The results of a survey into customers’ digital use found that almost a third, or 31 per cent, of utility customers would always prefer to use digital services to interact with their utility company, while between 70-75 per cent would ‘always or sometimes’ use digital services.
However, the respondents indicated a relatively low satisfaction level of 48 per cent when using utilities’ digital services compared to those offered by the retail and finance industries which both reported higher satisfaction levels.
Only 3 per cent of those asked said smart meters are one of their most used digital services, with only 4 per cent citing smart meters as their most valued services. This falls far behind online banking and online shopping which were chosen by more than 60 per cent of respondents in both categories.
A mass roll-out of smart meters is to begin this autumn as the government attempts to place a smart meter in every UK household by 2020 to give customers more control over their energy consumption and enable faster switching between supplier.
Almost 80 per cent of utility company employees responding to the survey think their companies should invest more in technology services or applications over the next two years, the highest level compared to the responses from other sectors.
The research report was carried out by Fujitsu, surveying 1,000 UK adults, 1,400 UK employees.