Great Britain Smart Meter Roll-out Programme: Customer Engagement Strategy for E.ON

In order to reduce carbon emission and manage energy demand, UK government has made smart meter roll-out a mandate. Energy suppliers have been given the instruction to have smart meter installed in all household in GB by 2020. The objective of this report is to formulate a customer engagement strategy for E.ON UK, an energy supply company, to increase its customer engagement level during the roll-out and to conduct the roll-out in a cost-effective manner, while at the same time reinforce customer loyalty and gain their trust. Information has been collected through face-to-face survey and individual interviews with Nottingham local residential. Findings analysed from the dimension of demographic factor in this study has shown that: People in different age groups have different awareness level, preferred communication channel, contents that they are interested in and preferred way to book appointment. For the requirement during the installation, people share similar opinion in terms of security concern, trust and preferred way to be educated; An early deployment for proactive customers is recommended for E.ON to carry on before the mass roll-out as a learning experience. According to our study, a four-phase customer engagement and communication strategy is established which includes: Pre-installation communication: based on the understanding of customers’ awareness about smart meter and its benefits which will motivate customers to 4 have it installed, to deliver the appropriate information to different people through preferred communication channels and trusted source; Appointment booking: based on the understanding of customer preferred booking channel, installation timing and required pre-installation information to ensure customers can book the appointment easily During installation based on the understanding of customers’ concern, requirement to grant access and the preferred way to be educated about smart meter usage, create good customer experience during installation. Post Installation: provide recommendation about post-installation customer communication and support. A successful engagement strategy should be continuously assessed and improved with full commitment from E.ON’s management to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the company