Modernizing utility customer interactions is expected to reduce call volumes and increase program participation. However, digitizing processes does not necessarily lead to a better customer experience. When utilities build self-service on unclear data, fragmented portals, and siloed systems, critical moments often become disappointing experiences—sometimes even more frustrating than relying on paper documents and phone calls in the past.

According to observations by Andreya Shaak, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy at VertexOne, and Christina Schueneman, Senior Vice President of Implementation and Services, utilities typically encounter challenges in six areas when designing their "digital front door." Here are recommendations on how to avoid these common obstacles and ensure a proper customer experience.

1. Define goals in advance

Many utilities launch portals without defining expected outcomes. After launch, what truly matters as a differentiator for customers, employees, and the overall business? These answers should drive project priorities for portal design and scope. Clear goals also help managers evaluate return on investment by continuously measuring improvements.

Best practice:Start with customers' main pain points and clarify what you want the self-service portal to improve. When expectations are clear, customer journeys can be mapped and success metrics defined in advance.

Schueneman shared an example of a utility that adopted this approach. Its operations leadership decided that during the transition from flat-rate billing to metered billing, the portal would serve as the primary communication channel. "Over several months, customers learned about the change and were prepared, so after metered billing was implemented, the utility saw significantly fewer complaints," she described.

2. Consider the broader ecosystem

In the rush to move forward, utilities often fail to fully understand backend implementation efforts and their dependencies, as well as the role other systems play in the self-service portal. For example, a utility may expect the portal to support complex installment payment plans or detailed usage views, only to discover midway that its customer information system (CIS) cannot reliably calculate or display this information.

Best practice:Involve third-party vendors early. Ensure they understand your business processes and how their systems connect to the experience you expect to deliver. This confirms that all systems can work together to build the digital front door you envision.

3. Emphasize data readiness

Data and business rules provided to the CIS are often not clean or consistent. When this happens, the portal exposes ambiguous rate structures, inconsistent billing logic, hard-to-understand usage charts, and confusing account structures. After logging in, customers often do not understand what they are seeing.

Best practice:Before investing in a portal, data integrity must be prioritized. This means dedicating the right people and sufficient time to understand existing data, where it is stored, how it is used, and how it can be standardized across teams and systems. Based on these insights, utilities can define clear rules, decide how to handle exceptions, and plan information flow paths. "This creates clarity for the portal, allowing the utility to fully control the customer experience," Schueneman described.

4. Design around people, not systems

Portal design often revolves around internal system constraints and boundaries rather than customers' actual interaction needs. For example, when outage, billing, and usage information are scattered across different areas, customers struggle to complete simple tasks. This also affects what employees can see when customers call for help.

"The worst case is when customers use the portal but cannot find what they need, ultimately calling the contact center more frustrated than before," Shaak described. "Agents have to bear this failure. What customers can and cannot do online directly changes how agents manage customers and what they handle."

Best practice:Design upstream alignment around key touchpoints such as bill inquiries, outages, and move-ins/move-outs. Think about how each feature is best presented in the portal, then work backward to adjust systems, data, and processes so the portal can deliver that experience.

5. Build a feedback loop

In many deployments, utilities cannot accurately pinpoint where customers are frustrated or correlate digital behavior with call center activity. Without combining what happens in the portal with downstream signals such as calls or escalations, utilities struggle to determine whether digital sessions are successful.

Best practice:Assemble a cross-functional team—including IT, operations, customer service, and communications—to test the portal experience in the context of real business processes and customer journeys. This team should also be responsible for collecting and responding to feedback from customers and employees.

6. Consider phased rollout

Utilities often launch all digital features at once. "They do too much too quickly, overwhelming customers," Schueneman explained. This approach can also overload employees as they need to learn new tools and processes.

Best practice:Adopt a phased approach, gradually introducing the digital front door to customers and employees. Once you are confident that foundational features are working well, layer on additional tools and content, positioning the utility as a trusted advisor—whether by providing energy-saving tips or sending personalized proactive notifications about relevant programs.

When digital experiences deliver real progress

The right digital experience can yield returns in multiple areas:

  • Lower energy consumption
  • Reduced call volumes
  • Increased program participation
  • Lower operational costs
  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • Higher employee morale

Specific returns depend on what you are trying to change. For example, one utility saw improvements in call center efficiency. Despite more than doubling the number of customers served, its digital front door helped keep monthly call volumes at approximately 5,500 calls.

Another utility used portal guidance to enroll more than 20,000 customers in a peak-time rebate program, achieving 36 million kilowatt-hours in energy savings. The portal also helped 77% of customers switch to e-billing and 63% to automatic payments—resulting in significant savings on paper and postage.

When utilities implement these practices, modernization can fulfill its promise: customers stay informed and satisfied, employees focus on higher-value work, and operations turn investments into tangible results.