UGI Utilities, Inc. was among 45 utility companies nationwide that were named a 2021 “Customer Champion” based on the Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer EngagementTM Residential study from Escalent, a human behavior and analytics firm.
The study found the utility industry’s focus on its customers, communities and the environment throughout the pandemic elevated its customer engagement, a critical factor in growing company value and influencing energy customer behaviors. Customer engagement also improved as a result of utilities’ increasing support for environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts.
“What makes the gains in customer engagement most impressive is it strengthened despite increasing bill amounts as service satisfaction metrics remained similar to prior years,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president, Escalent. “Utilities have ramped up their outreach and ESG focus during the pandemic and the positive impact on their customer relationships was almost immediate. The nation’s best utilities are strong and engaging brands customers look to as trusted energy advisers.”
The Utility Trusted Brand and Customer Engagement™: Residential study benchmarks and trends performance on a composite index of service satisfaction, brand trust, and product experience performance.
“We are very pleased to be named a 2021 Customer Champion," Daniel Adamo, UGI vice president of customer relations, said. “UGI strives to be the energy provider of choice to our customers and to the many communities we serve. During the pandemic, UGI made significant efforts to support its customers who faced unexpected challenges.”
Adamo noted UGI has also placed increased focus on its ESG efforts and has taken a number of steps to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
Escalent surveyed residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 140 largest U.S. utility companies.
UGI Utilities is a natural gas and electric utility with headquarters in Denver, Pennsylvania. UGI serves more than 730,000 customers in 45 Pennsylvania counties and one county in Maryland. Customers and community members are invited to visit the UGI website at www.ugi.com; our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ugiutilities; or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ugi_utilities.
