks, webinars, and more. Our peer-to-peer Leadership Councils, focused on customer-facing areas such as billing, outage, CX, vulnerable customers, EVs, business customers, emergency management, and organizational resilience provide collaborative, utility-only peer networks. Our post-event transactional benchmarking study called Tranzact enables utilities to compare their customers’ outage experience perception with peer utilities. Chartwell Advisory Services and Executive Services provide leadership development with industry experts.
