Disrupting Customer Service: Energy Equity in Action
According to U.S. Census data, San Antonio ranks as the most impoverished major city in the country. In a state of increasing pandemic-related arrears, customers were not responding to the standard channels of customer support or collections notifications and CPS Energy’s past due accounts rose to nearly half of its customer population. With many customers unaware of the availability of federal and other support, CPS worked to improve its customer service delivery and bridge its programs with regional nonprofit programs to build a community immersion strategy while emphasizing energy equity. Chartwell‘s team chose CPS Energy as the Gold Award winner for Serving Vulnerable Customers for its innovative approach to customer service and energy equity.
Speakers:
Jesse Hernandez, Director of Equity, Community Strategy & Engagement, CPS Energy
Jesse leads community engagement, including equity, community outreach, the customer response unit (CRU), the Energy2Business (E2B) team, and CPS Energy’s weatherization program Casa Verde, which involves working closely with internal and external stakeholders, community leaders, and community organizations. Jesse has been with CPS Energy for 12 years and is passionate about helping the community he serves to bridge the gap for a better quality of life.
Laura Jacobs, Sr. Manager of Customer Advocacy, Community Engagement, CPS Energy
With twenty (20) years of experience in the utility industry, serving CPS Energy, Laura is dedicated to providing consistent and intentional customer support while delivering value from the customer’s prospective in areas of community relations.
She leads two highly branded and mobile groups dedicated to providing concierge case management support to customers with unique situations that require more time than a walk-in or contact call center can provide. The Customer Response Unit (CRU) has a residential customer focus and the Energy2Business team has a small to medium commercial customer focus. Both develop non-profit partnerships to assist the customer in many aspects beyond the utility purview.
