Heidelberg. Although a good customer service is important or very important to most electricity customers (90 percent), every second (51 percent) would tolerate cuts if the price goes down. One in five (20 percent) even advocates holding on to nuclear power for cheaper electricity . This has resulted in a representative survey commissioned by the consumer portal Verivox.
News / Electricity
Picture: Electricity pylons Image: c JWS / fotolia.com / Text: Verivox
Power customers expect this from their provider
As the survey also found, eight out of ten consumers (78 percent) want fast response times from their provider. Sixty-two percent of respondents consider it important to be able to carry out simple contract matters, such as meter readings, online. For more than half (58 percent), good service also means that the electricity provider, unsolicited and independent, proposes a cheaper tariff (if available) from the product range. The young age group of 18 to 19-year-olds (64 percent) also wants comprehensive and individual advice.
These service faux pas resent electricity customers
As an absolute no-go, the majority (83 percent) feel that price increases and contract changes are hidden in e-mails, advertising brochures or long texts. Three quarters of respondents (74 percent) are also annoyed if they receive insufficient or misinformed information. Seven out of ten electricity customers (70 percent) are annoyed when employees treat them as unfriendly. Even for long waiting times at the telephone hotline 44 percent of respondents have no understanding.
Public ratings underestimated as a means of power
Good to know for the electricity providers: Poor customer service often has consequences, because the majority of electricity customers (63 percent) then look around for a new provider. Six out of ten consumers (60 percent) also complain directly to the company, while more than one in two (55 percent) share their negative experiences with family, friends and work colleagues. However, only one in ten (10 percent) would publish their anger about the company on social media.
To methodology
The representative survey data were determined online by the market research institute eResult in spring 2018. 1,000 people aged 18 to 59 years were interviewed.
