Chatbots For Energy Providers: Transform Your Customer Service!

From updates about your order status to help with choosing the right product: When you think of chatbots, you probably think of use cases for eCommerce.

Chatbots are, however, suitable for a wide variety of industries, and most of the time it doesn’t depend so much on the industry, but on the use case!

There are many suitable use cases for chatbots, especially for energy providers. You can transform your customer service through 24/7 support and the automation of repetitive questions and increase customer and employee satisfaction. We show you how easily you can benefit from the numerous advantages.

Benefits of chatbots for energy providers

1. Simple connection to processes of the utility industry

As a supplier in the utility industry, you must be able to map a number of processes that are very specific to your industry. These can be processes such as

• registration and deregistration,
• meter reading,
• tarif changes, 
• electronic invoices
• or fault clearance

A chatbot can help you with all these tasks. For example, BotTina the chatbot from Wien Energie helps its users to change their registration. 

BotTina was implemented in 2017 as the first chatbot in the energy sector in German-speaking countries and has been answering over 50,000 inquiries per year since then.

After analyzing the most frequently asked questions, it turned out that for Wien Energie’s customers the topic of moving plays a very important role and that a chatbot covering the repetitive questions on this topic would be profitable with 50-60 daily conversations.

Today, the bot not only offers support in the process of changing the registration. At the same time, it gives tips on other important aspects the user needs to think about. For example, BotTina points out that in addition to registering with Wien Energie, it may be necessary to deregister the old address. The bot also guides the user through the necessary steps.

As implemented for Wien Energy, Onlim’s chatbot solution for energy providers provides a standardized connection to the most important processes for utility providers. Thus,  you can implement your chatbot project in a time-efficient manner with just minor adjustments.

2. Pre-trained chatbot content for energy suppliers

In addition to the connection to relevant processes, it is important to cover specific topics so that you can offer your users even more value with the help of your chatbot. For example, users won’t have to search the website for a long time and click through many subpages before they find the information they are looking for. Instead, they can ask the chatbot directly and receive answers about opening hours, credits, meter readings or even about content-related information within seconds. 

A good example is the chatbot of Energienetze Steiermark. The digital assistant Mr Ewald does not only answer questions about disruptions or opening hours. He is also available for content-related questions such as “What is a smart meter?” and answers them as a text-based answer and with multimedia content. 

At Onlim, the chatbots for energy providers are already pre-trained on topics related to the energy, gas and water industry or on related topics such as electromobility. They already have a solid basic framework of topics that the bot can use. So you can build directly on this framework without having to start from scratch. Here you can find out more about our chatbots for energy suppliers and network operators.

3. Increase customer satisfaction and efficiency

One advantage of chatbots is that they can significantly increase customer satisfaction. Chatbots enable you to be there for your customers around the clock. You can answer questions about meter readings and other requests within a few minutes. The long waiting time for a customer service employee on the phone or for an answer by e-mail is eliminated. Your customers can now receive information whenever it suits them.

But a chatbot does not only offer advantages for your customers. At the same time, there is an enormous potential to relieve your customer service. The customer service can focus on the more challenging task that requires a human employee and finish them in a much shorter time.

4. Be an innovator in your business area

Chatbots for energy providers not only help to increase current customer satisfaction. At the same time, they allow you to present yourself as a company that is at the cutting edge of technology and constantly testing new innovative solutions for its customers.

BS|NETZ, operator of the electricity, gas and water networks in Braunschweig, shows how it works. The company takes chatbots in customer service a bit further. The customers of BS|NETZ can transmit their meter readings to the company through a phone bot. This means: The customer no longer has to type in the data. He can transmit the meter reading to the voice bot like a normal conversation.

Conclusion

For us there is no doubt that chatbots in customer service and the associated customer experience are increasingly becoming the main differentiator for brands. The areas of application are numerous and the list of advantages, especially for energy providers, is long. If you have any further questions about the use of chatbots in the energy sector, our experts are happy to help. You can arrange a free consultation right here.