ESB: Personalising energy saving recommendations for customers

Company Description:
ESB Electric Ireland is Ireland’s leading energy retailer.

Business Issue:
As Ireland’s leading energy retailer, ESB Electric Ireland is committed to assisting its customers in getting the best value from our product and ensuring that electricity is used in a cost-effective and sustainable way. We wanted (as part of developing our energy offering) to grow new ways of engaging with customers, including the provision of practical online resources.

Solution Applied:
ESB Electric Ireland’s Energy Saving Wizard is an online tool which guides customers through a series of questions about their house and their energy consumption patterns. From the answers provided we can offer energy saving recommendations personalised to the customer’s home. These recommendations indicate costs, grants available and savings for any work that is recommended.

Company Benefits:
By assisting customers in assessing their current energy consumption levels and providing them with the information they need to reduce unnecessary electricity usage, we can work towards fulfilling our commitment to achieve national energy efficiency targets.

Stakeholder Benefits:
The Energy Savings Wizard is a simple, practical tool that customers can use to educate themselves about how to achieve real energy savings in their home. Because it is interactive and is designed to provide users with a personalised energy savings report, it is very helpful in assisting people to make decisions about expenditure on energy efficiency retrofitting etc.

Challenges:
The Energy Savings Wizard was designed following 20,000 Home Energy surveys carried our by our Energy Services Team. Without this level of information, insight into houses in Ireland and how people live today, we would not have been able to build a product of his quality.

Tip:
In designing customer information for the internet, it is possible to go far beyond traditional forms of communication and provide interactive and personalised material for users that really adds value to the engagement.

Departments Involved:
Commercial Department

Solution Champion:
Margaret Kelleher, ESB Electric Ireland. Tel: 01 893 4542

Year
2011