Nearly 20 million American households are struggling with utility bills, resulting in an unprecedented $19.5 billion in missed payments. As this crisis deepens, utility companies face mounting pressure to address affordability while maintaining reliable service. Watch our recent industry webinar hosted by Message Broadcast that brought together utility leaders to share their proven strategies for supporting vulnerable customers through innovative programs and targeted outreach. Their experiences demonstrate how different approaches can work effectively across diverse service territories.
Public Power vs. Urban Utility: Two Unique Perspectives
Jay Malin, SVP of Government Solutions at Message Broadcast, facilitated an insightful discussion between two utilities serving different communities. Anna Stieve, Director of Energy Efficiency and Electrification at WPPI Energy, represents 51 public power utilities across Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan, with communities ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 meters. Jon Minners, Department Manager for Customer Outreach and Education at Con Edison, serves the diverse metropolitan area of New York City and Westchester County. While their service territories differ dramatically, both organizations have developed effective strategies for increasing program participation and building customer trust.
Breaking Down Enrollment Barriers
WPPI’s research with income qualified customers in Wisconsin revealed telling insights about participation barriers. “The number one reason that they don’t apply for energy assistance – and these are qualifying customers – is because they don’t think they would qualify,” Stieve explained.
Their research also showed that the second largest reason people did not apply was because they stated they did not have a need, with men being much more likely than women to make this claim. The third most common barrier was simply not wanting to ask for help, with public power utility customers showing a higher reluctance to seek assistance compared to customers of investor-owned utilities.
In their smaller communities, WPPI found a unique challenge with program participation. As Stieve explained, “in these smaller communities there might be more stigma for asking for help because they might know the people at the front desk, they could be friends or neighbors, and so that’s a sign for us really to take a more proactive customer outreach approach and to make sure those resources are in front of people so they don’t have to come to us to ask for help.”
Con Edison has also successfully addressed these challenges through their Energy Affordability Program, which provides discounts to customers receiving various government benefits. Through a combination of automatic enrollment and targeted outreach, they have enrolled approximately 450,000 customers.
Research and experience from both utilities revealed two primary obstacles preventing eligible customers from accessing energy assistance: deep-seated stigma around seeking government help and widespread confusion about eligibility requirements. Addressing these barriers required thoughtful, community-specific approaches that acknowledged both practical and emotional challenges.
WPPI Energy’s approach leveraged physical marketing materials including mass flyers, bill inserts, and direct mail campaigns. This strategy allows residents to learn about assistance programs privately, reducing the emotional barrier of asking for help in person. Combined with strategic word-of-mouth outreach, this approach has proven particularly effective in smaller, close-knit communities.
Tackling Confusion about Eligibility Requirements
Beyond stigma, both utilities identified confusion about eligibility as a significant barrier to participation. At Con Edison, customers receiving government benefits such as HEAP, SNAP, supplemental security income, direct vendor or utility guarantee, temporary aid to needy families, or safety net assistance are automatically enrolled in the Energy Affordability Program. However, due to regulations like HIPAA, customers with Medicaid, federal public housing assistance, veterans’ disability, survivor’s pension, or Lifeline telephone service must self-enroll. “We look for areas that are high in Medicaid customers,” Minners explained. “We try to go into that area. We bring out all these flyers in different languages… And they can enroll right there.”
WPPI Energy faces different challenges with their manual enrollment process. Their team utilizes census data to identify areas with higher concentrations of eligible households, then develops targeted messaging campaigns to clarify qualification requirements and guide potential participants through the application process. This data-driven approach helps ensure assistance reaches the communities that need it most while maximizing the impact of limited outreach resources.
Strategies for Inclusive Outreach
The utilities developed different communication approaches based on their communities’ needs. For Con Edison, language accessibility became crucial. “If you’re at an event and you’re handed a paper that says, ‘have this translated’ and you don’t have a friend right there to have it translated, you might put it in your pocket and then forget all about it,” Minners explained. The utility now offers materials in Chinese, Russian, Korean, Polish, Bengali, Urdu, Yiddish, and Haitian Creole. “When you speak in their language and you’re helpful in their language, it builds trust,” Minners noted. In fact, at a Brooklyn Jubilee event in a predominantly Russian community, residents expressed appreciation for the translated materials, showing increased trust in the utility.
WPPI’s research revealed that bill inserts were the number one way customers prefer to hear about these programs. “When we broke this down into demographics, as you’d expect younger folks were more likely to select email as their primary way to be communicated with,” Stieve explained. Additionally, word of mouth emerged as the primary way people learn about these programs, leading WPPI to incorporate “tell a friend” messaging into their communications.
Both utilities carefully track program effectiveness through various metrics. Con Edison monitors enrollment spikes following campaigns and conducts regular customer surveys to gauge program awareness and satisfaction. WPPI developed a benchmarking process using census data at a zip code level to estimate qualifying households in their individual utilities and zip codes. “We can’t manage what we don’t measure,” Stieve noted, explaining that this information helps utilities make informed decisions about customer outreach and track changes in participation based on different campaigns.
Looking Ahead: Innovation in Affordability Programs
Looking forward, both utilities continue to innovate. They’re exploring new ways to combine energy efficiency education with assistance programs, leveraging AMI data to identify potentially eligible customers, and developing strategies to reach customers through trusted community partnerships.
As the energy affordability crisis continues to impact millions of Americans, these utilities’ experiences offer valuable lessons for the industry. Through strategic program design, targeted outreach, and community engagement, utilities can help ensure vulnerable customers maintain access to essential services while building more resilient communities for the future.
Want to learn more about implementing successful affordability programs at your utility? Visit On-Demand Webinar: Bridging the Gap – Message Broadcast to access the complete webinar recording and receive our comprehensive guide to effective utility outreach strategies.
Sources
- Ciampoli, P. (2022, December 18). Research examines participation of Wisconsin residents in energy assistance program. American Public Power Association.