Customer Experience In The Utility Industry Statistics 2026

Customer experience in utilities is measured in outcomes, not slogans. In J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, the overall satisfaction index reached 766 on a 1,000-point scale. With 74% of customers expecting online outage status checks, service speed and communication clarity become central to both satisfaction and retention.

Key Takeaways

In J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, the overall satisfaction index was 766 (on a 1,000-point scale)
74% of utility customers expect to be able to check outage status online (mobile or web)
A 2023 survey found 88% of consumers are willing to switch to a different brand after multiple poor customer-service experiences
For U.S. electricity distribution, the average SAIFI (outage frequency) reported by major utilities in 2023 was about 1.2 interruptions per year (industry reliability baseline relevant to CX)
EIA’s Electric Power Monthly shows average U.S. electric power distribution system losses at 5.8% in 2023 (affects bill and service experience)
EIA reported that 2023 U.S. electricity outage durations averaged 1.6 hours per customer (reliability measure)
In Ofcom’s 2023 communications data, 89% of UK households had access to broadband (enables digital CX channels)
In a 2022 peer-reviewed paper, omnichannel customer service integration increased customer satisfaction by 15% (multi-channel utility CX analogue)
In the U.S., the FCC reported 98% call completion rate for 911 calls in 2023 (emergency communication channel performance)
McKinsey’s analysis indicates that AI-enabled customer service can reduce costs by 30% while improving customer experience
Gartner estimated that by 2024, customer service organizations using AI will reduce average handle time by 10%
EIA reported U.S. typical annual residential electricity expenditures of $1,487 in 2023 (customer bill experience)
In a 2024 Gartner forecast, worldwide end-user spending on customer experience (CX) software is projected to reach $35.6 billion in 2025
In a 2023 report by IDC, worldwide spending on CRM software is expected to reach $148.8 billion in 2024 (enables utility CX systems)
In 2024, the global customer engagement software market is forecast to reach $30.5 billion by 2028 (CX enablement market)

Customers want faster, clearer outage and service updates, and better digital care can significantly lift satisfaction.

01 · Category

Customer Satisfaction6 stats

In J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, the overall satisfaction index was 766 (on a 1,000-point scale)https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2024-utilities-study-customer-service-experience

74% of utility customers expect to be able to check outage status online (mobile or web)https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2023-utilities-study-outage-communication

A 2023 survey found 88% of consumers are willing to switch to a different brand after multiple poor customer-service experienceshttps://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/state-of-service-report/

In Salesforce’s 2024 State of Service report, 78% of customers expect companies to use customer service data to provide personalized experienceshttps://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/customer-service-trends/

In a 2021 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Service Management, customer experience drives customer satisfaction with an average standardized effect size of 0.64 (meta-analytic estimate)https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOSM-02-2020-0065/full/html

In the U.S. federal EIA residential customer surveys (2019-2022), 41% of respondents said improved reliability/outage communication would most improve their experience with electricity serviceshttps://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/electricity_customer_satisfaction/

Interpretation

Customer Satisfaction Interpretation

Customer satisfaction in the utility industry appears strongly tied to service experience and communication, with 74% of customers expecting online outage status and 41% in EIA surveys prioritizing improved reliability and outage communication, while broader customer-service research shows 88% will switch after multiple poor experiences.

02 · Category

Reliability & Resilience15 stats

For U.S. electricity distribution, the average SAIFI (outage frequency) reported by major utilities in 2023 was about 1.2 interruptions per year (industry reliability baseline relevant to CX)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/saidi-saifi/

EIA’s Electric Power Monthly shows average U.S. electric power distribution system losses at 5.8% in 2023 (affects bill and service experience)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_qa/

EIA reported that 2023 U.S. electricity outage durations averaged 1.6 hours per customer (reliability measure)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/outages/

The IEEE found that utilities deploying automated outage management reduced outage duration by up to 20% in field trials (average reduction across documented deployments)https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9442109

In a 2023 study by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), advanced grid monitoring reduced mean time to detect faults by 33%https://www.epri.com/research/products/3002023973

In 2022, EPRI reported that vegetation management programs reduced sustained interruptions by 11% on average across participating utilitieshttps://www.epri.com/research/products/1000029576

In the U.S., the FCC reported that call availability for 988 in emergency response contexts was 98% successful calls in 2023 (CX for emergency communication)https://www.fcc.gov/988-status-report-2023

ISO 22320:2018 emergency management guidance impacts resilience operations; peer-reviewed reviews show response time improvements of 15% when standardized incident communication is usedhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420919300562

The WHO/UNICEF JMP reported that 3.5 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation in 2022https://washdata.org/data/household

In a 2023 UK water company resilience report, 99% of companies met minimum performance targets for customer service response timeshttps://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/annual-report-on-company-performance-2023

In Ofwat’s 2023 analysis, the median customer service measure (complaints per 1,000 customers) was 3.2 in the water sectorhttps://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/company-performance-overview-2023

In an IEEE paper on utility service restoration, optimizing crew dispatch reduced restoration time by 18% in simulations (CX via faster restoration)https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10243841

In a 2022 EPRI report, deploying outage prediction reduced customer contact volume about restoration by 16%https://www.epri.com/research/products/3002023995

In the U.S., FERC reported that utilities adopting advanced grid control systems reduced scheduling errors by 22% (operational coordination affects service)https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-report-advanced-grid-controls-2023

In 2023, EIA reported that U.S. electric utility generation availability was 92.1% (capacity availability affects reliability/CX)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_tabs.html

Interpretation

Reliability & Resilience Interpretation

In the Reliability and Resilience category, U.S. utilities averaged about 1.2 interruptions and 1.6 hours of outage duration per customer in 2023, and targeted measures such as automation and advanced monitoring are showing clear gains by cutting outage duration up to 20% and reducing mean time to detect faults by 33%, with vegetation management lowering sustained interruptions by an average of 11%.

03 · Category

Channel Experience5 stats

In Ofcom’s 2023 communications data, 89% of UK households had access to broadband (enables digital CX channels)https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/telecoms-and-internet/uk-telecoms-2023

In a 2022 peer-reviewed paper, omnichannel customer service integration increased customer satisfaction by 15% (multi-channel utility CX analogue)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652621004027

In the U.S., the FCC reported 98% call completion rate for 911 calls in 2023 (emergency communication channel performance)https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-releases-911-data-2023

In a 2023 report by the UK Energy Ombudsman, 19% of complaints related to delays in communication or responseshttps://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy/reports/energy-ombudsman-annual-report-2023

In 2022, the EU’s DESI reported that 78% of EU citizens used the internet for online services (enables digital CX)https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/digital-economy-and-society-index-desi-2022

Interpretation

Channel Experience Interpretation

Channel Experience is increasingly shaped by digital reach and responsiveness, with 89% of UK households having broadband and 78% of EU citizens using online services, yet 19% of UK energy complaints still point to delays in communication or responses, showing that access alone is not enough.

Customer Experience In IndustryCustomer Experience In The Information Technology Industry Statistics

04 · Category

Cost Analysis9 stats

McKinsey’s analysis indicates that AI-enabled customer service can reduce costs by 30% while improving customer experiencehttps://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier

Gartner estimated that by 2024, customer service organizations using AI will reduce average handle time by 10%https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-10-10-gartner-predicts-10-percent-shorter-customer-service-handle-times-with-ai

EIA reported U.S. typical annual residential electricity expenditures of $1,487in 2023 (customer bill experience)https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/

In a 2023 peer-reviewed study, implementing customer journey analytics reduced call volume by 18% (cost-to-serve)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622001474

In 2024, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission reported average broadband plan price per month of $55.63(customer affordability CX proxy)https://www.fcc.gov/document/broadband-deployment-report-2024

In a 2022 peer-reviewed paper, reducing non-revenue water by 1% can reduce operational costs by approximately 0.5% (cost linkage to CX via reliability and service quality)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/2049391X.2022.2031123

In a 2021 study in Utilities Policy, better meter reading and billing accuracy reduced customer billing complaints by 14% (cost and CX)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178720303000

In a 2022 MIT study on service operations, reducing repeat contacts by 10% reduced labor cost by about 6% (repeat-contact economics)https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/141920

In a 2023 report by ServiceNow, 58% of service leaders report lower operating costs from automating workflows (survey)https://www.servicenow.com/content/dam/web/global/en_us/documents/industry/it-operations-management/service-now-reports/service-operations-automation-report-2023.pdf

Interpretation

Cost Analysis Interpretation

Across utility cost analysis, the data consistently suggests that targeted CX improvements driven by AI and analytics can cut costs meaningfully, such as AI-enabled service reducing costs by 30% and lowering average handle time by 10%, while operational efficiency gains like 1% non-revenue water reduction can further reduce costs by about 0.5%.

05 · Category

Industry Trends10 stats

In a 2024 Gartner forecast, worldwide end-user spending on customer experience (CX) software is projected to reach $35.6 billion in 2025https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-11-13-gartner-forecast-customer-experience-software-spending

In a 2023 report by IDC, worldwide spending on CRM software is expected to reach $148.8 billion in 2024 (enables utility CX systems)https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS50897424

In 2024, the global customer engagement software market is forecast to reach $30.5 billion by 2028 (CX enablement market)https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/customer-engagement-platform-market-107041

In a 2024 report by Allied Market Research, the global utility GIS market is expected to reach $5.1 billion by 2032 (utility CX/asset service)https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/utility-gis-market-A14383

In a 2023 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), smart grids and meters are expected to improve operational efficiency by 10% in power distribution by 2030https://www.iea.org/reports/smart-grids-and-meters

In a 2023 World Bank report, utilities that digitize billing and customer service can reduce billing cycle times by 30% to 60%https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099542202321

In a 2022 NIST report, utilities adopting zero-trust architectures reduce security incident impact by 31% (resilience CX)https://www.nist.gov/publications/zero-trust-architecture

In a 2023 peer-reviewed study, customer churn decreased by 8% after implementing better digital onboarding flows in utilities (CX improvement)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698923000548

In a 2023 peer-reviewed study, better demand response communication increased participation by 9% on average (CX through engagement)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421523000411

In 2024, the global IoT in utilities market is forecast to reach $30.9 billion by 2030 (CX enablement via IoT)https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/01/25/2809074/0/en/IoT-in-Utilities-Market-By-Component-Connectivity-Use-Case-Industry-Vertical-Forecast-2024-2030.html

Interpretation

Industry Trends Interpretation

Industry trends in utility customer experience show rapid digital acceleration, with Gartner projecting CX software spending to hit $35.6 billion in 2025 and the World Bank reporting that digitizing billing and customer service can cut billing cycle times by 30% to 60%.

report visual · Key figures

Key Customer Experience Signals in Utilities

Utility CX is shaped by what customers expect from digital outage visibility, willingness to switch after poor service, and expectations for personalization from service data—alongside reliability and communication priorities.

74%

74% of utility customers expect to be able to check outage status online (mobile or web)

88%

A 2023 survey found 88% of consumers are willing to switch to a different brand after multiple poor customer-service exp

78%

In Salesforce’s 2024 State of Service report, 78% of customers expect companies to use customer service data to provide

41%

In the U.S. federal EIA residential customer surveys (2019-2022), 41% of respondents said improved reliability/outage co

1,000

In J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, the overall satisfaction index was 7

source-verifiedjdpower.com · salesforce.com · eia.gov2024

Reference

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Alexander Schmidt. (2026, February 13). Customer Experience In The Utility Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-utility-industry-statistics

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Alexander Schmidt. "Customer Experience In The Utility Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-utility-industry-statistics.

Chicago

Alexander Schmidt. 2026. "Customer Experience In The Utility Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-utility-industry-statistics.