Esson Utilities - Customer Service Solutions

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Expert insight and solutions for the

Utilities market

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Equifax helps water and energy providers make better informed decisions at every stage of the customer relationship.

We understand the many challenges facing your sector today, including regulatory requirements, increasing competition in supply, and the need to achieve cost efficiencies to

remain profitable.

As a result, the need to better identify, target and manage customers has

never been more important.

EQUIFAX UTILITIES SOLUTIONS

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We can help you build a complete view of your customers and you can use this insight to:

• Understand and identify who your customers are and where they live

• Treat customers fairly (using the insight within your processes)

• Help identify those customers who may be financially vulnerable

• Create effective and appropriate collections strategies

• Protect revenue by offering the correct tariff or payment terms

EQUIFAX UTILITIES SOLUTIONS

MANAGE TARGET

UNDERSTAND IDENTIFY

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Insight,

knowledge and understanding

to address your

challenges

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For more information on Equifax Utilities Solutions for the energy sector, please contact your Account Manager, call 020 7298 3000 or email us at [email protected]

Equifax Limited is registered in England with Registered No. 2425920.

Registered Office: Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DS.

Equifax Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Equifax has extensive knowledge and understanding of working with the energy sector.

We understand the challenges facing your industry and have a suite of products and solutions to address the following issues:

Issue and Cause Equifax can provide Benefit

Poor quality or incomplete data leading to inaccurate decisions and multiple accounts for one individual

Lack of customer data at point of customer boarding

Verification of customer data at point of application or boarding for changes of tenancies Enhancement and enrichment of data held on existing customer base

Assist with prevention of bad debt by more informed decision-making at point of boarding More effective customer contact during customer lifecycle

Increased take-up of paperless billing and promotional offers

Improved collections and recoveries VOIDs or unbilled properties result in

lost revenue

Lack of comprehensive view of properties or property ownership: person, house or business

Identification of demolished and empty properties

Knowledge of household composition Occupier information and move in/out dates

More accurate reporting of debt

Income generation from unbilled properties Increase possible collections

Customer churn Change of tenancy Customer retention

Increasing competition Ease of switch Timely notification of customer movements

Identification of customer address

move in/move out and dates Improved customer retention Accuracy of reporting Reduction in bad debt

First person fraud

Lack of checks at point of application Difficult to discover or prove fraud False notification of customer movements Few data-sharing initiatives

Verification of customer data

Identification of changes in a customer’s circumstances

Increase sharing of known fraud data amongst utility providers and wider credit industry to enhance data availability

Assess and reduce exposure to risk of fraud Reduce cost to serve by mitigating against losses through fraud

The regulatory environment and supporting legislation is changing with a greater focus on treating customers fairly and protecting vulnerable customers

Insight to help create informed and focused customer strategies to ensure appropriate treatment at all stages of the customer lifecycle Insight to help assess those customers who may be financially vulnerable

Help to differentiate the can’t pays from the won’t pays and develop appropriate payment and collections strategies

Ensure customers are treated fairly Retain or improve positive customer satisfaction ratings

SME and corporate bad debt Lack of customer data at boarding and throughout customer journey

Provision of blended consumer and commercial data to provide cleansing and enrichment of business customers, evaluation of credit risk, monitoring and alerts

Reduced losses within business customer base due to fraud, changes of tenancies and poor credit risk

Residential bad debt

Reputational and financial cost of force-fitting meters

Confirm residency of customers Evaluate ability and propensity to repay Insight to assess where is most appropriate to target collection activity and who it may be appropriate to litigate

Reduction in age and value of bad debt Reduce the cost of collections

Increased accuracy of bad debt reporting

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Extensive data to find the best prospective

customers

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With our extensive data, we can

help you find the best prospective customers for your business.

For more information on Equifax Utilities Solutions for the energy sector, please contact your Account Manager, call 020 7298 3000 or email us at [email protected]

Prospecting and Marketing

We can help you:

• Analyse your prospect data and prioritise those individuals most suitable for your product instead of ‘most likely to buy’

• Identify who to target, and when and how to communicate with them for the best return on your marketing spend

• Make the most of your customer data by eliminating errors and filling in any gaps

Account opening

Our wealth of insight can help you verify and authenticate your customers, and evaluate creditworthiness, helping reduce risk at account boarding and allowing you to identify and offer the correct tariff or create the best payment plan based on the customer’s individual circumstances.

Customer Management

We can provide you with an informed view of your

customers, allowing a better understanding of their needs, requirements, likely behaviour and associated risks at every stage of their journey.

Collections and Recoveries

Our insights will help you profile and segment customers, assess their ability to pay, or their propensity to repay debt, and debt prioritisation. This can hellp you create the most effective collection strategies, reduce the cost of collection and help compliance requirements for treating customers fairly.

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Identify,

understand and manage Make more

informed decisions

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This table summarises how we can help

you identify, understand, target and manage your customers leading to better informed decision-making at each stage of the

customer journey.

For more information on Equifax Utilities Solutions for the water sector, please contact your Account Manager, call 020 7298 3000 or email us at [email protected]

Issue and Cause Equifax can provide Benefit

Poor quality or incomplete data leading to inaccurate decisions and multiple accounts for one individual

Lack of customer data at point of customer boarding

Verification of customer data at point of application or boarding for changes of tenancies Enhancement and enrichment of data held on existing customer base

Assist with prevention of bad debt by more informed decision-making at point of boarding More effective customer contact during customer lifecycle

Increased take-up of paperless billing and promotional offers

Improved collections and recoveries VOIDs or unbilled properties result in

lost revenue

Lack of comprehensive view of properties or property ownership: person, house or business

Identification of demolished and empty properties

Knowledge of household composition Occupier information and move in/out dates

More accurate reporting of debt

Income generation from unbilled properties Increase possible collections

Change of tenancy Increasing competition

Timely notification of customer movements

Identification of customer address and

move in/move out dates Accuracy of reporting

Reduction in bad debt